Theory of Change

Rachel Kyte has spent decades shaping global climate change policy — from the World Bank to the United Nations to the United Kingdom. More than a decade since the signing of the Paris climate agreement, Kyte — the U.K. special representative for climate — is both inspired by how much has been done to tackle the climate crisis, and clear-eyed about the fact that it is not enough."It's joyful, tinged with deep sadness and regret,” she told Devex Senior Reporter Michael Igoe on the latest episode of Theory of Change.Against the backdrop of a sweltering London Climate Action Week, Kyte outlined her vision for “financing climate.” That is a vision that stretches well beyond the narrower realm of “climate finance,” to include bolder transformations of trade, international relations, and public services."People want affordable electricity, they want clean air, they want clean water, they want protection against extreme heat, and they want flood control,” Kyte said."We have to be much better at taking the message to people and speaking with optimism and hope about why this is good for them,” she added.

Development economist William Easterly famously does not mince words about the disappointments of anti-poverty megaprojects and far-fetched foreign aid plans.For much of his career, Easterly has taken aim at experts who export their visions onto other people’s countries and communities — drawing from his own experience as one of those very experts.In his latest book, “Violent Saviors: The West’s Conquest of the Rest,” Easterly unearths the long history of what he calls “the development right of conquest,” a worldview that has sacrificed individual rights and agency at the altar of material gain. He traces the long-standing tension between those who pushed for development at all costs and the dissenting voices who resisted them.In the fourth episode of Theory of Change, Easterly unpacks the implications of that history for contemporary development efforts. He reflects on what alternative approaches to improving human well-being might look like — and what role aid institutions should play in pursuing them.“There’s this technocratic illusion that you can reduce development to just technology and effectiveness of achieving measurable gains and these technical indicators of well-being,” he tells Devex Senior Reporter Michael Igoe. “I think we all realize deep down the fantasy of keeping things purely technocratic is really a fantasy, that there really is a whole other dimension,” Easterly says.

U.S. foreign aid is undergoing one of the most tumultuous transformations in its history.The Department of Government Efficiency’s dismantling of USAID and transfer of its remaining programs to the State Department upended the U.S. global development industry. But it’s much more than a question of organizational charts and institutional responsibilities.At stake are fundamental questions about America’s national interests, how the well-being of people in other countries should influence economic and trade policy, and the nature of public support for a long-term vision of development investment.Gayle Smith has faced those questions from a variety of vantage points — senior director for development and democracy on the White House National Security Council, USAID administrator, CEO of the ONE Campaign.In this episode of Theory of Change, she shares a candid assessment of where the fight for U.S. leadership in global development should go from here — and who should lead the charge.

Much of Seth Berkley's career has been an attempt to answer the question: How do you get vaccines to people who aren’t well-served by an inequitable global health system?When the COVID-19 outbreak exploded in early 2020, that question took on new urgency — along with a mind-spinning slew of political, economic, technological, and cultural complications.Berkley, then the CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, had a pretty good idea what was coming. As early as February 2020 he was warning publicly that if researchers were successful in developing a COVID-19 vaccine, lower-income countries would struggle to access them.That is exactly what happened. It is also what led Berkley to help launch COVAX, the global initiative to deliver COVID-19 vaccines around the world.In the wake of the pandemic, the relationships between politics, society, and vaccines have only grown more fraught. One example: Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has personally intervened to block U.S. funding to Gavi.Berkley, a physician and infectious disease epidemiologist, joined Devex’s Theory of Change podcast to discuss the lessons of the COVID-19 response, the long and complicated history of humanity’s relationships with vaccines, the incredible potential of new technologies — and the deeply troubling risks that some of them pose.His new book is called “Fair Doses: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity.”

Coefficient Giving, one of the world’s largest effective-giving funders, is about to go even bigger.On the heels of its biggest funding year ever in 2025 — in which it channeled over $1 billion to highest-impact causes — the organization formerly known as Open Philanthropy and funded by Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna is eyeing annual growth upward of 50% and bringing on more staff to get it done.The person behind that vision is Alexander Berger, Coefficient Giving’s cofounder and CEO. Berger is in charge of turning Facebook wealth — and, increasingly, funds from other donors — into as many lives saved and improved as possible. The organization is a major funder in global health and development, catastrophic risk, research and innovation, and even farm animal welfare.Last week, Coefficient Giving launched a new pooled fund to tackle Group A Streptococcus — an easily treated disease that is still responsible for nearly 700,000 deaths a year — a cause that reflects the organization’s framework for tackling problems that are important, neglected, and tractable.In a rare, in-depth interview with Devex Senior Reporter Michael Igoe, Berger sheds light on Coefficient Giving’s rapid growth plans, its strategy for choosing high-impact causes, the rise of artificial intelligence philanthropy, and his own approach to affecting change in an uncertain world.This is the first episode of Theory of Change, a new podcast series from Devex featuring candid interviews with leaders shaping the future of global development.