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The international development sector is experiencing unprecedented turmoil after the USAID stop-work order in January 2025, causing significant consequences for local civil society in the Global South.
These decisions are already causing significant damage to development and humanitarian work globally. Hundreds of humanitarian and aid projects have been forced to close in many countries, with serious consequences for millions of people.
The majority of collective responses have been reactive, shaped by the Global North, and focused on preserving the sector in its typical form. In contrast, Global South individuals and networks affected by these cuts increasingly recognise this as an opportunity to reshape the sector, and to depart from the longstanding power imbalances that dominate it.
Peace Direct invites local activists, changemakers, organisers, healers, and peacebuilders to a two-day conversation on ‘The future of Global North-Global South cooperation in a post-aid world’.
Using Platform4Dialogue, our global discussion and consultation platform, we will hold a two-day consultation on 3rd – 4th September 2025 to capture the unprecedented nature of these circumstances and to identify the future of Global South-Global North cooperation. We ask: in a newly reimagined system, where ‘aid’ is no longer central, what does this future look like?
Sign up now to join the two-day consultation and share your views.
The consultation will engage local actors from the Global South, as well as their global allies, for an open reflection on the ways Global South actors have adapted their work in recent months. The goal is to identify opportunities for transformation of the international development, humanitarian and peacebuilding system as it currently is, and especially to reimagine how collaboration between Global South and Global North should shape this new paradigm.
The findings emerging from the consultation will be validated during an in-person session at Peace Connect, the in-person gathering of Global South-based peacebuilders organised by Peace Direct on 13-17 October in Nairobi. This will be a unique opportunity to deepen any insights and highlight adaptable tools and approaches for others facing similar challenges.
We acknowledge that many of these discussions will be difficult and uncomfortable, but they are critical if we are to re-shape the Global South-Global North collaboration in ways that genuinely empower local actors.
We invite you to be part of that conversation, with fellow activists from around the world.
To find out more about the consultation and to register your interest, visit the link below.
Sign up now to join the two-day consultation and share your views.
