At the United Nations general assembly (UNGA) a year ago, the billionaire philanthropist worried that global development was losing its intellectual stars.

A generation of leaders was starting to retire or pull back from prominence, including people whom organizations such as the Ford Foundation originally identified and supported years ago.

Due to kick off in January, Pathways will likely fund research around the future of work, access to services such as finance and health care, and safety nets to protect the poor and powerless.

The initiative is co-chaired by Gates, Indonesian finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, and Strive Masiyiwa, founder and executive chairman of Econet, a telecom conglomerate.

But when they discussed Pathways with governmental and institutional leaders, “one of the things we heard most often is we’re being inundated—mostly in a good way—with specific ideas, but there’s not enough conversation about the grand vision,” said Gargee Ghosh, the Gates Foundation’s director for development policy and finance.