Accra Reset: President Mahama champions radical reimagining of global development

President of Ghana H.E John Dramani Mahama has unveiled the Global Development Reset Initiative, positioning the continent at the forefront of a revolutionary approach to global aid and cooperation.

Speaking at 80th UNGA, Accra Reset: Reimagining Global Governance for Health & Development in New York, President John Dramani Mahama delivered a powerful call for fundamental change in how the world approaches development challenges.

“The health crisis we face is not only a crisis of disease vaccines and hospitals, but also a crisis of social and economic inequality,” President Mahama declared. “It is a symptom of a deeper malaise in the global development architecture itself.”

The initiative, born from the recent Africa Health Sovereignty Summit in Accra, Ghana, represents a dramatic departure from traditional aid models that have dominated international development for decades.

President Mahama emphasized that the current system is fundamentally broken, stating: “The collapse of the legacy aid system, punishing debt burdens in the global south and fragmented supply chains are not isolated problems. The evidence that the very logic of global development as we have known it is no longer fit for purpose.”

The Global Development Reset aims to “rebuild global development around sovereignty, workability and shared value to make it possible to co invest, co design and CO create for shared prosperity,” according to Mahama.

The initiative identifies massive economic potential in what Mahama calls “trillion dollar opportunities for inclusive climate positive prosperity.” He noted that “The IMF estimates that emerging markets and developing economies will require $2.5 trillion annually in climate finance by 2030.”

Already, the reset has gained significant traction, with “more than $1 billion in reset compatible edges from African development finance, institutions and private banks” aligned with the new approach.

President Mahama was clear that this represents a fundamental shift in thinking: “Instead of limiting resilience, let us multiply it instead of setting new spending targets, let us measure the additional value that health, climate, resilience and food security can contribute to the global economy.”

The initiative proposes three fundamental shifts: a mindset shift recognizing global unpredictability, a focus shift from crafting goals to building executable business models, and a reality shift accepting diverse interests as fuel for pragmatic cooperation.

The reset envisions “a new global coalition, a partnership of the willing” that will include a Presidential Council of heads of state and government from Africa, Asia, Latin America and beyond, alongside a high-level panel drawing from health, finance, innovation and business sectors.

“Africa’s invitation is to co create a new operating system for World progress,” Mahama stated, emphasizing that while “Africa is only our starting point,” the reset has global implications.

Drawing parallels to past transformative moments, President Mahama referenced the Monterey consensus of 2001, noting: “The last major attempt to reset global development came with the Monterey consensus in 2001 for the first time, multilateralism formally shifted from a paternalistic approach to a partnership based one.”

He called on current leaders to show the same courage as previous generations: “History will ask whether this generation, in the face of crisis, rose to the occasion, and I believe that we can summon the same courage that people like Kofi Annan and olusung Obasanjo and other world leaders mastered when they mobilized the world against HIV and AIDS.”

The Global Development Reset represents more than policy change—it’s a fundamental reimagining of global cooperation. As President Mahama concluded: “Let this be a positive turning point where we rise as partners and take our destiny into our own hands for the present and future generations of the world.”

The initiative signals Africa’s emergence not just as a recipient of international aid, but as a leader in designing the future of global development cooperation.