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The US takes over the controversial Geneva Consensus Declaration.
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Large faith-based organizations are set to receive a sizable chunk of U.S. foreign assistance. Will there be enough left over for the smaller local groups on the ground? Also in today’s edition: The Global Fund and Green Climate Fund are exploring their first jointly financed climate and health programs. The ambitious experiment could unlock millions for vulnerable countries struggling to access adaptation finance. And an AI-powered platform could help determine where that money has the greatest impact.  How does the DRK Foundation back and scale early-stage social entrepreneurs? Find out on Aug. 17 in our Devex Pro Funding Briefing with DRK Foundation CEO Jim Bildner who will discuss their investment strategy. Save your spot now.
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Still devoted to localization?
The Trump administration has made faith-based groups a centerpiece of its new global health strategy. But there’s still a rather important question: How much of the money will actually reach local organizations?
Last week, the State Department announced $1.4 billion over five years for health partnerships with faith-based and community organizations. World Vision will lead the flagship Faith and Community Initiative award, alongside ADRA International, Catholic Relief Services, Compassion International, HOPE Worldwide, International Care Ministries, LifeNet International, and World Relief. The State Department says faith-based and community organizations will ensure that at least 80% of resources will go toward frontline health services. But critics see a familiar problem, writes Devex Senior Reporter Sara Jerving: Put a big international organization at the top, and smaller local groups can end up several rungs down the funding ladder. World Vision argues the consortium model is precisely what allows those organizations to participate, because local NGOs “often don’t have the resources or ability to contract directly with donors like the U.S. government.” And then there is health funding for faith-based organizations in the bilateral health deals. Some of the faith-based groups the administration has been consulting with are still waiting to find out what all this means for them. Karen Sichinga, CEO of the Churches Health Association of Zambia, welcomed the faith-based announcement, saying they lobbied for it — but also saying it’s still unclear what their role will be. The uncertainty extends to Ghana, where Peter Yeboah, executive director of the Christian Health Association of Ghana, says he is "still hopeful” they’ll play a prominent role. Uganda, meanwhile, has already signed an MoU with Washington, and faith leaders have been directly involved in talks. But Fred Sheldon Mwesigwa, bishop of Ankole Diocese in the Church of Uganda, offers perhaps the bigger takeaway: African health systems shouldn’t bet everything on Washington anyway. “We need also to be finding other alternatives, not just the U.S.,” he says. “There are other alternatives, but we have to be engaged.” Faith-based groups may be getting a much bigger seat at the table. The question now is which ones — and who ultimately controls the money. Read more: Local African Christian groups await clarity on role in US funding  ICYMI: US announces nearly $2 billion in ‘historic’ faith-based partnerships
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SPECIAL NOTICE
From local groups to global health equity: The path forward? As conventional health systems fail to reach overlooked populations, local groups build community trust. Devex’s latest visual story explores how GSK and ViiV Healthcare’s funding of community-led health models from Kenya to Brazil turns local leadership into real-world protection against the unequal burdens of HIV and malaria around the world. |
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Taking center stage
Whether or not this new faith-based arrangement can help deliver aid better, cheaper — and perhaps more sustainably — than the old model was the question at the heart of the latest episode of the This Week in Global Development podcast, where Devex Business Editor David Ainsworth sat down with Devex Senior Reporters Michael Igoe and Sara.
It’s the largest faith-based package in more than two decades — and part of a much bigger rethink of how Washington wants its aid delivered. The administration argues that faith-based groups are often deeply embedded in communities they help, can operate more cost-efficiently, and may be less dependent on endless flows of U.S. government money. But who actually gets to be part of this new model? Michael and Sara dig into questions such as whether “faith-based” really extends beyond Christian organizations and what this could mean for stigma-free care. There’s also the bigger question: Does routing more money through religious and community networks simply replace one set of intermediaries with another? David, Michael, and Sara unpack the politics, the money, and what this experiment could tell us about where U.S. foreign assistance is headed next.  Listen: Inside the State Department’s historic pivot to faith-based organizations You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, YouTube, or search “Devex” in your favorite podcast app.
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Sponsored by Amazon Sustainability
How responsible recruitment can help prevent human trafficking
Opinion: Amazon and the International Organization for Migration are working to strengthen responsible recruitment and support safer migration in Nepal. |
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A different kind of Geneva declaration
The United States has taken over as secretariat of the controversial Geneva Consensus Declaration, placing the 6-year-old political coalition — which asserts there is no international right to abortion — inside the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“The Declaration has four main objectives: to secure meaningful health and development gains for women; to protect life at all stages; to defend the family as the fundamental unit of society; and to work together across the UN system to realize these values,” the State Department wrote in a press release on Aug. 12. Created during the first Trump administration, the Geneva Consensus Declaration has been signed by 42 nations, half of which are from Africa. It’s a nonbinding declaration with eight main pillars, from reaffirming the role of the family to rejecting abortion as a method of family planning. After U.S. President Joe Biden took office, the U.S. withdrew its sponsorship of the declaration, and Hungary took over the secretariat — but throughout Hungary’s presidency, former U.S. Special Representative for Global Women’s Health Valerie Huber continued the charge through the Institute for Women’s Health, an organization based in Washington, D.C. Now the U.S. is back center stage, with the Trump administration stating the country will carry its work forward “through a whole-of-government” approach led by the Department of Health and Human Services and the State Department. “The GCD affirms what should never have been controversial: that there is no international right to abortion, that every woman deserves the highest attainable standard of health, and that the family is the fundamental unit of society,” Huber said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that “with 42 nations behind it, this coalition is positioned to do more than defend those values. It is positioned to accelerate their advance.” The Institute for Women’s Health stated that in September 2026, it will cochair the Sixth Annual Geneva Consensus Declaration Commemoration alongside members of Congress, bringing representations from the declaration’s signatory nations to the U.S. capital. Background reading: Inside the global anti-abortion coalition preparing for Trump’s return |
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Special Notice
Lung cancer: The global funding gap we can no longer ignore
In many countries, lung cancer is often misdiagnosed as tuberculosis, narrowing the window for lifesaving care. The Strengthening Care Systems series by Devex and the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation explores how local innovators are changing this reality — integrating cancer screening into existing clinics to ensure patients are seen, accurately diagnosed, and treated in time. |
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When climate meets health
Climate finance and global health have spent years largely living in separate worlds. Now, two of their biggest players are exploring an intriguing idea: joining forces.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the Green Climate Fund are working on their first jointly financed programs, starting with a proposal for Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Guinea-Bissau. Africa CDC is leading the effort. A spokesperson for Africa CDC say they’re looking to secure $100 million from the GCF for the project and some $66 million in Global Fund cofinancing and support for country-level implementation. The logic is compelling, Sara writes. Climate change is already battering health systems, but adaptation money has been notoriously difficult to mobilize for health. “It’s a different approach,” says Christoph Benn, executive director of the Center for Global Health Diplomacy — and one who could help the GCF spend more on adaptation while tapping the Global Fund’s health expertise. There’s an AI twist, too. Peking University’s Planetary Health Axis System would combine climate, health, infrastructure, satellite, and local data to pinpoint where money could have the biggest impact. “With AI you can recognize much more complex interconnections — which is a huge step forward.” Plenty still has to happen before the money flows: Africa CDC needs GCF accreditation, the proposal needs approval, and the two funds have very different systems. But if they can make it work, this could be more than a one-off experiment — it could offer a new model for financing the increasingly intertwined climate and health crises. Read: Multilateral giants explore new climate-health collaboration
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In other news
The U.K. is cutting bilateral aid to several fragile states, including Somalia, South Sudan, and Afghanistan, as overall bilateral development spending is set to fall 43% by 2028-2029. [Financial Times] A new draft of the U.N. plastics treaty has been criticized as less ambitious than its predecessor, with experts warning that protections for human health and limits on plastic production remain unresolved. [The Guardian] Yemen is at its highest risk of renewed war since the 2022 truce as fighting intensifies across frontlines, the U.N. envoy to the country warns. The renewed fighting is worsening the country's humanitarian crisis, with more than half the population lacking reliable access to enough food. [Al Jazeera]
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Thank you for reading today’s Newswire, edited by Rumbi Chakamba, copy edited by Nicole Tablizo, and produced by Adia Pauline Lim. Have a news tip? Email [email protected].
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