Reflections from the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings 2026

In April, we attended the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, held across the week of 13–18 April 2026. It was a first for both of us, and by the end of the week it was clear why these annual gatherings hold such a central place in the international development calendar.

A week of wide-ranging conversations

The programme was dense from the outset. The first day opened with a two-hour IMF-IOSCO conference on market-based finance, followed by an IMF-led session on debt sustainability. Throughout the week, the Analytical Corner provided a well-curated series of thirty-minute discussions spanning a broad range of topics, offering a useful way to dip into areas beyond one's immediate brief.

The following day brought a set of events organised by civil society organisations, including a session on mental health as a foundation for economic recovery, and a discussion on who governs reconstruction in conflict-affected states. Given how profoundly conflict disrupts food systems, health infrastructure, and nutrition outcomes, it was a conversation that resonated with much of what we see in the countries where we work.

The latter part of the week centred on the Devex Impact House Capital Summit, including the Global Inclusive Growth Forum, which brought together a packed agenda of discussions on financing, systems change, and the future of international development cooperation.

Technology and the widening gap

Artificial intelligence featured prominently across a number of sessions, with perspectives ranging from the optimistic to the cautious. One figure from a discussion on digital sovereignty stood out: 90% of global AI capacity currently resides in the United States and China. The implications for low- and middle-income countries, where TPoN works, are significant. A session on AI in agriculture illustrated both the scale of opportunity and the scale of inequality. In Brazil, AI-assisted farming has helped farmers achieve yields of 10–12 tonnes of maize per hectare. In Nigeria, where adoption remains low, the average is closer to 2.5 tonnes. The same technology, the same crop, but dramatically different outcomes depending on access. For those of us working to improve food security and nutrition in these contexts, this kind of gap is a reminder that technology alone is not a solution without deliberate investment in equitable access.

Celebrating a long-standing partnership

One of the most meaningful moments of the week came one evening, when we met World Bank colleagues Abigail Perry and Lisa Saldanha for dinner. The World Bank has been one of our closest and most enduring partners since TPoN's founding in 2015. Over more than a decade, we have together delivered over $488 million of programming across eight countries, reaching more than 64 million women and children, saving more than 35,000 children's lives, and averting over 450,000 cases of anaemia among pregnant women.

These numbers matter. But what was equally clear over dinner was the quality of the relationship behind them: shared values, mutual accountability, and a genuine commitment to asking whether we are achieving the best possible outcomes for the families and communities we serve. Meetings like this one, face to face and outside the usual rhythms of programme management, are a reminder of why partnerships of this depth and duration are worth sustaining and building on.

You can read more about our partnership with the World Bank here.

We also recently reflected on this decade-long collaboration in a Devex op-ed. 

Looking ahead

A week at the Spring Meetings is not a quiet one. Between sessions, we managed to take in some of Washington's sights, including a walk past the White House, a reminder that the city hosting these conversations is itself a centre of global decision-making. Reflecting now on those five days of discussions, on debt, digital transformation, climate, conflict, and the future of development financing, we are struck by both the complexity of the challenges nutrition sits within, and the importance of being present in these spaces. Nutrition is not a niche concern. It is connected to virtually every dimension of human development, and making that case to the right audiences is part of what TPoN does. We look forward to continuing to build the partnerships that make sustained impact possible.