Foreign Aid Is Being Replaced With Something Better? : Shared by Kul Gautam

Rajiv Shah's views are well-meaning but unduly 'reassuring' and complacent.

Encouraging self-reliance and greater private investment is great, and so is the potential of harnessing new technologies including AI. His advocacy for debt relief is welcome. 

He says, there is popular appeal for aid that produces results, but he fails to sufficiently highlight the many areas in which aid is being cut even when there is proof of great results being achieved through international cooperation. 

Unsaid, but important is how NATO and other OECD countries are increasing military expenditure even as they decrease ODA and even domestic programs to fight poverty and basic needs. 

But I agree that there is a need for reimagining ODA, reinventing partnership models and gradually moving towards what Shah calls "something better". 

Kul

Foreign Aid Is Mostly Gone. It’s Being Replaced With Something Better
By Rajiv J. Shah
The New York Times, October 13, 2025
Click here for the article

Summary
Rajiv J. Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation and former USAID administrator, argues that while the dismantling of traditional foreign aid systems marks a moral and humanitarian setback, it is also catalyzing a new development model led by low- and middle-income countries themselves. As wealthy nations—including the U.S., Canada, Britain, and Germany—slash billions in aid, developing countries are increasingly taking responsibility for their own growth by leveraging private investment, technology, and domestic financing to create more sustainable systems.

Shah contrasts the achievements of the 20th-century aid consensus—eradication of major diseases, reduced hunger, and economic growth—with its growing inefficiencies and dependence on donor priorities. He highlights emerging models in Africa, Asia, and Latin America:

• African nations committing to electrify 300 million people by 2030 through localized clean energy grids;

• Nationally funded school meal programs that now reach 466 million children, yielding high social and economic returns; and

• New health system reforms, such as Ghana’s initiative to reduce donor dependency through digital health tools and AI.

He contends that the modern approach to development is locally owned, investment-driven, and results-oriented, emphasizing resilience over charity. However, he warns that this shift requires debt relief and targeted donor support to succeed, particularly as many nations face economic strain.

Shah concludes that global public opinion still overwhelmingly supports cooperation to reduce hunger and disease, but citizens now expect effectiveness and accountability, not bureaucracy. “We still want to advance human dignity,” he writes. “We just want to do it well.”

Quotes

• “The shuttering of the United States Agency for International Development… is part of a broader, tragic retreat from a system that helped cure the sick, feed the hungry and empower the poor.”

• “Developing countries are building something new… taking ownership of their development and leveraging private investment to lift up the vulnerable.”

• “One dollar invested in school meals can yield up to $35 in economic returns.”

• “Support for global cooperation is deeply linked not to a system but to results — up to 75 percent would support initiatives if they proved to be effective.”