We would like to extend our gratitude to the Coalition for Human Rights in Development, FORUM-Asia, and Fair Finance Asia for their valuable inputs to this article.  Context After four long years, the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) policy review, also and formerly known as Safeguards policy, is approaching its finalization. The Bank had made it clear throughout the entire Safeguard’s review process its commitment to a “risk-based” approach and “do

Decades of politicization largely influenced and inarguably shaped how Official Development Assistance (ODA), or more popularly known as “aid”, is delivered to and received by the Global South. This briefer lifts and synthesizes accounts from the recently published Reality of Aid Report 2023 that dissects patterns and trends in development cooperation over the last 30 years, in the hopes of coming up with alternatives for a future where people’s rights are championed.  This briefer also

The past two weeks saw blood spilled along streets of Dhaka as Bangladeshi students and youth peacefully protested against the quota system for government jobs, only to be greeted with open fire from police forces in return. This government-imposed brutality led to a city-wide and nationwide crackdown on dissent, causing an internet blackout and curfew in an attempt to silence protesters, block communication channels among citizens, and divide public opinion on the national issue. Nearly

The intensifying global conflicts compel Asia Pacific countries to gear up their security forces. Existing instability and fragility in various contexts are further polarizing social and economic inequalities, as well as aggravating maldevelopment across poverty-stricken communities. Rising authoritarianism threatens democracy as leaders gradually resort to their military forces to curb dissent, quell rebellions, and remain in power. In a political perspective, the region itself has yet to face the worst of the already-worsening crises in

The 2023 Official Development Assistance (ODA)  preliminary data reveal that numbers were majorly influenced by humanitarian aid, particularly aid to Ukraine. Civil society highlights how members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development – Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC)  prioritized domestic interests over international needs when allocating their foreign aid funding in 2023. The continuous geopoliticization of aid, as seen where USD 223.7 billion in ODA was spent primarily on aiding Ukraine and refugees living

On its 30th anniversary, The Reality of Aid Network (RoA) publishes its Reality of Aid Report 2023, marking 30 years of reporting back on aid and development and encapsulating key shifts in the global aid landscape. Thirty years have elapsed and yet the Global North continues to fall short on the 0.7% ODA target. Over this period, several trends have emerged in development cooperation, highlighting the involvement of the private sector, the geopoliticization of aid,