For the past two decades, drawing on research I conducted for ODI Global—and earlier for the Gerhart Centre at the American University in Cairo — on how foreign policy priorities shape humanitarian and development donorship in the Arab region, I have engaged with senior officials from governments, civil society organisations, and UN agencies on the politics of the global aid system. A key interest of mine was the scope for complementarity between Western and Arab donorship, which I saw as an opportunity to build a more effective, inclusive, and connected aid system that is more than the sum of its parts, supported by the concept of Global Majority donorship. I continue to believe that global solidarity is most clearly demonstrated—and most rigorously tested—when the wealthiest and most capable nations join forces to support those in need.

The scope for solidarity today, however, is under threat. The Global Solidarity Report 2025 shows that global solidarity has been declining for more than a decade and that there are stronger incentives today to prioritise narrow national or political interests over a shared future. The aid sector mirrors this erosion. A recurring theme across many of my conversations has been mutual distrust, and research, drawing on a series of case studies from Western and Global Majority contexts, shows that when it comes to aid, interests often trump values.

Context Matters: Arab Donors as a Case in Point for the Future of Global Majority Donorship

Specifically, my work has focused on the years closely preceding and following the Arab uprisings, events many attributed in part to Western engagement and the funding of human rights organisations that challenged autocratic regimes. Here, Western support was often perceived as destabilising and Iraq loomed large—still raw—in collective memory as an example of Western intervention lacking accountability.

Around the same time, Arab donors were asserting themselves not as ‘new’ or ‘emerging’ actors, but as contributors with deep historical and cultural roots, particularly to Muslim-majority countries and communities worldwide. Several important spaces for thought leadership and strategic convening also began to take shape. In 2006, the Arab Foundations Forum was launched as a network of philanthropic foundations and donors across the Arab region, and the Gerhart Centre for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement was established at the American University in Cairo to document shifts in donor and philanthropic practices in the region. Then in 2008, the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists was launched in Istanbul and in 2009, the African Grantmakers Network (later African Philanthropy Network) was born.

Read the full article about global majority donorship by Sherine El Taraboulsi-McCarthy at Alliance Magazine.