Development-Finance

Duration: 07/09–10/09/2026

Teaching format: Classroom

Course objective:

We are living in a time of fundamental shifts to the geopolitical and socioeconomic order. Old models of international cooperation are disappearing, new actors are taking the stage, and the definition of "development" is in question. At the same time, many of the challenges motivating international development over the past 80 years remain.

In this four-day course, participants will explore how the development finance landscape is evolving in response to this new reality and what it might mean for development cooperation practitioners. The course focuses on development finance trends and policy debates now underway and their implications for current development practices.

Through case studies, debates, and expert discussions, participants will learn to identify the effects of these shifts and build strategies to adapt to these new realities.

Target participants include development practitioners searching for the
best role in this new context, private investors leveraging investment for
impact and civil society stakeholders seeking to shape policy debates.

Key topics:

• The politics of development finance, including the role of Switzerland and the G20.
• The evolving role of multilateral development institutions, including the World Bank.
• New sources of development finance including China, private investors and climate funds.
• Innovative finance tools directed toward solving climate and nature challenges
• Growing challenge of sovereign debt in emerging and developing countries
  

ECTS points: 3

Examination: An in-class written exam will be held on the last day of the course.

Course fee: CHF 950

Lecturers:

The course will be led by Dr. Chris Humphrey, a development finance expert with 20 years of experience advising governments and development agencies, and includes a superlative group of external experts on specific topics

• Friederike Pohlenz, Lead for International Financial Institutions at the Swiss State Secretariat for International Finance
• external page Manuel Etter, Head of UN and Multilateral Agencies at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
• external page Nilima Gulrajani, Principal Research Fellow at ODI Global
• external page Kristina Lanz, Expert on International Cooperation at Alliance Sud
• external page Martin Stadelmann, Principal Advisor on Environmental Finance at the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment
• external page Stefan Flückiger, Board Member of Nature Finance Accelerator