International development as a practice in the Western world, seems to be at a crossroads. With Europe increasingly turning its focus to defence–often at the expense of foreign aid budgets–the outlook for state-led development is bleak. Worse still, under Donald Trump’s presidency, the US adopted an isolationist stance and emphasised ‘government efficiency’, leading to deep cuts in its foreign aid budget. As the U.S. accounted for around 20% of OECD countries’ aid budgets, this has had a significant global impact.
This shift comes at a time when global influence is changing, especially regarding the developing world. China now leads in infrastructure investment through initiatives like the Belt and Road. Additionally, peacekeeping and security efforts–particularly in Africa–are increasingly being led by Russia and China. It appears the West is relinquishing its agenda-setting power in international development, and I believe this may have something to do with a poor public understanding of the sector beyond policy and academic circles.
Personally, I’ve never met a person (outside the field or academia) who understands what I mean when I say “international development”. For most, they tend to understand it to mean something vaguely related to building projects or charity. I think this gap in understanding stems from a near-total absence of meaningful media coverage.
We come to understand the world around us, and what matters within it, through the information available to us. In today’s world, media–traditional and digital–plays a pivotal role in shaping this understanding, particularly regarding issues beyond the scope of our daily lives. In Britain, for instance, the news media industry is considered ‘highly monopolised’, according to the Competition Market Authority (CMA). Just six firms control over 80% of print media circulation, with similar patterns being seen across the TV news sector. Across the limited political spectrum represented by the mainstream media, international development is rarely discussed–and when it is, it’s often through a narrow, neoliberal economic lens.
The result? Development is an issue people don’t understand well enough to care for. This is why major policy shifts–such as the withdrawal of two leading donor countries from the development space–have barely caused a stir. We can’t rely on traditional media to cover development in a progressive or critical way. Doing so would challenge the very economic and political assumptions these media channels are built upon.
This is where One World Together comes in. OWT’s mission—to promote progressive, inclusive, and people-powered narratives—couldn’t be more timely. As traditional media outlets sideline or distort international development, the need for authentic storytelling has never been more urgent. Development isn’t just about infrastructure, or aid budgets, or statecraft—it’s about people. It’s about the communities that are too often spoken for rather than listened to.
Through OWT’s work, they are elevating the voices of those on the frontlines of change—activists, educators, organisers, and everyday citizens reshaping their own communities. They are countering harmful tropes, questioning established power dynamics, and fostering a deeper understanding of global development.
As OFCOM data shows, up to 7/10 people in the UK rely on social media for at least some of their news–on par with television. The old argument that digital media lacks the prestige and credibility no longer holds with the public. This also comes at a time when newspaper circulation is down. People are looking for new ideas and new places to find them. Pair this with the shifting currents in the international development paradigm and it seems there is an opening to be captured. Now where our understanding of development can be redefined on a major scale.
Despite the broad shift to right-wing conservatism amongst new-media platforms under the Trump administration, we have not entered the Orwellian-thought police era of social media. This is to say, we are still able to express new and radical ideas through new media and reach a wide audience directly.
If we want development to mean more than buzzwords and budget lines, we need stories that are honest, grounded, and globally inclusive. We need to shift who gets to tell those stories—and who gets to hear them.
The currents of international influence may be shifting, but so too is the power to define them. If media shapes understanding, and understanding drives action, then new media—when used authentically and intentionally—can be a powerful tool for global change.
Written By Robert Smith
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