I am now in a hilarious meeting. It is called the High Level Side-Event about ‘Innovative Financing for the MDGs’. It started by refusing entry to a group of forty people – journalists, NGOs, delegations – for half an hour. Nobody knew why. When w...

Some countries stage high-level side events to show their commitment to the MDGs or otherwise underline their own priorities. Today I went to one, organized by the German government and presided by German chancellor Angela Merkel herself. She mode...

I am in New York for the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). On Monday morning, the delegates from the UN member states will officially finalize the talks about how the targets set for 2015 can be met, despite the lack of progres...

I am in New York for the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). On Monday morning, the delegates from the UN member states will officially finalize the talks about how the targets set for 2015 can be met, despite the lack of progres...

This double summer issue of The Broker focuses a great deal on global issues, as usual. To balance this out a bit, though, this editorial will look at the nation state. Its decline has long been predicted, but recently proponents of the nation sta...

The Broker sprak uitgebreid met voormalig minister voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking Bert Koenders, over hoe het ontwikkelingsbeleid verder hervormd kan worden in de komende jaren. Koenders is voorstander van grotere aandacht voor mondiale vraagstukk...

The Broker spoke extensively

The Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organized a mini-conference on 9 April 2025 to discuss the WRR report. The officials were all ears: what did other ministerial departments, acad...

Is aid in crisis? Probably it is, but only in its current form. Because there will always be people who want to care for others in our interconnected world, whether for reasons of solidarity or ‘enlightened self-interest’. But, for the sake of arg...

De WRR heeft met haar rapport een genuanceerd en doorwrocht document neergelegd, waarin tal van deeldiscussies van de afgelopen jaren goed zijn samengevat. Het verdient dan ook een veel inhoudelijker debat dan de gebruikelijke versimpeling tot cij...