✊🏾Last week in London, AFRODAD joined the Global Day of Action, challenging the policies of the @IMFNews and @WorldBankGroup. As these institutions met in Bangkok to shape financial policies with far-reaching consequences for people across the world, movements and communities were mobilising to demand a fairer global financial system. ⚠️ Across Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, Europe and North America, people are raising their voices against a system that too often places the burden of debt on citizens, undermines public services, and constrains countries’ development choices. ✳️ Our message is clear: Africa and the wider Global South need just and lasting debt solutions, including debt cancellation where necessary, to advance human rights, protect public resources, and finance sustainable, people-centred development. #AfricaEconomicJustice #DebtJustice #StopTheBleeding

#Bangkok2026 🟢 At the @IMFNews , @WorldBankGroup Annual Meetings, during the @_AfricanUnion side session on "Towards an Effective Debt Resolution Mechanism for Africa", AFRODAD's Executive Director Janet Zhou highlighted the critical role of CSOs in safeguarding social protection amid Africa’s debt challenges. She called for (i) automatic debt suspension during crises ✅, (ii) binding social protection floors ✅, and (iii) debt programmes that prioritise essential public services ✅. She also underscored (iv) the importance of citizen participation in shaping budget priorities, monitoring public expenditure, and transforming debt data into actionable information ✅. Janet further emphasised the need to operationalise existing African frameworks, including the African Debt Management Model (ADMM)💯, and the African Borrowing Charter 💯, to strengthen debt accountability and ensure that debt policies protect people and advance development. Africa’s debt resolution mechanisms must put people first, protect essential services, and uphold social and economic rights💯. @jayznotes #AfricaRuleMaker #ResistReclaimRiseUp #CancelTheDebt #DebtJustice

#Bangkok2026 🌍  ❗ As African countries navigate mounting debt burdens, climate-related shocks and growing development financing needs, the question is not only how countries borrow, but also how global financial institutions shape their economic choices and development trajectory. ✳️ AFRODAD & partners call for IMF surveillance and lending frameworks that put debt sustainability, fiscal sovereignty and people-centred development at the heart of economic policymaking. Economic advice and lending conditions must be assessed against their implications for public investment, social spending and governments’ ability to deliver essential services. ✳️ Addressing Africa’s debt challenges requires more than fiscal adjustment. It demands fairer global financial governance, affordable and development-oriented financing, stronger domestic resource mobilisation, action against illicit financial flows, and policies that expand fiscal space rather than deepen inequalities or undermine development gains. ✳️ As discussions unfold at the Civil Society Policy Forum during the 2026 IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, AFRODAD & partners underscore the need for African-led solutions and a global financial system that serves people and development, not debt repayment at the expense of both. Read more➡️o2o.to/i/WOaKxk #AfricaRuleMaker #ResistReclaimRiseUp #CancelTheDebt #DebtJustice

#Bangkok2026 #FromTheED #Wednesdays Following AFRODAD’s Executive Director Janet Zhou’s (@jaynotes) (contribution during the Southern-Led Global Debt Strategies event at the @IMFNews/@WorldBankGroup Annual meetings in Bangkok, we received this feedback⤵️, and we like it😊. “Janet’s recommendations were so specific! The issue of Debt sustainability analysis (DSA) designed by borrowers has been a challenge. There is going to be a need for the Debt movement to define key parameters in Debt sustainability and come up with a model like AFRODAD has done with the Borrowing Charter". Governments have inertia in developing a realistic DSA, but remain dependent on the IMF one and the minor modifications that may come with it. 📖 Check out the African Borrowing Charter: tinyurl.com/y329ybw3 🎥 Watch Janet Zhou’s contribution: youtu.be/9tjcre-s61s #AfricaRuleMaker #ResistReclaimRiseUp #CancelTheDebt

#Bangkok2026 🌍 Earlier today, AFRODAD’s @CMithia joined a side event organised by @fes_au, @latindadd, @ituc_africa and @Sudamericana to launch a new CSO Policy Brief on the Borrowers’ Platform. AFRODAD contributed a chapter on debt pause clauses and external shocks, proposing that the Platform leverage its peer-to-peer mandate to help borrowing countries incorporate these clauses into loan agreements. From commodity price volatility and financial tightening to geopolitical disruptions and climate crises, developing countries face recurring shocks that strain public finances. Debt pause clauses would allow temporary repayment relief during such crises, freeing fiscal space for urgent economic and development needs. 📚 The policy brief will contribute to the Platform’s knowledge repository, supporting peer learning and policy dialogue. AFRODAD champions practical solutions that strengthen borrower resilience and advance fairer, more sustainable debt practices. #AfricaRuleMakeR #ResistReclaimRiseUp #CancelTheDebt #DebtJustice

#Bangkok2026 🌍 How can the Global South collectively reshape the global financial architecture and advance solutions to the debt crisis? — On 13 October 2026, AFRODAD joined debt justice organisations and networks from across the Global South for the Southern-led Global Debt Strategies dialogue in Bangkok, Thailand, held on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings. Representing AFRODAD were Janet Zhou (@JayNotes), Executive Director, and Dr. @Yungong_tj , Policy Manager who joined fellow leaders from the @latindadd, @AsianPeoplesMvt , @eurodad and @JubileeUSA. The dialogue provided a platform to reassess the global debt crisis, examine the transformations needed in the international financial architecture, identify shared advocacy priorities, and strengthen joint campaigning strategies for the coming years. For AFRODAD, this engagement forms part of the broader movement to advance debt justice, strengthen collective action among African countries and the Global South at large, and promote a financial system that serves people and development rather than perpetuating debt inequalities. ✊🏾 The Global South must have a meaningful voice in shaping global debt solutions. 🔗 Read more➡️: tinyurl.com/47mdsrmw #AfricaRuleMaker #ResistReclaimRise #CancelTheDebt

#Bangkok2026 Speaking at the inaugural Borrowers’ Platform Governing Council meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, Janet Zhou (@jayznotes), AFRODAD’s Executive Director, challenged the creditor-dominated global debt system and called for a more democratic, borrower-centred architecture grounded in international law. “For long, creditors have set the rules, and these rules have failed to prevent the debt crisis and the debt distress that many of our countries face today.” She underscored the importance of the Borrowers’ Platform in advancing existing efforts to strengthen borrower agency, including the Common African Position on Debt, adopted by the African Union earlier this year, and the recent launch of the African Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA). AFRODAD has long advocated a shift from a creditor-centred debt architecture towards a democratic, rules-based system anchored in a United Nations Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt. The Borrowers’ Platform is a critical part of this transformation complementing broader reform efforts and providing borrowing countries with a stronger collective voice in shaping the decisions that affect their economic futures. Borrowers must have a meaningful say in the rules governing their debt. The time for a fairer, more democratic global debt architecture is now. Watch the video 👉 youtu.be/9tjcre-s61s #AfricaRuleMaker #ResistReclaimRiseUp #CancelTheDebt

At the international people’s assembly - Ambassador Hotel Bangkok, our own @johnoduk11 delivered a powerful Statement of Solidarity on behalf of AFRODAD & debt justice movements: Almost half of humanity (3.3 billion people) live in countries spending more on debt payments than on essential public services like health and education, making this illegitimate debt a colonial instrument used to exercise economic power over the Global South. We reject the compromises of the "Compromiso de Sevilla" that protect a wealthy status quo and sideline civil society, viewing the Sevilla outcomes as a baseline, not a ceiling, we demand deep structural transformations, tax reforms, and a UN Framework Convention on Debt. Furthermore, we call for binding principles to restrain private bondholders, automatic debt relief during crises, the centering of feminist political economy, and an end to the war economy's diversion of funds. Viva debt justice! Viva climate justice! 🌍 #AfricaRuleMaker #ResistReclaimRiseUp #CancelTheDebt #Bangkok2026

🌍 AFRODAD at the Inaugural Borrowers’ Platform Governing Council Meeting During the inaugural meeting of the Borrowers’ Platform Governing Council at the UN Centre in Bangkok, Thailand, on the sidelines of the IMF–World Bank Annual Meetings, Janet Zhou (@jayznotes), AFRODAD’s Executive Director, representing Global South CSOs, underscored a fundamental injustice in the international financial architecture: developing countries face borrowing costs much higher than those of advanced economies, while existing creditor-led debt restructuring mechanisms remain inadequate to deliver timely, fair, and sustainable solutions. She called on the Borrowers’ Platform to advance 3 strategic priorities: 🔹 Strengthen peer learning and collective action to help borrowing countries address the high cost of capital and negotiate from a position of greater strength. 🔹Reform and strengthen national legal frameworks to safeguard borrowing countries’ interests, enhance accountability and promote responsible lending and borrowing. 🔹 Build national capacity to conduct independent Debt Sustainability Analyses (DSAs), enabling countries to assess debt risks and make informed borrowing decisions based on their own development priorities. Reaffirming AFRODAD’s commitment to the Borrowers’ Platform, Janet emphasised the importance of a strong, structured partnership between governments and civil society. The latter must not merely be consulted- its evidence, expertise and lived realities must meaningfully inform the policies and decisions shaping the future of debt governance. #AfricaEconomicJustice #AfricaEconomicJustice #ResistReclaimRiseUp #CancelTheDebt #Bangkok2026

As the Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) launches, our Manager – Policy Advocacy and Research, Dr. @Yungong_tj , tackles the importance of this milestone: "Africa cannot achieve sustainable development when the cost of financing development itself is structurally prohibitive. The question is not simply how much Africa borrows, but also how African economies are assessed and priced in global capital markets." Therefore, AFRODAD welcomes AfCRA as a step towards a stronger African voice in the systems that assess, price and finance our economies, and we will keep pushing for the independence, transparency and rigour that will make it credible. hashtag #AfricaRuleMaker #AfricaEconomicJustice 📚 Read more: Challenges of Credit Rating Agencies in Africa: lnkd.in/d8VicYvN Reforming the Global Financial Architecture: lnkd.in/dMRRTWAi Debt Restructuring: A Pan-African Perspective: lnkd.in/dBJrgsVA AFRODAD Statement on the African Debt Monitoring Mechanism: lnkd.in/dFraf67q @_AfricanUnion @APRMorg

🌍 #Press The Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) was officially launched in Port Louis, Mauritius on 7 October. AFRODAD welcomes it as an important step towards strengthening Africa's financial sovereignty and addressing structural inequalities in the global financial system. However, as our Executive Director, @jayznotes, said, "AfCRA must earn trust through independence, transparent methodologies, technical rigour and strong governance. Its ratings must be trusted because they are rigorous, not simply because they are African. 📰 Read the story: bit.ly/3WfIw8s 📚 Read more: AFRODAD's work on credit ratings and Africa's financial architecture ➡️ From Continental Commitment to National Action: Reclaiming Africa's Economic Sovereignty (2026): bit.ly/4dryGGD ➡️ Debt Restructuring: A Pan-African Perspective (2024): bit.ly/4yJ4krC Challenges of Credit Rating Agencies in Africa (2023): bit.ly/4AURNmh ➡️ African Borrowing Charter: tinyurl.com/y329ybw3 #AfricaRuleMaker #AfricaEconomicJustice @_AfricanUnion @APRMorg

#FROMtheED on #Wednesdays: AFRODAD welcomes the launch of the Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA) as an important step towards strengthening Africa’s financial sovereignty and addressing structural inequalities in the global financial system. However, AfCRA’s credibility will depend on its independence, transparent methodologies, technical rigour, strong governance, and protection from political interference. It must provide ratings that are trusted because they are rigorous, not simply because they are African. 🔗 Read more: bit.ly/3TO2jLA #AfricaRuleMaker #AfricaEconomicJustice #AFRODADat30 @_AfricanUnion @APRMorg