Global Public Investment: A new way of financing global challenges?

We know that the SDG commitments to solve common global challenges cannot be met by ODA alone, and that ODA itself comes from a limited pool of donors, at times with conditionalities, and is based on their own national priorities. Away from this charity model, Global Public Investment (GPI) proposes that all countries commit funds for global public goods based on capacity and responsibility, allowing countries in need to access the funds, and that decision-making structures are representative. The hope is that this approach will provide the long-term investments we need to meet shared global ambitions.

As part of the Global Public Investment Network (GPIN), DI is encouraging national government actors to increase their political support for the GPI concept and principles through national policy narratives, processes and mechanisms. We’re supporting regional and global intergovernmental structures to champion GPI within new and existing fora and funds for regional and global common benefits.

If you would like to learn more, you can contact DI's Martha Bekele.

Our work promoting African leadership of GPI

In 2023, DI held meetings with national CSOs, academic institutes and policymakers in Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Namibia, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. We provided background on the GPI concept to help build support for the idea. The organisations then championed the concept and made it relevant to their own context, sectors and issues. The topics selected include climate finance, the just energy transitions and the African debt crisis.

Each organisation then held a roundtable, bringing other national actors into the co-creation process, to share knowledge and help identify opportunities for the new GPI approach to achieve maximum impact. The discussions also identified challenges in both practicality and mindset, for the concept hinges on conviction – equity, solidarity, responsibility for issues that transcend boundaries. These discussions were captured in a series of technical notes and workshop reports, which outline how global and regional financing mechanisms might be reimagined in the light of GPI’s principles to enable policies and investments that improve the lives of people experiencing poverty, inequality and crisis.

We will continue working with these organisations as they encourage their governments to support GPI.

You can read more about the roundtables here:

And see links to technical working papers from our partners:

“GPI has the potential to transform lives in Africa based on its premise to address the systemic issues that plague the existing financial mechanisms” – Dr Rose Ngugi, Executive Director, KIPPRA, Kenya

“It is time for all African countries to work together to mark this transformation in international cooperation” – Professor Mengistu Ketema, CEO, Ethiopian Economics Association

Key projects and publications

Africa can contribute, Africa must benefit and Africans must decide on financing to tackle the climate crisis Creating, not fixing: A new financing paradigm for Africa Reflections on the future of financing for development in the countries with the greatest needs Should Global Public Investment finance social protection?

Increasing political support for GPI through networks

DI is a founding member of the GPI Network (GPIN), which enables diverse stakeholders – from NGOs to academic institutions and individual GPI supporters – to align strategies, share progress and coordinate advocacy. It leverages the expertise and energy of its members to intensify the call for a global commitment to GPI and to bring it to the attention of governments and multilateral organisations around the world.

Stephen Chacha, Director of DI’s Africa Hub, is also Chair of the Steering Committee of GPIN. Through this role he leads GPIN's movement-building, strategy and the transition from the 'what' to the 'how', helping to create an innovative finance mechanism that aims to mobilise more and better financial resources to tackle 21st-century challenges.

In 2023, DI contributed to the GPIN report ‘Time for Global Public Investment: Leaders and experts rethink sustainable development finance’. It features essays from eminent economists like Mariana Mazzucato, Thomas Piketty and Jayati Ghosh, to government agencies (Chile, Colombia and Norway). From climate leaders like Saleemul Huq to health leaders like Winnie Byanyima. From the think tanks of Africa and Europe, Asia and Latin America to global campaigners and local NGOs. Stephen Chacha and Martha Bekele (DI’s Delivery, Quality & Impact Lead) provided an essay “Promoting African leadership in GPI”.

Key projects and publications

Time for Global Public Investment: Leaders and experts rethink sustainable development finance Global Public Investment and ocean protection