Advocating for multilateral solutions to global challenges
The urgency of maintaining international unity has never been clearer. Conflicts, climate change, and economic crises—intensified by opposing political currents—are straining the foundations of multilateral cooperation. Building the case for action and offering practical solutions is vital to re-establishing faith in multilateralism and driving necessary reforms. Among the most pressing needs is addressing global financing gaps, particularly for developing economies and the Global South, where systemic challenges like rising debt, inequality, and the lack of effective funding mechanisms threaten long-term stability and progress.
Through high-level convenings and cross-regional dialogues, this workstream supports the creation of coalitions advocating for shared global solutions. CIC’s focus is to align multilateral reforms with the realities of today’s geopolitical and economic landscape, looking to find ways to bolster the system’s ability to respond to the ongoing polycrisis, financing shortfalls, and double standards.
In 2025, a critical area where multilateralism created meaningful impact was Financing for Development—a process in which the outcome document, the Compromisso de Sevilla, signed on July 3rd 2025 at The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, helped to determine the upcoming decade of development financing. This process occurred amidst a landscape of escalating debt levels, deepening inequality, and financing mechanisms available to developing countries becoming increasingly insufficient.
CIC’s focus in this area included pushing for systemic reforms that enable equitable access to finance, with an emphasis on debt sustainability, reform of multilateral development banks (MDBs), as well as boosting domestic resources mobilization through fair tax policies and international tax cooperation.
Through strategic speaking engagements, policy publications, and direct input into key negotiation processes, CIC ensured our research and recommendations in these areas contributed meaningfully to negotiations for the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development process and its outcome document. Additionally, this workstream actively engaged in efforts to build cross-regional common ground to advance a more equitable financing system that responds to the needs of developing economies, along with providing technical assistance to regional groups to support them in articulating their priorities during this process.
What are the short- and long-term solutions to tackling the global debt crisis? This blog considers how we need to make sufficient, reasonably priced financing available and create an institutional mechanism that guarantees an equal playing field for all actors in the debt ecosystem to truly tackle the challenges faced by the current sovereign debt architecture.
Explainer on what Special Drawing Rights are, and how their full potential can be unlocked in the current Global Financial Architecture landscape in light of the upcoming 4th Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4).
This short article explores how Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) can help low-income countries address the “trilemma” of slow growth, rising debt costs, and global trade disruptions. It highlights actionable strategies for MDBs to close financing gaps, support fiscal stability, and promote sustainable economic growth.
Experts from NYU’s Center on International Cooperation share key perspectives, highlighting critical trends and developments to watch in 2025. They underscore the urgent need for collective action and innovative solutions to rebuild confidence in multilateral approaches and foster a more peaceful, just, and inclusive world.
This blog examines the International Development Association (IDA)’s historic USD 24 billion replenishment—an achievement that still misses global targets. Despite early pledges, a vast funding gap remains vast, highlighting the need for systemic change ahead of FfD4.
Betty Wainaina, Program Director of the Multilateral Reform Program at the Center for International Cooperation at New York University, views the Pact for the Future, adopted at the UN Summit of the Future, as both a milestone and a document with significant weaknesses.
Civil society groups, international think tanks, and advocacy organizations came together to urge G20 finance ministers to invest in financing for development, and to include policies that address people and planet—while advancing the sustainable development goals.
This blog highlights the urgent need for reforms to mobilize trillions in global financing through possible sources such as Official Development Assistance, Multilateral Development Banks, domestic revenue mobilization, private capital, and addressing the cost of debt.
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