MARTHA REPORT 2027

Mobilizing Action for Resilient Transformation and Human Advancement

Infrastructure development has moved to the centre of global development. While large projects often grab headlines, they can privilege individual investments in a make-believe vacuum, obscuring what really matters, the systems that allow people and communities to access opportunities.

The infrastructure that people can access and use, within ever expanding economic and social opportunities, is essential to human development, whose goal is for people to live lives they value and have reason to value. A world with stronger healthcare, education, transport, financial and community systems is flush with possibilities, the realization of which is both a matter of human development and a means to advance it.

Going forward, development depends less on what individual projects can deliver and more on mobilizing local institutions, communities and resources to build systems that can continue to function, grow and respond to people’s needs.

Instead of focusing on isolated interventions, this report asks what choices can be made so that stronger development infrastructure across developing countries creates new pathways for communities, helping more people have a shot at thriving, building resilient livelihoods and shaping their own future.