Policy & practice seminar: Reimagining the future of Global Majority Giving

How can global majority giving help shift power, legitimacy and agenda-setting within the global aid architecture? This panel brings the strategies, experiences and perspectives of Global Majority donors, philanthropists and impact investors to the forefront of debates on the future of global aid. It examines the evolving role of Global Majority giving within the aid system and how it is adapting to geopolitical, fiscal and institutional uncertainty. As traditional donors reduce, redefine or redirect their development and humanitarian commitments, urgent questions arise about who will finance global public goods, whose priorities will shape the next phase of reform, and what forms of cooperation can respond credibly to overlapping global crises. 

Drawing on ongoing research in this area by the Global Majority Giving Initiative (GMGI), hosted by the Arab Foundations Forum in partnership with the University of Westminster, the discussion focuses on three interconnected financing spheres: donorship, philanthropy and impact investing. It explores how Global Majority governments, philanthropic organisations and impact investors are positioning themselves within a rapidly changing aid landscape, and whether the current "aid reset" presents a genuine opportunity to rebalance power, legitimacy and agenda-setting within the global aid architecture—or simply reproduces existing inequalities in new forms. 

Tania Cheung is the Head of the Shifting the Power Programme at Comic Relief. She has previously worked at ODI Global, as Senior Communications Officer for the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) and Humanitarian Practice Network (HPN). Tania has a background in print and digital communications, with experience working along the Thailand-Myanmar border and with Palestinian humanitarian organisations.

Barbara Lethem Ibrahim is the founding director of the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at the American University in Cairo. A prominent sociologist of the Arab world, she has published widely in the areas of gender and health, Arab philanthropy, women’s employment, and youth studies. She serves on numerous international boards, speaks widely on the current youth generation in Egypt and the Arab region, and is a Core Group Member of the Arab Families Working Group. She received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Association of Middle East Women’s Studies in 2003, and was inducted into the International Educators’ Hall of Fame in 1999.

Adam Harris is a Professor in Development Politics in the Political Science Department and School of Public Policy at University College London. His research focuses on ethnic, race, development, and African politics with a focus on political participation using experimental and survey methods. His recent book, Everyday Identity and Electoral Politics: Race, Ethnicity, and the Bloc Vote in South Africa and Beyond (published with Oxford University Press in 2022), explores voting behaviour in South Africa.

Francis Meyo, CEO of Busara

Chair: Sherine McCarthy

This event will be recorded and the video will be uploaded to our YouTube channel.

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Seats are allocated on a first come, first served basis. We cannot guarantee you a seat, but it is very unusual that we have to turn someone away.

• The corridor outside the lecture theatre(s) is sufficiently wide enough (150cm+) to allow wheelchair users to pass.
• There is step free access into the lecture theatre(s).
• The door opening width(s) is/are 75cm+ for the lecture theatre(s).
• There are designated spaces for wheelchair users within the lecture theatre(s), located at the back.
• There is level access to the designated seating from an entrance.
• There is space for an assistance dog.
• There is a hearing assistance system for the lecture theatre(s).
• There is not a visual fire alarm beacon in the lecture theatre(s).

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2026 is the year in which we celebrate UCL’s Bicentenary, marking 200 years since UCL’s establishment as the first University in London.

UCL Political Science and School of Public Policy are celebrating with a programme of seminars that relate to one of UCL's core research themes: Fairer Futures