International Cooperation for Sustainable Development

From Aid Shock to Resilient Systems: Civil Society Sustainability in a Shifting Development Finance Era

Karsten Weitzenegger — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 05:29:24 +0000

(TL;DR) This issue paper by the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) argues that the 2025 USAID stop-work order was not merely an external shock but the predictable consequence of deeply entrenched dependency mindsets within West African civil society organisations (CSOs). The paper diagnoses five limiting thought patterns that hinder resource mobilisation and long-term sustainability, ... Read more

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Evaluation Insights: EU Recovery and Resilience Facility

Karsten Weitzenegger — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 06:02:29 +0000

Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming (TL;DR) The EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, the EU’s EUR 723.8 billion pandemic recovery instrument, is broadly on track at its halfway point. By end 2023, EUR 225 billion had been disbursed and roughly 75% of planned milestones met, with economic modelling projecting a GDP boost of up ... Read more

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Plastic Packaging and Food Waste in Latin American Retail

Karsten Weitzenegger — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 18:47:47 +0000

(TL;DR) A GIZ-commissioned study examines how plastic packaging practices in supermarkets across Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico intersect with food loss and waste (FLW), concluding that material substitution alone cannot solve either crisis: systemic redesign of retail models, supply chains, regulatory frameworks, and consumer engagement must be pursued simultaneously and coherently, since up to 56% of ... Read more

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Green economy and rural livelihoods in Africa: pathways towards an inclusive transition

Karsten Weitzenegger — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 05:46:29 +0000

An EADI webinar shows that a genuinely green economy in rural Africa depends on three things working together: locally affordable climate-smart practices for smallholders, coherent national and regional policies that connect research with practice, and climate finance that explicitly supports a just transition with strong community agency. It highlights how programmes like the Great Green ... Read more

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AI in Monitoring & Evaluation – Glocal Evaluation Week 2026

Karsten Weitzenegger — Tue, 26 May 2026 10:42:54 +0000

(tl;dr) The Global Evaluation Initiative has released a landmark white paper timed to Glocal Evaluation Week 2026. It gives M&E professionals a structured framework for asking better questions about AI, and the answers may surprise you. Barely a week passes without a new AI tool, guidance note, policy statement, or webinar landing in the inboxes ... Read more

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Skills on the Move: Key Takeaways from the DC dVET BarCamp

Karsten Weitzenegger — Fri, 22 May 2026 11:49:52 +0000

(TL;DR) On 6 May 2026, the DC dVET kicked off its anniversary BarCamp webinar series with “Skills on the Move: How Migration Intersects with Dual VET”. Keynote speaker Helen Dempster (CGD Europe) argued that TVET investments and labour mobility pathways must be designed together from the start, not treated as separate tracks. A panel covered ... Read more

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Evaluation Insights: Strengthening Ukrainian SME Competitiveness Under Wartime Conditions

Karsten Weitzenegger — Wed, 20 May 2026 07:42:51 +0000

Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming ReACT4UA / EU4Business — Central Project Evaluation GIZ, Commissioned by BMZ | Co-financed by the EU and Norad | Ukraine | 2020–2025 Context Ukraine’s path toward EU accession has unfolded against the backdrop of one of the most severe crises in contemporary European history. The ReACT4UA / EU4Business ... Read more

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Global Gateway as Geopolitical Tool: What Changes for Development Policy

Karsten Weitzenegger — Tue, 19 May 2026 13:18:35 +0000

Europe’s latest Foreign Affairs Council in its Development configuration on 18 May 2026 marks a quiet but significant shift: EU development cooperation is being recast as a geopolitical tool, with Kaja Kallas openly calling for aid, trade and security partnerships to be more tightly aligned with Europe’s strategic interests. A development council in a new ... Read more

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Evaluation Insights: Sparkassen as Partners in Transformation

Karsten Weitzenegger — Wed, 06 May 2026 22:24:23 +0000

Series Evaluation Insights for Policy and Programming Evaluation Report: Program Evaluation of the KVP of the Deutsche Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation (DSIK) Evaluator: Madiba Consult GmbH, Bonn Commissioned by: Deutsche Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation (DSIK) Funded by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Overall Rating: 86/100 — Successful (Level 2, OECD-DAC Scale) ... Read more

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Why local knowledge matters for cities

Karsten Weitzenegger — Wed, 06 May 2026 11:16:50 +0000

(TL:DR) Local knowledge is a city’s hidden strategic asset: when municipalities, communities, universities and businesses connect what they already know, they can drive transformative learning, social innovation and more resilient urban development, instead of relying mainly on imported expertise. The article concludes that urban practitioners should start with mapping existing knowledge, value qualitative methods, design ... Read more

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Decentralization in Africa: Time for a Strategic Reset

Karsten Weitzenegger — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 06:55:13 +0000

(TL;DR) Germany has invested heavily in decentralization in Africa and achieved real improvements at the local level, but national power structures remain largely centralized, so a strategic reset is needed to align future support with political realities, focus on fewer but stronger programs, and embed decentralization more smartly in democracy, service delivery, and sector reforms. ... Read more

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Rebuilding Trust Before Rebuilding Walls: Social Cohesion Lessons from Irpin, Ukraine

Karsten Weitzenegger — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:05:48 +0000

Physical reconstruction alone will not restore Ukraine. Evidence from war-torn Irpin shows that without deliberate investment in civic trust, bricks and mortar risk becoming monuments to elite capture rather than pillars of democratic recovery. The German Platform for the Reconstruction of Ukraine recently hosted the event Reconstructing Trust: Social Cohesion and Recovery in War-Torn Irpin. ... Read more

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