Devex reposted this
For those tracking donor trends, Germany is the wild card everyone's watching. Early signals suggest they might surprise us. Reporting from the Hamburg Sustainability Conference – where governments and private capital are scrambling to figure out what replaces traditional donor funding. This could be an inflection point: Germany finds itself at a crossroads – they have a fresh Chancellor, Friedrich Merz. New development minister in Reem Alabali-Radovan. New geopolitical moment. The core question: will Germany actually lead this new era of global development? What makes this moment different: Alabali-Radovan's appointment is telling. Born in Moscow to Iraqi parents, she moved directly from Migration Minister to head Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). In other words, this doesn’t appear to be typical cabinet reshuffling – it signals a strategic bet on connecting migration policy with development strategy. Under new leadership, Germany may be reframing development aid as – at least in part – migration prevention. The unknowns are significant: Will Merz's new government see this global development leadership vacuum as Germany's moment? Can they sustain political support for only modestly – even just symbolically – trimming the aid budget? Will the migration-development nexus actually unlock much-needed public support, or is it just repackaging existing arguments? What I'm sensing here: There's cautious optimism that Germany – perhaps in coalition with likeminded donor countries who together outstrip a diminished US role, such as Canada and Spain – can take on a new, more vocal global leadership role. But it's early days. The real test comes when these conversations move from Hamburg to budget negotiations in Berlin, as well as at FfD4 in Sevilla and when UN reform discussions heat up. Watching this space closely. Devex is a media partner here – we’ll keep you posted as this unfolds. #Migration #Development #Leadership #HSC25
It's so important to realign the institutions to focus on ending corruption, instilling democratic values, and fostering economic development -- all hand ups, not hand outs.
thanks so much for this! your video made me even more excited for the #hsc2025
Raj Kumar interesting times globally, indeed!
Thank you, Raj Kumar!
Thanks Raj, I am sharing you optimism, in a couple of weeks we know more on the budget. I hope that the government realizes how important and useful it is to invest in Development and Humanitarian assistance.
Cautious optimism is appropriate. But it is good to hear you analyzing the connect between development and (anti-) migrant policy. Maybe not quite as transactional as the US administration. But instrumentalisation of aid is everywhere.
Professional Communications for Development Cooperation ⎮Owner Corbecoms⎮Founder LearnDevCom⎮Honorary Lecturer at Fresenius University of Applied Sciences
2dBudget size is not everything. It is also about how Germany will re-position itself and how it communicates this positioning. There's been a relatively defensive, seeking (self-)validation kind of overall approach maybe even to communicating its efforts in development cooperation.