Nobody asked about the benefits of a looming global trade war, or cuts in foreign aid, but that was the kind of answer given. At the Skoll World Forum 2025 in Oxford, UK, thought leaders in social innovation struck an optimistic note about what this is all leading to. It may be, they say, that the global upset of the moment could snowball into a new paradigm in development, and how we pay for it.
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“In the big picture, I really see a more equitable world. I think so far, we still have a lot of U.S.-Europe domination. I think that’s going to shift. You know, we are going to have much more of the middle ground coming. More of Africa, more of Asia,” Jeroo Billimoria, President, One Family Foundation, says.
Equitable development was the first prediction, and collaborative development was the second. Leadership for development will drift away from governments, especially governments in the Global West. Instead, collaborative development will thrive between many stakeholders, with local communities at the center, Billimoria says.
“We are going to reorder the powers that be” – Neera Nundy, Dasra
Neera Nundy Co-Founder of Dasra took up that thread, saying the shift underway is a source of optimism and energy, at least in India and Asia.
“We are going to reorder the powers that be,” Nundy says. “It is no longer going to be the Global North. It is no longer going to be U.S. aid. It’s no longer going to be aid. It’s going to be our Asian money. It’s going to be our Indian families and our Indian companies that are going to change.”
How will stakeholders organize at the grassroots? It should be manageable with AI tools, the panelists say. AI tools can map the needs of communities and shape their development.
Jim Fruchterman, who introduced himself as a “tech and data nerd” attending a talk at Skoll, is a celebrity in the tech-for-good community. Fruchterman has discussed AI options with social entrepreneurs and seems to approve of the direction the technology is now taking.
“I just want to say, they’re thinking a lot about how to use AI now in a sensible way, as opposed to the crazy way a few years ago,” Fruchterman says. “And a lot of what they want to do is they want to empower communities, families, individuals and farmers. They want to give them better tools and better knowledge. And AI used for that, that’s the kind of thing we really need to be emphasizing. It’s either that or making it possible for one lone NGO worker to do the work of five, because that’s what we’re asking them to do.”
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Embracing technology should come with caveats about handling data. Experts agreed that AI and other software tools should be bound by responsible policies for handling data, but they could work.
A power shift in development could begin with catastrophe, and indeed the abrupt shuttering of the U.S. Agency for International Development this year has deadly consequences for people in need of life-saving medicine and food. But a shift enabled by technology has the potential to be smoother, more easily facilitating communication and the small donations and purchases that characterize a decentralized funding system.
“I think philanthropy will democratize, to move to become more retail,” Nundy says. “It will no longer be these large institutions really setting the agenda. I think if we get it right, there will be technology that will allow an everyday person who wants to participate in some change, shape and form.”
