A joint initiative between the University of Bergen
and CMI – Chr. Michelsen Institute
The end of development aid as we know it?
22.05.2025
13:00 - 15:00English
Evolving geopolitics, changing world order, and declining resources for development.
USAID In 2024, development aid from members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee fell by 7.4 percent in real terms compared to 2023 – the first drop after five years of consecutive growth. In 2025, major donor countries announced further cuts in their aid budgets, partly to allow for increased military spending.
Within shrinking aid budgets, increasing portions have been allocated as civilian aid to Ukraine and to cover the costs of hosting refugees from Ukraine in donor countries. In the US – accounting for nearly 30 percent of total global aid from the OECD – the Trump administration has suspended most aid and is withdrawing from major multilateral development organisations and initiatives.
Global trade wars pose further challenges, constraining development prospects and making progress in meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 even less likely.
This seminar will examine these evolving changes and discuss their implications for Norwegian development policies.
Presentations and panel conversation with:
- Jon Lomøy, Norwegian diplomat and former director of Norad
- Trine Østreng, International Advisor, Agenda
- Remarks from Elling Tjønneland, Senior Researcher at CMI
Moderator: Hilde Selbervik, U4 Director
- About Elling Tjønneland’s work at CMI by Torunn Wimpelmann, Research Director
Welcome to this event marking Elling Tjønneland’s career at CMI on the occasion of his retirement.
Facebook eventEvent info.
Bergen GlobalJekteviksbakken 31, Bergen
22.05.2025
13:00 - 15:00
English
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Trine Østereng
International advisor, AgendaTrine Østereng is an advisor to the think tank Agenda. She is a political scientist and has previously worked as deputy leader of the secretariat of the Socialist Left Party's parliamentary group.
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Elling N. Tjønneland
Senior Researcher, CMIPolitical scientist focusing on development and development assistance, rising powers and African development and a strong emphasis on South Africa and Southern Africa.
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Torunn Wimpelmann
Research Director, CMITorunn Wimpelmann is a political ethnographer whose current focus is on the intersections between gender, political and legal orders in contemporary Afghanistan.
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Hilde Selbervik
Director, U4Hilde Selbervik is a contemporary historian with research interests in developing aid, human rights, economic and political reforms, conditionality and international negotiations.
Read moreTrine Østereng
International advisor, Agenda
Trine Østereng is an advisor to the think tank Agenda. She is a political scientist and has previously worked as deputy leader of the secretariat of the Socialist Left Party's parliamentary group.
Elling N. Tjønneland
Senior Researcher, CMI
Political scientist focusing on development and development assistance, rising powers and African development and a strong emphasis on South Africa and Southern Africa.
Tjønneland is a political scientist with more than 30 years of experience focusing on a range of development issues and development aid and with a strong geographical focus on Africa, South Africa and Southern Africa. He has led numerous international assessment and evaluation teams commissioned by a range of Norwegian, international and African institutions.
He has field experience from many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This includes Angola, Botswana, Cambodia, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malaysia, Malawi, Mocambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Palestine, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Torunn Wimpelmann
Research Director, CMI
Torunn Wimpelmann is a political ethnographer whose current focus is on the intersections between gender, political and legal orders in contemporary Afghanistan.
Torunn Wimpelmann completed her PhD on gender violence in Afghanistan (SOAS). Her main field of research is gender politics and legal reform in Afghanistan, where she has done several years of fieldwork.
She is the author of The Pitfalls of Protection. Gender, Violence and Power in Afghanistan ( University of California Press, 2017) and has published in Central Asian Survey, Women’s Studies International Forum , Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Men and Masculinities and the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, as well as various University Presses.
Wimpelmann is currently researching the relationships between law, religion and Afghan gender politics and activism.
Hilde Selbervik
Director, U4
Hilde Selbervik is a contemporary historian with research interests in developing aid, human rights, economic and political reforms, conditionality and international negotiations.
Bergen Global is a joint initiative between the University of Bergen and Chr. Michelsen Institute that addresses global challenges.
