President John Dramani Mahama, serving as the African Union Champion for African Financial Institutions, has unveiled the Accra Reset, a bold new framework aimed at overhauling global development institutions, financing, and partnerships as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) era nears its end.

The launch took place at a high-level side event during the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, bringing together heads of state, multilateral leaders, and private sector partners.

Mahama warned that the existing development architecture is collapsing, citing the reversal of two decades of progress due to COVID-19, worsening climate shocks pushing millions into hunger, and unsustainable debt burdens that leave many countries spending more on interest payments than on health and education.

With fewer than half of the 169 SDG targets on track, he stressed the urgency of moving beyond “development-as-usual”.

“The world is only five years from 2030. The question is not simply what replaces the SDGs, but how to design institutions and financing systems that actually work,” Mahama said. “Workability is the name of the game—innovative financing instruments, new business models, and smarter coalitions that multiply resources rather than ration them.”

The Accra Reset rests on three pillars: sovereignty, workability, and shared value. Health will be the first area of focus, with plans to transition from aid dependency to health sovereignty, building on commitments from the Africa Health Sovereignty Summit held in Accra in August 2025.

A Club of Accra coalition will pilot innovative financing and investment initiatives across health, climate, food security, and job creation. Additionally, a Global Presidential Council—bringing together leaders from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and beyond—will provide political leadership and accountability, supported by a Global College of Advisors composed of eminent experts in health, finance, innovation, and business.

The initiative drew widespread backing:

* Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo urged a break from aid dependency.

* Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown endorsed the Reset as “a plan for the future.”

* Kenyan President William Ruto (via statement) emphasized financing national ambitions and accountability for universal health coverage.

* Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley pledged support for skills and industrial policies to advance pharmaceutical manufacturing.

* Access Bank Chairman Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede promised strong private-sector engagement.

* Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO) and Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (WTO) affirmed institutional support for “rewiring” global norms.

Closing the event, Mahama recalled the 2001 Monterrey Consensus that gave rise to initiatives like GAVI and the Global Fund, declaring that the world now needs “a new vision of multilateralism—one that shifts from wish lists to engines of sustainable value creation.”