As the financing for development community prepares to gather in Seville for next week’s 4th International Conference on Financing for Development, the Global Partnership’s CEO has made a call to safeguard the data that drives sustainable development.
In a letter to the Financial Times, Claire Melamed highlighted how recent U.S. data cuts are impacting lives around the world, derailing development initiatives, and revealing the fragility of key data sources.
Ahead of next week’s conference, Claire sets out key steps to strengthen and protect national data systems, and why governments must lead the way.
“[America’s data cuts] are disrupting governments’ and NGOs’ ability to run programmes, from supporting pregnant women in Pakistan to conserving the rainforest. U.S. data is a global public good, and one that’s more fragile than we thought.” - Claire Melamed, CEO, the Global Partnership
In the letter, Claire outlined some practical, affordable steps that can be taken and urged governments to take the lead on investing in data, including making better use of technology, utilizing new data sources, and reviewing existing spending to invest in a robust data infrastructure.
Read the letter in the Financial Times.
The fourth International Conference on Financing for Development takes place in Seville, Spain from 30 June to 3 July, 2025.
