Policy Updates

On September 24, 2026, Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Espen Barth Eide, announced that Norway would provide NOK125 million (US$13.2 million) in additional support to Palestine through UN and World Bank channels, including budget support to the Palestinian public sector.

Minister Eide stated that international support to Palestine was more urgently needed than ever before. He noted that the funding would be delivered through UN agencies and the World Bank, with part of the package allocated as budget support directly to the Palestinian public sector. The announcement reflected Norway's continued engagement in supporting Palestinian institutions amid ongoing needs in the region.

On September 17, 2026, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) signed a project agreement to implement an urban climate resilience project in Ethiopia, marking the first GCF project implemented by KOICA.

The Building Urban Climate Resilience through Nature-based Solutions in Ethiopia project reflected a shared commitment to supporting country-led climate action. With US$25 million in GCF financing and US$22 million in KOICA co-financing, the project aimed to help Addis Ababa and Jimma address growing risks from floods and heat through nature-based solutions. Planned activities included the restoration of forests, wetlands, and river corridors, as well as investments in greener and more climate-resilient urban spaces.

On September 23, 2026, the European Commission announced EUR505 million (US$587 million) in financial support for Lebanon for 2026 and 2027, the second tranche of the EUR1 billion package that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced during her visit to Beirut in May 2024.

The funding aimed to help Lebanon advance key reforms, strengthen its economic recovery, enhance security and border management, and maintain essential services for vulnerable populations. It also aimed to help Lebanon address the consequences of regional instability, conflict, and displacement.

The package targeted three areas.

• First, it supported basic services, including education, health, social protection, and water access, and financed cash assistance for vulnerable families and people with disabilities, as well as access to primary healthcare. It also supported durable solutions for refugees from Syria, including safe, voluntary, and dignified returns, while helping Lebanese authorities progressively take over essential services.
• Second, it supported Lebanon's reform agenda in the justice sector, oversight and regulatory bodies, Parliament, and human rights, alongside efforts to strengthen the security sector, border management, private sector resilience, and economic recovery in conflict-affected areas.
• Third, it supported civil society organizations working on the rights of women, young people, minorities, and people with disabilities, as well as initiatives promoting democratic participation, transparency, and anti-corruption efforts, and helped protect Lebanon's cultural heritage.

On September 23, 2026, during UN High-Level Week, Ireland's Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora, Neale Richmond, announced EUR40 million (US$47 million) in funding to the GPE, to be disbursed from 2026 to 2030.

Richmond made the announcement in his capacity as Ireland held the Presidency of the Council of the EU. He framed the pledge as part of a broader Team Europe commitment to global education, and said that investing in education was among the most effective ways to reduce poverty, promote equality, and support sustainable development.

On September 22, 2026, during a meeting of the SDG Advocates group joined by UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, and Spain's Third Vice-President and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Sara Aagesen, Spain's President, Pedro Sánchez, called for renewed ambition on the SDGs.

The discussion addressed measures to close the SDG funding gap and advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Sánchez argued that the next four years offered sufficient scope to accelerate implementation of the goals agreed in 2015 and to renew global ambition toward the 2030 targets. He stated that four years represented a significant span of time in political terms and asserted that the 2030 Agenda served the broader population rather than a narrow elite.

Sánchez also pointed to the outcomes of the Financing for Development Conference held in Seville, Spain, in 2025, which resulted in more than 100 initiatives to strengthen financing mechanisms for the SDGs. Aagesen also participated in the SDG Advocates meeting.

On September 21, 2026, during a CEPI side event at the 81^st session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 81) Ethiopia, Norway, and the United Kingdom announced pledged total of US$240 million to support the CEPI's five-year plan to strengthen global epidemic and pandemic preparedness.

Norway pledged NOK1 billion (US$106 million), and the UK pledged up to GBP100 million (US$134 million). Ethiopia committed to continue its existing financial support for CEPI, without specifying a new amount.

The pledges will support CEPI 3.0, the organization's strategy for 2027-2031, which aims to systematically reduce the likelihood, impact, and cost of epidemics and pandemics. The combined US$240 million commitment reflected continued donor support for pandemic preparedness financing following the COVID-19 pandemic.

On September 20, 2026, Swiss FDFA confirmed Switzerland moving forward with plans announced earlier in the summer to reduce its priority partner countries for development assistance from 34 to 21 starting in 2029, with several middle-income countries losing support.

Nepal, Armenia, Georgia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Tunisia were reportedly among the countries from which Switzerland planned to withdraw development assistance. The SDC also planned to reduce the number of multilateral organizations it supported, from 24 to 18.

A foreign ministry spokesperson clarified that the official list included 21 priority countries, correcting an earlier report of 20. Outside of these priority countries, the SDC planned to maintain its commitment in six humanitarian contexts characterized by protracted crises.

On September 18, 2026, the Dutch cabinet announced EUR18 million (US$20.9 million) in total funding to support medical evacuations and healthcare services for children and patients affected by the conflict in Gaza.

A EUR12 million (US$13.9 million) package was announced for urgent medical care for sick children in Gaza, aiming to evacuate 250 seriously ill and injured children from Gaza to Jordan for treatment. The Dutch government partnered with the WHO to facilitate large-scale medical care for the evacuated children.

The cabinet also allocated an additional EUR2 million (US$2.3 million) to Save the Children to support the care of hundreds of patients who had already been evacuated from Gaza to Egypt for treatment. In addition, the cabinet directed EUR4 million (US$4.7 million) to the WHO and the Dutch Red Cross to strengthen healthcare systems in Gaza and the West Bank.

In September 2026, the FCDO released new figures showing that the UK's ODA budget fell to 0.44% of GNI in 2025, with the world's lowest-income countries bearing the largest share of cuts under Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government.

The new figures showed that overall UK ODA decreased by GBP987 million (US$1.3 billion) in 2025, dropping from 0.5% to 0.44% of GNI. Funding to 'LDCs' and low-income countries fell by 6.7%, a reduction of GBP118 million (US$160 million), while higher-income countries saw their share of the UK's development budget increase.

On September 17, 2026, UN Women and the UN DESA released the Gender Snapshot 2026 report, warning that one in three institutions built to advance gender equality had their power eroded over the past two years, with funding for gender equality falling to its lowest level since 2021, and no single indicator under SDG 5 on track to be met by 2030.

The Gender Snapshot 2026 report found that around one in four gender equality institutions saw their operating budgets cut over the same two-year period, and nearly one in 10 lost control of their budgets entirely. Amid these funding cuts, 42% of UN entities reported a weakening of their gender equality efforts. Women held only 6% of corporate CEO positions globally and led fewer than 20% of the highest courts. Six in seven countries were led by men, with close to nine in 10 defense ministers and more than eight in 10 finance ministers being men.