Rethinking Development: Toward Collective Stewardship of Our Shared Future

As part of the “Grand Entretien” featured in issue 19 of Global Challenges, this interview brings together Agi Veres, Director of the UNDP Office in Geneva, and Marie-Laure Salles, Director of the Geneva Graduate Institute, for a conversation focused on the future of development. Agi Veres examines how global trends are redefining development cooperation beyond the traditional donor-recipient model. The discussion covers the impact of current funding pressures, the emergence of new partners from the private sector to philanthropic foundations, as well as how technological transformations are redefining both the work of the UNDP and the development sector as a whole. They reflect on what a reinvented development paradigm might look like, one that takes into account geopolitical shifts and Geneva’s role in this mission. The conversation ultimately suggests that the future may be less about development as “catching up” and more about the collective stewardship of our shared future. Recorded at the Geneva Graduate Institute (April 28, 2026), with technical production by Boris Palefroy and Michelle Olguin Flückliger.