CPDE Communique on the Outcome of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development

The CSO Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE), through a small but diverse delegation of civil society organisations (CSOs) from around the world, actively engaged in the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) held in Seville, Spain,  under the International Development Cooperation (IDC) as well as the Feminist Workstreams of the CSO FfD Mechanism. CPDE brought grassroots voices and development effectiveness perspectives into this critical global policy arena.

Achievements

CPDE’s engagement at FfD4 reaffirmed the vibrancy and strength of the civil society constituency advocating for development effectiveness. Amid difficult political dynamics and competing narratives, 

CPDE notes significant policy gains in defending past commitments on IDC in the outcome document:

• Reaffirmation of development effectiveness principles, reinforcing the centrality of country ownership, inclusive partnerships, transparency, and accountability.
• Strong language on official development assistance (ODA) volume, with a clear call for donor countries to reverse aid reductions and increase the share of grant-based financing.
• Commitments to reduce fragmentation, promoting coherent, whole-of-system approaches to international development cooperation.

Further, some members acknowledge notable strengths of the Sevilla Agreement beyond IDC, including:

• Measurable target for developing countries to increase social protection coverage by two percentage points annually – fundamental to ensure that more countries meet SDG target 1.3 by 2030, and to unlock the benefits of universal social protection.
• Advances in fair taxation: commitment to promote tax progressiveness, tax transparency, and ensure fair taxation of corporations and the ultra-wealthy, as well as support the process towards a UN Framework Convention on Tax. 

The outcome document also made limited but meaningful progress in other areas, it also:

• Supported the UN’s leadership role in coordinating international development cooperation and called for a strengthened Development Cooperation Forum (DCF).
• Encouraged inclusive, country-led coordination platforms with the active participation of civil society and other stakeholders.
• Recognized the importance of high-quality, disaggregated data for monitoring and accountability, with references to the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (GPEDC) and the IATI.
• Promoted sustainability disclosures and safeguards for private sector actors, acknowledging concerns over greenwashing and pushing for sustainability benchmarks.
• Stronger criteria to make private finance work for development: some references to the monitoring and accountability mechanisms 
• Mentioned the need to improve effectiveness and re-center the IDC architecture, pointing to a recognition, albeit limited, of the need for reform.

One of the most significant achievements was CPDE’s co-leadership in developing and launching the 2030 Pact for Effective Development Co-operation—a collective call to action aimed at revitalizing effectiveness commitments and implementation.

Challenges

Despite these gains, CPDE expresses concern that the outcome document ultimately falls short in several critical areas:

• Lack of a formal intergovernmental process to reform the IDC architecture, representing a missed opportunity for transformative change.
• Weak accountability provisions that offer only vague references to existing frameworks like GPEDC, IATI, and SDG indicator 17.3.1 without committing to a comprehensive global accountability mechanism, and includes no binding norms for private sector engagement.
• Civil society’s role was also insufficiently recognized; it does not explicitly recognize civil society as a stakeholder in reform, nor does it ensure institutionalized CSO participation, resourcing, or enabling environments—undermining meaningful inclusion and oversight in development cooperation. 
• The central role of corporations and private investments in development, which remain unchecked and unmonitored in terms of fulfilling development objectives, respecting human rights and promoting gender equality.
• There is no acknowledgement of the underlying causes of the vulnerability and fragility of so-called “most vulnerable” countries or countries in conflict, nor of groups such as women or the migrants that suffer from inequality, patriarchal-colonial domination and the fiercest extractivism, making any initiative for justice and reparation impossible.
• There is no mention of states’ obligation to guarantee women and girls access to sexual and reproductive health services as part of their right to health, nor end the wage gap between women and men.
• Similarly, the increased vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples and its impact to their struggle on the right to self determination given the development financing landscape was not acknowledged except as participants to making decisions affecting them under provisions on private capital mobilization.  

CPDE also notes with concern the risk that donors may substitute revived effectiveness rhetoric for declining aid volumes, further deepening financing shortfalls. Moreover, the disconnect between global IDC policy processes and peoples’ real struggles—particularly those rooted in historical injustices of colonization and resource extraction—remains unaddressed. The prevailing narrative continues to frame development cooperation as benevolent support rather than a matter of global justice and equity.

Next Steps

In moving forward, CPDE commits to: 

• Reflecting on the FfD4 process and celebrating the contributions of grassroots, national, and global actors who sustained civil society’s engagement.
• Championing the 2030 Pact for EDC, ensuring it catalyzes a reinvigorated implementation of commitments on the volume and quality of ODA.
• Engaging in the strengthening of the DCF, to advance reforms in the global IDC architecture.
• Amplifying the voices of local and grassroots civil society, ensuring those closest to the ground shape development policy.
• Consolidating the platform and working in broad alliances, fostering unified civil society advocacy to hold governments, institutions, and private actors accountable 

The road beyond Seville is long and the political economic landscape treacherous, but CPDE remains resolute in its mission to promote effective, just, feminist and inclusive development cooperation that responds to people’s rights and dignity.