Feminist Reflections on the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development
By Grace Arina, African Feminist Tax Initiative (TJNA/NAWI)
The Rabat Roadmap, formulated from the Global Feminist Convening—a notable initiative led by feminists from the Global Majority and convened by MENAFem and WEDO in Rabat, Morocco in May 2025—advocates for the unconditional cancellation of debt owed by the Global South, the allocation of grants for climate finance to support feminist and community-led initiatives, a democratized global economy founded on South-South cooperation, and the cessation of Global North dominance over financial institutions. The Roadmap promotes economies rooted in care, sustainability, well-being, and justice. It was our aspiration that the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) would act as a catalyst for meaningful transformation and herald the beginning of a new global financial paradigm. Regrettably, the outcomes of the conference failed to fulfill our expectations.
First of all, the Compromiso de Seville, the official outcome document of FfD4, was adopted prior to the conference’s commencement. This preemptive adoption is highly problematic as it facilitated the dilution of critical provisions of the text due to a show of bad faith by several Global North countries. Furthermore, the adoption process was characterized by opacity, backroom negotiations, and a lack of transparency and accountability, which undermined its credibility. This situation exemplifies the prevailing dominance and exclusionary nature inherent in the current global financial system, which, in its present form, lacks mechanisms for equitable power sharing, accountability, and integrity. This underscores the urgent need for comprehensive reform.
In Sevilla and beyond, civil society organizations, including grassroots movements, trade unions, feminist organizations, indigenous groups, and youth-led groups, came together prior to the conference to convey a clear and urgent message that the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ constitutes a political failure and a betrayal of those directly confronting systemic crises. Systemic change is required, the statement indicates, by reconfiguring the current international financial architecture to one that centers human rights, opposes austerity and democratizes global economic governance. They posited further that decision-making across all international financial institutions be democratic and coordinated under the leadership of the United Nations.
Secondly, establishing a fair and inclusive global tax system through the creation of a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UNFCITC) is crucial to halting hegemonic global tax policies, curbing tax abuses by corporations and high-net-worth individuals, and ensuring that tax systems are human rights-centered, focused on public service provision, progressive and gender responsive. Global South countries have led the charge in reforming the international tax system, most notably the Africa Group, which had been advocating for stronger language in the outcome document during the FfD4 preparatory meetings and intersessional discussions, albeit seemingly in vain due to the dilution of the final text.
Thirdly, regarding debt and austerity, the first draft outcome document showed promise of ambition; however, the Compromiso de Sevilla completely watered down the language proposed by the Africa Group, the Alliance of Small Island States and the Lome Declaration by the African Union. While it calls for an intergovernmental process, the Compromiso lacks real commitment to reforms, limiting it to mere recommendations. Moreover, the outcome document was keen on maintaining the status quo, i.e., debt cancellation was not at all considered and debt governance is still led by IFIs—the main purveyors of unsustainable debt and harsh austerity measures that trap Global South countries in debt.
A binding UN Convention on Sovereign Debt is necessary to ensure a fair and transparent multilateral sovereign debt mechanism that delivers faster, fairer and orderly debt restructurings and cancellations for borrowing countries and ensures that the debt cancellation process is not only just and transparent but also centers human rights, social protection, gender equality, climate vulnerabilities and sustainable development.
Furthermore, trade is another pivotal issue that the outcome document inadequately addresses. It is imperative that global trade regulations uphold national sovereignty and align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, the dynamic nature of digital trade in Africa calls for just regulation. Digital labor platforms are expanding into vital economic sectors, including transportation, domestic, and care work, as well as content moderation. However, these emerging employment forms are marred by persistent injustices such as precarity, disposability, and violence, disproportionately impacting women and other vulnerable groups. Furthermore, the notion that the digital economy is inherently inclusive is misleading; it in fact consolidates corporate dominance over data, technology, and livelihoods, while simultaneously undermining rights protections and democratic spaces.
To support gender equality, decent work, sovereignty, and local industry development, global trade governance must be democratized to include more voices from the Global South. It should also address issues like gender-based violence in cross-border trade by implementing protective protocols that safeguard the safety and dignity of all women traders. Moreover, global intellectual property rules should be revised to ensure fair access to public goods. Governance frameworks ought to inculcate data sovereignty, promote equitable access to technology, and enhance digital inclusion for women, girls, and marginalized communities.
The outcome document further entrenches the dominance of private finance, promoting blended finance as a strategy to diversify funding sources and increase access to private capital. This trajectory not only commodifies essential public services but further exacerbates sovereign debt burdens, with detrimental effects on the Global South countries and vulnerable populations, who are often transformed into profit generators for large corporations. Development finance ought to be reoriented from private to public and people-centered.
Moreover, wealthy nations are reducing Official Development Assistance (ODA) budgets and withdrawing from their obligations, while increasing their defense expenditures. The diversion of development cooperation toward security objectives perpetuates inequality and violence. The outcome document fails to mention militarism, military spending, or war, despite it being used as a tool to dominate territories and markets for critical minerals. Furthermore, feminists have long been raising awareness on the disproportionate effects of conflict on women, girls, and other vulnerable groups who are susceptible to violence, displacement, and limited access to essential services. Furthermore, they face an increased risk of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, which is used as a weapon of war. Global security must be redefined to prioritize peace over extraction and violence. While the Global North diverges from gender equality as a policy agenda and continues to prioritize defense spending, the UN and its member states must commit to and support UN-wide feminist funding for women’s organizations, girl-led organizations and civil society to promote care, sustainability, well-being and justice.
Last but certainly not least, development finance must cater for climate and environmental justice and address the climate crisis through structural economic transformation rooted in climate justice and reparations and meaningfully address care work, an important part of social reproduction which encompasses biological reproduction, daily survival, the accumulation of education and skills necessary for participation in the capitalist economy and the acquisition of essential household skills required to sustain the patriarchal and capitalist economies we exist under. Care should be the foundational pillar of economic and development policy and must be integrated into macroeconomic planning.
Despite the disappointment with the FfD4 outcome document, hope persists. The Rabat Roadmap emerged at a highly timely moment, essential for advancing economic and climate justice. It advocates for justice by challenging the exploitative and environmentally damaging global financial system that also violates human rights. The document highlights that genuine justice involves liberating our economic and governance systems from imperialist control and creating a new world order rooted in sovereignty, solidarity, and gender equality.