Policy Updates

On October 5, 2026, Ambroise Fayolle, vice president of the EIB, announced that the EIB planned to double its climate adaptation finance to EUR30 billion (US$34.3 billion) through 2030.

The EIB will face a complex year ahead, however. Discussions remain heated around the size of the next MFF, while seven EIB shareholder countries, including France, Spain, Poland, Italy, Finland, Estonia, and Greece, prepare to hold national elections amid rising support for far-right parties. Though these elections have the potential to shape the direction of the EIB board, Fayolle said he was not overly concerned about them and preferred to wait until they occurred before assessing their impact.

On October 1, 2026, the French government proposed an 11% cut to core development disbursements for 2027, reducing the ODA Mission budget to EUR3.17 billion (US$3.6 billion) from EUR3.569 billion (US$4.1 billion) in 2026, and cut future commitment authorizations by 43%, or EUR1.9 billion (US$2.2 billion).

The ODA Mission funds the AFD, French NGOs, and contributions to multilateral institutions and global funds, including the World Bank. The cut amounted to EUR399 million (US$456 million) from the mission's 2026 budget. The mission formed only part of France's total ODA, which also included in-country refugee costs and EU contributions and was expected to reach approximately EUR12 billion (US$13.7 billion) in 2026; the 2027 total remained unclear.

Fabrice Ferrier, director of Focus 2030, told Devex that the cut to commitment appropriations was not binding, since the incoming government, to be elected in May 2027, could increase the amount, though he added that the cuts sent a discouraging signal at a difficult time. Experts anticipated the cuts would hit the AFD hard and could close health centers, schools, water programs, food aid projects, emergency initiatives, gender-based violence prevention programs, climate adaptation initiatives, and job creation support in recipient countries.

On October 1, 2026, The US Department of State intends to launch new implementation plans that would overhaul global health assistance for 35 partner countries, shifting toward increased G2G health financing, without having shared the plans with the US Congress, according to a congressional source.

The State Department had already notified Congress of its intention to establish G2G financing arrangements for Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda, offering an early indication of how the new funding model would operate. As of the October 1, 2026 launch, the implementation plans had not been publicly released or provided to Congress.

The plans were drafted in cooperation with partner governments and expanded on memoranda of understanding that US officials began establishing with countries in December 2025. They would determine how billions of US dollars in health financing were spent. The implementation plans had originally been scheduled to take effect in April 2026, but were delayed without explanation. In the interim, the State Department maintained existing global health programs through three- or six-month grants.

On September 30, 2026, the GAO published a report after looking into the dismantling of USAID by the Trump administration. Its main finidng was that the US Department of State could not provide evidence of staff guidance or standards for modifying foreign assistance programs following its absorption of USAID's remaining programs.

Without documented guidance, GAO reported, officials responsible for foreign assistance programming risked making inconsistent, ad hoc, or inefficient decisions that could waste taxpayer funds. For example, officials could make incorrect assumptions about desired program changes, which could lead to legal disputes or the retraction of terminated awards.

On September 30, 2026, on the eve of the U.S. State Department launching its new implementation plan for bilateral healh agreements, it was announced that the Trump administration terminated US global health funding to Zimbabwe, including support for HIV and other infectious disease programs, after Zimbabwe's government rejected an "America First" foreign assistance agreement with Washington.

The US Department of State confirmed the decision in a statement, noting that implementing partners in Zimbabwe would receive a short window to responsibly close out all US government-funded programs. The department said it remained committed to an orderly handover of operations.

The termination followed months of negotiations in which the Trump administration sought new terms from recipient countries in exchange for continued US development assistance. Zimbabwe declined to sign such an agreement. Health advocates and officials from other recipient countries criticized the negotiation process, arguing that the administration pressured governments into accepting unfavorable terms. Limited analysis of the agreements indicated that they reduced tens of billions of US dollars in global health funding worldwide, even as the US Congress continued to appropriate funding for these programs.

On September 29, 2026, advocates noted that the 81^st UNGA concluded without addressing a proposed merger between UN Women and UNFPA, leaving advocates uncertain whether the plan remained active, stalled, or abandoned.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres first proposed merging UN Women and UNFPA in early 2025 as part of the UN80 Initiative, an effort aimed at streamlining UN institutions and reducing costs. For months, women's rights advocates anticipated that the UNGA would determine the agencies' fates, but world leaders did not mention the merger when they gathered in New York for the UNGA's high-level week.

Maria Antonieta Alcalde Castro, director-general of IPPF, said many observers believed the merger was no longer moving forward, though advocates remained watchful that the plan could resurface. IPPF partners with UNFPA to deliver reproductive health care.

UN Women stated that no decision had been made as of September 28, 2026, and said any outcome would rest with UN member states. Earlier in September 2026, UN Women's executive board acknoledged that it was not in a position to recommend support for the merger, adding that it could not guarantee protection of the agencies' mandates.

On September 28, 2026, Four Democratic members of the US House of Representatives sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, warning that the State Department was considering ending funding for the FEWS NET, which would need to begin terminating staff by September 30, 2026 absent continued funding.

The letter, signed by Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Reps. Angie Craig, Sara Jacobs, and Shontel Brown, said FEWS NET had monitored global hunger hotspots and helped anticipate famine since 1985. The lawmakers said the program gave humanitarian organizations and donors advance time to direct food assistance to emerging crises, helping prevent further deterioration, save lives, and reduce the cost of emergency relief.

FEWS NET had sufficient resources to operate through the end of 2026, but faced staff terminations starting September 30, 2026, without continued State Department funding. The warning comes as a forecasted "Super El Nino" threatened to push tens of millions more people into acute hunger.

On September 25, 2026, a political declaration intended to strengthen global pandemic preparedness failed to secure unanimous support at a high-level UN meeting, after the US and EU objected to provisions on technology transfer, financing, and pathogen and product sharing.

European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness, and Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib, speaking for the EU, said the declaration contained valuable commitments but also setbacks on issues the bloc considered essential, including technology transfer terms and the balance between domestic and international financing.

US CDC Director Erica Schwartz cited unresolved concerns over undefined ideological language and the unfinished PABS annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement.

The declaration will stil proceed to the UN General Assembly for a vote, though departing from the practice of securing member-state endorsement before formal adoption. UN General Assembly President Khalilur Rahman said broad support existed for the text, but that some concerns remained, to be addressed in the General Assembly.

On September 24, 2026, France announced support for UNICEF's Child Nutrition Fund at a UNICEF event held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to mobilize international action against nutritional crises and famine.

French support funded a malnutrition prevention and treatment program in Sudan's Darfur and Kordofan regions, areas affected by armed conflict, though the specific moneraty sum is still to be announced. The program aimed to benefit 100,000 people, including 80,000 children under five and 20,000 pregnant women and mothers of children under two. It emphasized nutritional support during the first 1,000 days of a child's life, a critical window for development. Other donors committed to UNICEF to match France's contribution with an equivalent amount of funding, doubling the impact of France's commitment to Sudan's most vulnerable children.

On September 24, 2026, the UK announced GBP254 million (US$344 million) in new funding to expand voluntary family planning access for more than 15 million women per year across more than 50 countries, aiming to prevent 14 million unintended pregnancies and more than 35,000 maternal deaths by 2028.

The funding flowed through the CHOICES programme, the UK's largest investment in sexual and reproductive rights. UK Minister for Development Kirsty McNeill announced the funding, which supported experts working alongside the UNFPA and the CHAI across more than 50 of the world's poorest countries, including conflict zones.

The investment expanded access to high-quality contraceptives and safe abortion products for millions of women across 54 countries. It also expanded access to innovative, life-saving medicines for mothers and newborn babies.