Fom Rachel Bonnifield and me: Fact-checking Elon's claims about USAID

newyorker.com/news/the-finan…

A paper using administrative data from Burkina Faso to track which teachers leave and why by Biniam Bedasso and me is out! Full paper: sciencedirect.com/.../pii/S07380…

Critics like to say the government should audit foreign aid. Guess what it already did. There are 10x more evaluations per £ of aid spend then there are of the rest of government spending.

The 2025 IMF & World Bank #SpringMeetings are right around the corner!🌸🌍 Center for Global Development is hosting key conversations with leading global development experts and policymakers—explore our schedule of events and sign up below ⬇️ bit.ly/43HcvIn

With global education aid declining, now’s the time to make what remains truly catalytic—amplifying government budgets that already cover 61% of education spending in LMICs. I make the case in this new CGD blog. cgdev.org/blog/less-educ…

As I meet people from aid agencies around the world this week I will be making the case for a radical simplification in how we do aid: fewer countries, fewer projects, radically simpler programs. It was key takeaway from my time in govt. Read why. cgdev.org/blog/radical-s…

"How reliable are national accounts estimates of agricultural output?" Answer: Yikes. Survey data from Mozambique suggests "real rates of total GDP growth may have been overestimated by 1 percentage point" for 2 decades! Signs the problem is not limited to Mozambique.

On this Int'l Day to #EndCorporalPunishment, Center for Global Development experts launch a new data hub tracking school-related violence in 92 LMICs—highlighting data gaps, prevalence of violence, & the need for action. Gabriela Smarrelli & Yi Ning Wong break down what you'll find: cgdev.org/blog/new-data-…

Join us at CGD next week for a conversation on how to make schools safer and more inclusive, with - Minister of Education for Sierra Leone Conrad Sackey - Global Partnership for Education Envoy ruth kagia - UNESCO 🏛️ #Education #Sciences #Culture 🇺🇳 Director Christopher Castle - CGD Europe Managing Director Mikaela Gavas

🚨 New blog out Center for Global Development RCTs revolutionized development. But if we only fund what’s measurable, we risk missing what’s transformational. Full blog👇 cgdev.org/blog/cost-effe… Let’s talk about why cost-effectiveness is not enough 🧵

Amid rising populism & disillusionment with the global economic order, this year’s Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (Center for Global Development, World Bank, & Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy) comes at a crucial moment. Rachel Glennerster, Indermit Gill, & Danny Quah preview the agenda: bit.ly/3FvO7zN

Western countries have slashed foreign aid budgets this year and reductions will steepen in 2026, with the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada cutting the most, according to a new analysis from the Center for Global Development edition.cnn.com/2025/06/12/eur…

What do we learn about how to implement parent-adolescent interventions from a pilot to combat early marriage in Bangladesh? cgdev.org/publication/ta… Great analysis from Radhika Nagesh, Gabriela Smarrelli, et al.

Half a million newborn babies die of sepsis every year. Its easily treatable with antibiotics but there is no rapid diagnostic test so doctors are left guessing. Very exciting that CGD is working on a solution!

Re-upping this CGD blog on debt transparency for the #FFD4 crowd: Many loans to governments are not public. So taxpayers are paying off shady deals. When Cameroon made the rare move to publish all their loan contracts, they faced better lending conditions than the rest of Africa

📚📊 NEW Center for Global Development RESEARCH: Children who master basic reading and math in primary school earn significantly more as adults. Evidence that foundational literacy and numeracy skills have real economic returns throughout life.

"Education can account for about 45% of global economic growth and 60% of pretax income growth among the world’s poorest 20% from 1980 to 2019."

Helping parents with low literacy levels to understand how they can support their children's learning increased learning and reduced dropout. drive.google.com/file/d/1aRqICX… Mahounan Yedomiffi with evidence from Benin #LACDEV2025

New meta-analysis: "School-meal programs in high-income economies have minimal impact on students' behavior, health, & education." For evidence on sizeable impacts in low- & middle-income countries, see this review from Biniam Bedasso & Amina Mendez Acosta at Center for Global Development: cgdev.org/blog/do-school…