Emerging Markets and Developing Economies (EMDEs) face acute financing constraints due to elevated debt burdens amidst growing development and climate-related needs. The structural asymmetries of the international monetary system exacerbate these challenges, particularly through pro-cyclical capital flows toward EMDEs that lead them to accumulate reserves for precautionary purposes. Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) offer a concrete alternative to address these asymmetries and financing needs. However, its current design and allocation system pose challenges. In this policy brief, we focus on the ones related to SDR allocation criteria and propose some guidelines and concrete alternatives on how this could be reformed to harness the use of SDRs for crisis management and financing for development. The current allocation mechanism largely favours advanced economies – countries that neither need nor significantly use SDRs. Therefore, we propose a needs-based approach that incorporates metrics of financial and structural vulnerabilities. While acknowledging the political challenges of such reform, the brief outlines recommendations for designing a technically feasible and transparent allocation framework.