Richard Manning to Deliver Lecture on 'International Development in Hard Times'

The Future of Aid: International Development in hard times: Reflecting on the major multilateral replenishments of 2013

In the wake of economic recessions in many OECD countries, many donors are now cutting aid budgets. How will this affect donor contributions to the multilateral development system? In late 2013, three of the most significant multilateral funds will have completed three-year replenishments – IDA (the principal source of World Bank funding for low income countries), the African Development Fund (the soft-loan arm of the African Development Bank) and the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria. This replenishment round is a key ‘checkpoint’ for assessing the state of the multilateral system. Under budget constraints, will traditional donors continue to support multilateral development financing? Will new and emerging donors be able and willing to fill the gap left by traditional donors cutting back?  Does multilateral aid as we have known it have a future, as the world addresses the post-2015 challenges?

In this special lecture, one of the world’s leading experts on aid financing will reflect on the future of aid, and how to finance international development in hard economic times.

• Richard Manning, Vice Chair of the Global Fund Replenishment and Coordinator of the Replenishment of the AfDB’s soft fund. Former chair of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee, 2003-08