Catherine Cheney

Senior Editor, Special Coverage at Devex

Senior editor, special coverage @devex. Bringing the editorial vision of events to life. Taking a @soljourno approach to #SDGs. [email protected].

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Articles

Exclusive: Donors commit $10M to include African languages in AI models

2 months ago | devex.com | Catherine Cheney

The Gates Foundation and other donors from the AI for Development Funders Collaborative are pledging $10 million to ensure AI models are more inclusive of African languages. Devex spoke with experts on why that matters. The rise of artificial intelligence has the potential to accelerate progress on a range of global development goals.
Finland’s development minister on the impact of far-right parties on aid

2 months ago | devex.com | Catherine Cheney

Listen to "Finland’s development minister on the impact of far-right parties on aid" on Spreaker. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, YouTube, or search “Devex” in your favorite podcast app. Ville Tavio, Finland’s minister for foreign trade and development, is a member of the Finns Party — formerly known as the True Finns, a right-wing, nationalist, anti-immigrant political party that has risen to become the second largest in Parliament. Access news, newsletters, events and more.
Gavi CEO outlines ‘leap into 6.0’ strategy, putting countries first

2 months ago | devex.com | Catherine Cheney

Sania Nishtar, the CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance sees the organization’s new five-year strategy, dubbed “Gavi 6.0,” as an opportunity for a reset. She provided Devex with an exclusive preview. Listen to "Davos Dispatch: Gavi CEO outlines 'leap Into 6.0' strategy, putting countries first" on Spreaker. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, YouTube, or search “Devex” in your favorite podcast app.
What role can the private sector play at the ‘finance COP’?

Nov 21, 2024 | devex.com | Kate Warren |Catherine Cheney

Listen to "What role can the private sector play at the ‘finance COP’?" on Spreaker. Listen on Spotify, Soundcloud, or search “Devex” in your favorite podcast app. At climate conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, Devex explored how private sector leadership can complement global climate efforts, with insights from Bayer, a global company focused on health care and agriculture, and Mars Inc., the food services company that is the world’s leading manufacturer of chocolate.
At COP29, leaders push for adaptation funding amid rising climate risks

Nov 16, 2024 | devex.com | Catherine Cheney |Jesse Chase-Lubitz

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or search “Devex” in your favorite podcast app. While countries have made strides in securing funds for loss and damage, finance for climate adaptation has lagged, leaving regions on the front lines underprepared. At the United Nations Climate Conference, COP29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, Devex spoke with several leaders about ways to increase climate adaptation finance in the face of escalating climate impacts.
Collective leadership is key to lasting impact, in education and beyond

Nov 1, 2024 | devex.com | Catherine Cheney

At Devex World, Wendy Kopp, Musimbi Kanyoro, and Jaime Saavedra expand on the People First Community's argument that collective leadership is the X factor in global development. Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach for America and CEO of Teach for All, a global network of organizations working in 63 countries, believes that with enough leadership, it’s possible to change anything, including education. But that requires prioritizing people over things.
Why philanthropy should embrace the idea of ‘just big enough’

Oct 30, 2024 | devex.com | Catherine Cheney

Kevin Starr of Mulago Foundation; Raj Panjabi of Last Mile Health; and Anne Marie Burgoyne of Emerson Collective show how philanthropists can shift from funding linear growth to making strategic handoffs that enable more impact. Many nonprofits and NGOs are excited about the rise of big-bet philanthropy, a growing trend in which funders make multimillion-dollar investments with the goal of transforming a sector.
How to go from digital silos to inclusive digital public infrastructure

Oct 29, 2024 | devex.com | Catherine Cheney

At Devex World, CV Madhukar, CEO of Co-Develop, highlights the urgency of supporting equitable access to essential services. India is often considered a model for inclusive digital public infrastructure, or DPI — a network of digital platforms that enables governments to provide essential services to citizens.
How philanthropy can move from quick wins to long-term impact

Oct 29, 2024 | devex.com | Catherine Cheney

Lever for Change's Cecilia Conrad and JustSystems' Rakesh Rajani explain how philanthropy’s traditional focus on quick, measurable outcomes prevents them from supporting systems change — and what can be done about it. Many philanthropists don’t want to wait to see the results of the project they fund. This funnels money into projects with immediate, observable, measurable results.
Want inclusive AI? Teach it to speak more languages

Sep 27, 2024 | devex.com | Catherine Cheney

The rapid development of artificial intelligence is leaving low- and middle-income countries behind, due in large part to the lack of digitization of the vast majority of the world’s languages. While there are over 7,000 languages spoken globally, AI models, and particularly large language models, or LLMs, are predominantly trained on just two languages — English and Mandarin.