World News | As a Future of US Foreign Aid Cuts Comes into Focus, So Do Efforts to Respond
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. With most programmes funded by the US Agency for International Development cut and the agency's remaining staff told their jobs will end by September, the reality of the Trump administration's sudden halt to more than 60 years of international development work has sunk in.
Washington, Apr 8 (AP) With most programmes funded by the US Agency for International Development cut and the agency's remaining staff told their jobs will end by September, the reality of the Trump administration's sudden halt to more than 60 years of international development work has sunk in.
Billionaire presidential advisor Elon Musk, who led the charge to dismantle USAID, has called the agency criminal and corrupt. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said many programmes did not advance American interests.
The administration continues to cancel programmes, including humanitarian and food aid, and has said it will roll any remaining programmes into the State Department.
Two months into the cuts, some workers and organisations, who once carried out those programmes, are developing a variety of initiatives to stand in the breach left by the dismantling of US foreign aid.
Direct cash to laid off workers
Laura Meissner had worked as a contractor for USAID since 2010 and specialized in humanitarian assistance, specifically programmes that give cash directly to people in need.
In early February, a friend approached her to help start a fundraiser to benefit other USAID workers who, like her, had lost their jobs. USAID employed 10,550 people in Washington and at offices around the world, with about half coming from other countries.
Meissner along with a small group of organizers eventually set up 'The Solidarity Fund with the Greater Washington Community Foundation', which will actually make grants directly to former workers. The grants will start at USD 650 and increase depending on the size of the household.
“We want to make it a meaningful enough sum that it will make a real difference in their ability to buy groceries, pay medical bills, pay the rent or mortgage, or keep the lights on,” Meissner said.
So far, the fund has raised about USD 16,000 from 140 donors and has already recommend 10 applicants to receive funds.
“It's so easy to feel like nothing that you do matters because there's so many big problems and it feels like they're happening all at once. But everything does matter, even if it's just to somebody,” she said.
Research to help foundations and funders with more money
Even for people who study international development, it's been hard to understand all the ways US cuts have impacted the field. The think tank Rethink Priorities, which prioritizes cost-effectiveness in charitable interventions, studied the gaps created by the cuts to help donors respond.
They provide a chart showing how big of a share US funding was in any given area and encourage funders to consider how urgently the impacts of the cuts will be felt. They also suggest donors consider if others might fill the gap.
Tom Vargas, a senior researcher at the think tank, said he hopes the research helps to, "spread the money around in a way that makes sense. We're funding things that other people will not fund."
They hope their research influences donors, big and small, while also recommending giving to emergency funds.
Bridge funds to get money to programmes that could still operate
Within a month of the pause on USAID programmes, a number of non-profits started emergency funds to get money to life-saving programmes or to stabilize organisations that would otherwise close. Even the World Food Programme, the United Nations agency that responds to conflicts and famines, has started a fundraiser, hoping to bring in USD 25 million from U.S. donors.
So far, emergency funds have raised between several hundred thousand dollars to over USD 3 million, mostly from individual donors, and some have already granted out hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The funds have gone to a Yemeni organisation that provides emergency food supplies, to send cash directly to people fleeing violence in Democratic Republic of Congo, to a Kenyan organisation that supports people living with HIV, and to a programmes combatting malnutrition in Ethiopia.
Support for organisations to close or merge
The amount raised by the bridge funds does not come close to replacing the tens of billions lost in the US aid cuts.
Many international development organisations, even those who did not directly receive funds from USAID, face existential funding shortages, said Blair Glencorse, founder and co-CEO of Accountability Lab, whose organisation has been tracking the impact of the US cuts.
More than a third of non-profits who responded to their survey said they had less than three months of funding.
“The data from the beginning indicated that it would be around now that organisations are going to fall off a cliff,” he said. “And that's exactly what we're beginning to see.”
His organisation has heard from more than 70 non-profits, mostly in the Global South, who want to explore merging, spinning off programmes, winding down or otherwise partnering to try to prevent their most valuable assets from being lost. Those assets could include employees, property, systems, contacts or intellectual property.
Glencorse said they estimate it will cost between USD 30,000 and USD 50,000 for each transaction or merger and have assembled a team of experts, who can help organisations. They have gotten some funding from foundations for the “ partnership matching service,” and estimate that they have between six to nine months to help non-profits make these big organisational changes.
“The snowball effect is really beginning to pick up at this point,” he said of the cascading impacts of the U.S. foreign aid cuts. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)