Overview

With aid flows shrinking, multilateralism under strain, and global politics shifting, this webinar asked a direct question: what does a post-ODA order look like from an African perspective? Speakers from government, civil society, academia, philanthropy, and the UN explored how to move from critique to construction, centring agency, sovereignty, and justice over dependency and short-term fixes.

Why this matters now

2025 is a hinge year, with FfD4 and the Baku to Belém climate finance roadmap converging. Rather than waiting for old models to rebound, participants argued for African-led strategies that connect domestic resource mobilisation, debt justice, climate finance, and regional cooperation, grounded in dignity and evidence.

Key messages

• Aid decline is structural, not temporary, and should be treated as a catalyst for African design and leadership, not as a crisis to be managed.
• Justice, not charity. Reframe cooperation around reparations, equity, and legal accountability, rather than voluntary targets that rarely materialise.
• Data is power. Evidence should illuminate trade-offs and strengthen negotiating positions, linking taxation, spending, and service delivery.
• A renewed developmental state. Build planning and delivery capacity, prioritise equity, and align fiscal tools with long-term national strategies.
• New rules, not new masters. Engage globally, yet write frameworks that centre African priorities, rather than swapping one dependency for another.

Speaker highlights

• Ebrima Sall (TrustAfrica): Called this a defining rupture, urging an Africa-first reorientation rooted in Ubuntu, solidarity, and structural transformation.
• Monica Asuna (Government of Kenya): Pressed for proactive planning, stronger DRM, and decoupling from undelivered donor promises ahead of FfD4.
• Patrick Bond (University of Johannesburg): Warned that climate finance tools can reproduce dependency unless redesigned around restitution, not risk.
• Moortaza Jiwanji (UNDP): Urged strategic foresight, better UN coordination, and alignment of tax and spending with real outcomes.
• Faten Aggad (AFPH): Pushed for African leadership in rule-making, cautioning against reforms that re-introduce exclusion.
• Susan Otieno (ActionAid Kenya): Stressed fiscal justice at home: who is taxed, how resources are allocated, and whether systems enable participation.
• Vitalice Meja (Reality of Aid Africa): Described the 0.7% target as a political illusion, proposing partially binding commitments under a new cooperation convention.
• Savior Mwambwa (Economic and Development Finance Specialist): Called for narrative and institutional shifts that break the charity trap and rebuild sovereign planning capacity.

Defiant optimism: from critique to construction

In the second half, speakers set out actionable pathways: revitalising public institutions, scaling regional mechanisms, leveraging pension funds and diaspora finance, tackling illicit flows, and building pan-African alliances that carry moral clarity into global forums.

Watch the recording

Access the full webinar recording and materials via the report.

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