Money is promised, but where does it go? For decades, world leaders have pledged to unlock financing for sustainable development, yet young changemakers still struggle to access resources. The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development is approaching, and the question remains: Will the world finally deliver on its commitments?

At our first of five Engine Room for the Future Pitstops of 2025, we brought together on an intergenerational panel for their take on Financing the Future – where financing is failing, what bold action is needed, and how young people can reshape the conversation. The session featured global leaders, economists, and young changemakers discussing debt relief, sustainable financing, and global accountability.

📺 Want to watch the full conversation? Watch the full Pitstop discussion on YouTube.

Every major decision – about education, healthcare, jobs, even climate action – comes down to one thing: how it’s funded.

Right now, in many young countries – where 50-80% of the population is under 30 – governments are forced to spend five times more on debt repayments than on their own people.

Imagine if your country had to make the choice – fund hospitals or climate adaptation programs, or spend that money paying back creditors. Imagine being told there simply isn’t enough money to invest in your education, healthcare, or future – because it’s all being used to repay loans taken out decades ago under unfair terms. 

As Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin put it during the Pitstop, "That’s not just bad economics – it’s intergenerational injustice."

Attempts to close this financing gap are nothing new. The 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda promised to mobilize resources for youth-led development, yet ten years later the barriers remain. The FfD4 conference presents a rare opportunity to push for financial reforms that ensure young people are not just consulted, but prioritized. 

Ahead of this crucial date, our Pitstop discussion explored why financing is broken and how we can fix it.

The Debt Trap

Maureen Makungu, a young leader from Zambia, described how debt repayments are directly affecting her country: "We face a lot of challenges in education – there are no desks in schools, no books, and not enough teachers. When it comes to healthcare, there are no hospitals designed for children. Imagine standing in line as a sick child next to adults, waiting for help that might never come."

Hanief Ebrahim added that Zambia’s struggles with debt restructuring highlight how slow and ineffective the process can be: "Zambia took over three years to conclude just the Memorandum of Understanding with official creditors. These systems are taking too long and costing lives."

María José Romero reinforced the idea that debt relief needs to be about justice, not just extending payment timelines: "Debt restructuring must be about justice. It cannot just be about extending payment periods – it has to fundamentally change how finance flows to the Global South."

Gustav Krigslund-Hansen criticized the reliance on GDP as a measure of development, explaining that it fails to capture inequalities and sustainability. He shared his firsthand experiences that saw economic policies prioritized profits over people: "In Ghana, nearly 90% of fishing trawlers were owned through opaque agreements with foreign corporations, depleting marine resources and leaving local fishermen out of jobs."

So, what must change?

1. Development should not be measured by financial expansion alone – it must include well-being, sustainability, and resilience.
2. We need a shift toward economic models that prioritize communities, not just market growth.

Credit Ratings Are Holding Back the Global South

Dr. Jacob Assa explained how credit rating agencies assign lower scores to African nations, making borrowing more expensive: "When you have a low credit rating, you borrow less, you pay more in interest, and foreign direct investment doesn’t come to your country."

He called for global investors to rethink how they assess risk: "Zambia and Spain once got the same interest rate on a Eurobond, even though Zambia’s credit rating was lower. That proves investors make decisions beyond ratings – we need to shift this thinking."

The global financial system was built for a different era, and many of today’s economies – especially in the Global South – are excluded from decision-making, trapped in unfair debt, and forced to rely on outdated institutions. Our panelists explored what needs to change:

María José Romero called for a UN-led review of international financial institutions (IFIs), arguing that organizations like the IMF and World Bank are "undemocratic and accountable mostly to their major shareholders, not to citizens." She warned that without reform, these institutions will continue "reinforcing the status quo of a creditor-led, fragmented debt system."

Hanief Ebrahim echoed this, pointing out that IMF reform has been on the G20 agenda since 2008, yet little has changed. He urged African states to push for fairer representation and called on the G20 to "deliver real financial justice, not just policy statements."

Elizabeth Sidiropoulos highlighted that South-South financial cooperation is already reshaping development finance. She pointed to BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as institutions that "lend in local currencies, reducing debt burdens and offering alternatives to the IMF and World Bank." Though still small in scale, she argued that these models prove that "the way we think about development finance is shifting."

Dr. Jacob Assa exposed how biased credit ratings make it more expensive for developing countries to borrow, even when their economies are performing well. Noting that  "subjective credit rating methodologies cost African nations $74 billion annually in higher interest rates and lost investments", he called for transparent, data-driven credit assessments that don’t penalize countries based on outdated stereotypes.

If FfD4 Doesn't Deliver?

• The next generation will inherit a financial system designed to exclude them.
• Developing countries will continue to spend more on debt than on people.
• Youth-led innovations will remain locked out of financing opportunities.

What Must Change?

1. A commitment to bold, structural reforms – not just temporary relief.
2.  Financing structures that prioritize long-term investment over short-term debt cycles.
3. A real plan for accountability – so that FfD4 is remembered for action, not just speeches.