The end of aid? Africa in the new global order

The Trump Administration’s approach to Africa – closing USAID and reducing aid flows, criticising formerly close partners such as Nigeria and South Africa, and promoting “transactional” dealmaking – is widely regarded as a harsh ending to decades of US policy. However, it fits a broader pattern of western policy rethinking towards the continent, with most European states diminishing aid flows, experiencing and end to the political consensus around aid provision and rethinking the basis of their engagement with Africa. Simultaneously, Africa is developing closer relations with non-western states such as China, India and the Persian Gulf. This event will discuss the economic and political impact of the end of the aid paradigm, US unilateralism and great power rivalry on Africa, and how the continent’s economies are adapting to the changed international order. 

Speakers

Arancha Gonzalez, Dean, Paris School of International Affairs
Arancha González is the Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) at Sciences Po and the first woman to lead the world's third school for Politics and International Studies.  In 2024 she was elected President of APSIA, the association that brings together the world's leading schools of international affairs and diplomacy. Prior to joining PSIA, Ms González served as Spain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation (2020-2021). She previously was Assistant-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the International Trade Centre (2013-2020). Between 2005 and 2013 she served as Chief of Staff to the Director-General of the World Trade Organization. Before that she held senior positions at the European Commission in the areas of international relations, trade and development. Ms González started her career as a lawyer in the private sector.  A Spanish national, Ms González holds a degree in law from the University of Navarra and a Master in European Law from the University Carlos III of Madrid. 

Kako Nubukpo, economist, former Minister of public policies, Togo, and Commissioner, West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA)
Kako Nubukpo is Full Professor in Economics at the University of Lomé (Togo) and formerly Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management at the University of Lomé.  He is a Former Togolese Commissioner in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) based in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), in charge of Agriculture, Water Resources and Environment (2021-2024). He is a Former Minister of Long-term Strategy and Public Policy Evaluation of Togo (2013-2015). He is also a Senior Research Fellow at The Agricultural Research Centre of International Development (CIRAD), based in Paris (France), and a member of The French Development Agency (AFD) Scientific Council.

David Pilling, Africa Editor, Financial Times
David Pilling is Africa Editor and columnist at the Financial Times. He leads the FT’s coverage of sub-Saharan Africa  across business, economics, politics, development and culture. He has been an FT foreign correspondent and commentator for 30 years. He was previously Asia Editor and Assistant Editor, when he led the FT’s coverage from China, India and Japan and across a geographical range from Afghanistan to Australia. At that time, he wrote a weekly column on Asian business and politics. He  has held positions as Tokyo Bureau Chief, Pharmaceuticals Correspondent, Deputy Features Editor and Buenos Aires/Santiago Correspondent.  Pilling is the author of two books, The Growth Delusion (2018), shortlisted for the Orwell Prize, and Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival (2016), a book that drew on his experiences living in Japan as a foreign correspondent. Both have been translated into several languages including Japanese.

Nicholas Westcott, former director for Africa and Middle East of European External Action Service, director, Royal African Society, and UK High Commissioner to Ghana 
Nick Westcott is Professor of Practice in Diplomacy at SOAS University of London and a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Martin School.  He was formerly a British diplomat, serving in Brussels, Tanzania, Washington DC, and as British High Commissioner to Ghana and Ambassador to Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger and Togo (2008-11) before becoming the EU’s Managing Director for Africa and then the Middle East (2011-17).  He was Director of the Royal African Society from 2017-23. He has a PhD in African history from Cambridge University, and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Chatham House.  He is the author of How to be a Diplomat (Routledge, 2025), and Imperialism and Development: The East African Groundnut Scheme and its legacy (James Currey 2020).

Chair: Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, CERI - Sciences Po/CNRS