Executive Summary

The USAID funding freeze and the UK’s reduction in overseas aid have only further exposed the deep flaws of traditional donor-driven development models. In a matter of weeks, a vast array of healthcare, education and humanitarian programmes across multiple countries have been plunged into further crisis.

This instant and widespread disruption underscores the reality: dependency on aid is entirely unsustainable.

The Global South should take this opportunity to take control of its future, transitioning from grant dependency to self-sustaining ecosystems of funding.

On 25th February 2025, over 100 participants from Africa, Asia and Latin America joined The New Funding World Order – Transformational Partnerships for Global South Development, hosted by New Global Markets.

The event aimed to forge consensus on reshaping development financing, emphasising private investment, south-to-south cooperation, regional philanthropy, and innovative financial models over traditional aid cycles. Bringing together such a diverse group on four days’ notice underscores the urgency of the challenge and the collective commitment to addressing it.

Key Outcomes & Actions

The event resulted in four required actions being agreed:

1. Bridge Support Urgently Required Immediate funding is required to stabilise essential programmes and prevent their collapse while new financing mechanisms take shape.

2. Beyond Traditional Funders, Governments should increase social sector investment. Across the Global South, a funding ecosystem should be developed, along with policy incentives for domestic philanthropy and wide-ranging engagement of regional donors such as the BRICS Bank and African development funds. This is not without precedent, and India’s success in reducing donor influence offers a blueprint for future success in other countries.

3. Redesigning Development Finance Grants will no longer dominate. Development funding will merge social and financial returns, enabling impact-driven businesses, venture philanthropy, and revenue-generating social enterprises. However, aid still plays a role in humanitarian response and crisis.

4. Private Sector Role in Sustainable Development Governments, businesses, and non-profits should co-invest in long-term solutions, leveraging blended finance, diaspora giving, community philanthropy, public-private partnerships, and technology-driven financial models driven by innovation like AI, crypto, fintech, etc., to create scalable, transparent funding streams.

A Call to Action

The Global South is taking the lead in building a new system of financing that is investment-driven, self-sustaining, and inclusive.

1. Equal Partnerships and an End to Aid Dependency Funding models should treat funders and implementers as equal co-creators without imposing excessive reporting frameworks, and transparency and accountability should be at the forefront of all relationships.

2. Immediate Bridge Funding Governments, businesses and philanthropists should act now to prevent service collapse and help alleviate the severe impact of the abrupt funding freeze.

3. Development Beyond Donor Cycles Financing solutions should ensure long-term sustainability, providing reliable, forecastable income for organisations that allows them to plan to scale effectively. They will no longer rely too heavily on external goodwill.

How New Global Markets is Helping Drive This Process

NGM supports non-profits in diversifying funding and facilitating cross-sector partnerships that bring private, public, and non-profit stakeholders together to create future-proof funding models. We provide practical support and drive change inside organisations to ensure they work harmoniously with funders and drive strategic development on both sides.