Fundraising News - Week of 29 Sep 2025
- Recadina Webi
- Oct 2
- 5 min read
1) Funding risks and budget cuts
Donor: Oxfam
Type of Update: Warning / Funding Risk
Details: Oxfam reports that 17 OECD donors plan to cut USD 31.1 billion in aid for 2025. The U.S. is projected to cut ~90%, France ~40%. These reductions threaten funding for education, agriculture, and social protection across Africa.
Link: DevelopmentAid
Donor: Germany / BMZ & ODA
Type of Update: Budget / Policy Change
Details: Germany’s 2025 federal budget includes cuts of ~EUR 910 million (8%) in BMZ (development cooperation) and ~EUR 1.3 billion (47%) in humanitarian assistance. This represents a significant scaling back of Germany’s development and humanitarian footprint, impacting programmes in Africa.
Link: DSW
Donor: Bilateral OECD Donors
Type of Update: Trend / Funding Strategy
Details: The OECD projects a 9 to 17% drop in official development assistance (ODA) in 2025. Many OECD/DAC donors are reducing long-term development assistance, shifting budgets to climate, resilience, and security priorities. This poses a risk to social and health programmes in Africa that rely on consistent long-term ODA flows.
Link: OECD

2) Grants, pledges, and financing instruments
Donor: Gates Foundation
Type of Update: Grant / Pledge
Details: Pledged USD 912 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. This matches its previous commitment and aims to counteract government aid cuts.
Link: Reuters
Donor: OPEC Fund for International Development
Type of Update: Grant / Funding Commitment
Details: Committed over USD 1 billion in new financing toward Africa and other developing countries as part of a broader USD 2 billion pledge over 5 years.
Link: Reuters
Donor: Japan / JICA
Type of Update: Grant / Financing Instrument
Details: Issued Africa TICAD bonds worth ~USD 155 million (JPY 23 billion) to finance African development projects, including infrastructure and social investments.
Link: Donor Tracker
Donor: Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), backed by Bezos Earth Fund, IKEA Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation
Type of Update: Funding / Strategic Expansion
Details: Announced a 5-year plan to mobilize USD 7.5 billion for renewable energy in developing countries. At least USD 500 million in philanthropic capital will be leveraged ~15x through MDB and private sector partnerships. Focus areas include “Grids of the Future,” battery storage, and digital utilities across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Link: EcoFin
3) Partnerships, trade, and investment
Donor: Afreximbank / African Union / AfCFTA Secretariat
Type of Update: Grant / Partnership / Trade & Investment Pledge
Details: At the 2025 Intra-African Trade Fair (Sept 4–10, Algiers), USD 48.3 billion in deals were signed. Albania accounted for ~USD 11.6 billion (~25%). Deals covered agriculture, energy, transport, finance, and manufacturing. The IATF will be institutionalised with permanent structures.
Link: Ahram Online
Donor: AfDB & Bloomberg Philanthropies
Type of Update: Partnership
Details: Launched collaboration to convene private financial institutions and mobilise capital into Africa’s development sectors including jobs, gender, and climate resilience.
Link: AfDB
Donor: AU, EU, Germany
Type of Update: Partnership / Pledge
Details: At the 2nd Africa Climate Summit, AU, EU, and BMZ launched CEPA and ENGAGE programmes to accelerate Africa’s energy access and green transition. These support AfSEM and the CMP under Agenda 2063, as part of Global Gateway.
Link: EEAS
Donor: South Korea & Kenya
Type of Update: Strategic Partnership
Details: Strengthened cooperation in education, agriculture, climate, and innovation. Key projects include Konza Digital Media City, Kenya-AIST, and International Vaccine Institute offices. Plans for Korea Exim Bank in Nairobi. Expanded cooperation on labour mobility, energy, and climate change.
Link: Donor Tracker
4) Policy and strategy shifts
Donor: USA / State Department / Foreign Aid Architecture
Type of Update: Policy Change / Strategy Shift
Details: New “America First Global Health Strategy” resumes funding for HIV, TB, malaria, and polio medicines plus salaries for health workers. Delivery will prioritise bilateral agreements with governments and faith-based organisations. NGOs seen as financially weak will lose out.
Links: ABC News Health Policy Watch
Donor: U.S. (DFC & State Department)
Type of Update: Policy Proposal / Reform
Details: Proposed raising DFC lending cap to USD 250 billion, broaden mandate to invest in some high-income countries, create new finance mechanisms, and ease congressional notification thresholds. A new global health compact shifts responsibility to partner countries while tying aid to U.S. policy.
Link: Donor Tracker
Donor: AfDB / ADF
Type of Update: Policy Shift / Strategy
Details: ADF will begin tapping capital markets in 2027, targeting ~USD 5 billion every 3 years via bonds, supplementing donor contributions. This marks a historic shift toward market-based fundraising.
Link: Reuters
Donor: Global Health / UN Agencies
Type of Update: Policy Signal
Details: UN agencies warn that shrinking multilateral aid will leave low- and middle-income African countries with fewer resources to confront major health threats.
Link: Unitaid
5) Operational changes
Donor: USAID (Closure Process)
Type of Update: Operational Change / Asset Liquidation
Details: Following closure announcements, a “fire sale” of USAID assets (medical kits, vehicles, solar panels) is underway. By August 1, 2025, 86% of USAID’s awards (5,346 of 6,193) had been terminated. Programmes are in flux, disrupting health and development delivery in Africa.
Links: DevelopmentAid CGD
6) Multilateral Finance & Climate Funds
Donor / Organisation: Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs)
Type of Update: Climate Finance / Record Funding
Details: MDBs reported a record USD 137 billion in climate finance for 2024. Of this, USD 85.1 billion was directed to low- and middle-income countries. Private finance mobilisation increased by 33% compared to the previous year, highlighting MDBs’ growing emphasis on crowding in private capital alongside concessional funding.
Link: Reuters
Donor / Organisation: Global Environment Facility (GEF)
Type of Update: Innovative Finance / Wildlife & Biodiversity Bonds
Details: The GEF is scaling wildlife and biodiversity bonds across Africa to cover all 54 countries. It has committed an initial USD 150 million, which could leverage up to USD 1.5 billion in conservation capital through pay-for-results structures. This represents a major expansion of nature finance using outcome-based instruments.
Link: Reuters
Donor / Organisation: Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)
Type of Update: Resource Mobilisation / Domestic Capital
Details: The AFC estimates that as much as USD 4 trillion of local capital exists in African pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and other institutional pools. AFC is positioning to mobilise this domestic capital for infrastructure and climate-aligned projects, signalling opportunities for blended finance structures that tap local institutional investors.
Link: Reuters
Donor / Organisation: African Development Fund (ADF) / AfDB
Type of Update: Policy Shift / Capital Markets Strategy
Details: The ADF announced plans to begin issuing bonds on international capital markets by 2027, targeting USD 5 billion per replenishment cycle (every 3 years). This represents a historic shift from reliance on donor contributions to tapping debt markets, creating potential opportunities for NGOs to co-finance bond-linked projects.
Link: Reuters
Donor / Organisation: African Treasuries (e.g., South Africa)
Type of Update: Domestic Finance Innovation / ESG Instruments
Details: Several African governments are experimenting with structured instruments to expand fiscal space. South Africa, for example, sought at least USD 500 million in foreign currency funding via ESG-linked forex instruments as an alternative to Eurobond issuance. Broader trends include domestic levies, public-private partnerships, and debt swaps.
Link: Reuters
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