Start with the good news from this week’s finance for development conference in Addis Ababa: at least it got the narrative right.

Three key messages stand out.

First, that no one gets left behind: governments committed to a “global social compact” that promises universal access to social protection, a crucial way of unlocking the sustainable development goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030.

Second, that everyone has a part to play in financing development: the private sector (emphasized much more powerfully in Addis than in the 2002 Monterrey Consensus), aid donors both old and new, and developing countries themselves as they increase tax revenues.

And third, that the only development worth having is sustainable development: correcting an omission in the Monterrey Consensus, which barely mentioned environmental issues, and climate not at all.

But as far as concrete actions are concerned, there’s no debate on whether the glass was half full or half empty: it was dry.

Continue reading on The Guardian.