Gutting USAID rocks dev’t deals

Several development projects worldwide are taking a hit from the freeze in aid funding by President Donald Trump’s new US administration stoking fears millions will be affected as programs are suspended.

Global and regional non-government organizations said the effect on their work has been immediate and warned the move could also erode US influence worldwide.

In 2023, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) allocated $18.35 billion to economic development, $11 billion to humanitarian assistance, $7.78 billion to health programs, and $3.56 billion to operational and program support while resources were directed toward governance, education, and security initiatives.

Key aid recipient

According to USAID data, the Philippines has been a key recipient of the development agency since its establishment. Over $5 billion in assistance has been provided to the country since 1961, with $2.81 billion disbursed between 2001 and 2023.

Annual disbursements during this period typically ranged from $100 million to $200 million, supporting disaster recovery, health care, education and governance reforms.

In 2023, the Philippines received $198 million or nearly P12 billion in USAID assistance, with a large portion allocated to disaster response and health care programs.

Among the biggest partners of USAID is the Department of Education (DepEd) which is now looking for ways to continue five projects funded by the US government.

The projects, worth P5 billion, are supported by USAID and are part of DepEd’s five-point agenda to improve the country’s education system.

The agency is looking at moving other funds in DepEd’s budget to cover the gap.

The five projects are the ABC+, which is aimed at providing access to quality reading materials for early literacy development; Opportunity 2.0, which provides support for the alternative learning system; Gabay program for learners with disabilities; Improving Learning Outcomes for the Philippines (ILO-PH), which will help DepEd in designing, implementing and evaluating education programs from early childhood to workforce development; and the Urban Connect, a joint gender development program.

Another local group dislocated by the US government move is Balay Rehabilitation Center which provides psycho-social counselling and other help for survivors of torture in the conflict-plagued Mindanao.

“We are still in limbo as to whether this project will continue or not,” executive director Josephine Lascano said.

Lascano said she had already been forced to suspend a program that was helping “about 20” victims of violence.

Oxfam America, which also contributes to Philippine projects, sees the change as likely to be drastic.

Daryl Grisgraber, humanitarian policy lead for Oxfam America, said it “will have potentially life or death consequences for millions of people.”

“So there is effectively a pause on all future funding as well,” he said.

“We have been looking at it as really a cynical power play. This is going to put lives in danger and it’s unacceptable as a representation of United States values and interest in the world.”

USAID programs support independent media in more than 30 countries, but it is difficult to assess the full extent of the harm done to the global media.

Many organizations are hesitant to draw attention for fear of risking long-term funding or coming under political attacks. In Ukraine, 9 out of 10 media outlets rely on USAID funding.

In Cameroon, the funding freeze forced DataCameroon — a public interest media outlet based in the capital Douala — to put several projects on hold. An exiled Iranian media outlet - who preferred to speak anonymously — was forced to suspend collaboration with its staff for three months and slash salaries to a bare minimum to ensure its survival.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged President Trump to reverse his decision, which it said has plunged media outlets, and journalists doing vital work into chaotic uncertainty.

RSF calls on international public and private support to commit to the sustainability of independent media.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now USAID’s acting director, vowing to put an end to its “insubordination.”

Shock offensive

USAID has received the most concentrated fire since Trump launched a crusade led by Musk — the world’s richest person — to downsize or dismantle swaths of the US government. 

On Friday, Musk — who along with Trump has spread blatantly false information about USAID’s finances — reposted photos of the agency’s signage being removed from its Washington headquarters.

The Trump administration has frozen foreign aid, ordered thousands of internationally-based staff to return to the United States, and begun slashing the USAID headcount of 10,000 employees to around only 300.

Labor unions are challenging the legality of the onslaught. A federal judge on Friday ordered a pause to the administration’s plan to put 2,200 USAID workers on paid leave by the weekend.

Democrats say it would be unconstitutional for Trump to shut down government agencies without the legislature’s green light.

The United States’ current budget allocates about $70 billion for international assistance, a tiny fraction of overall spending.

But it gets a big bang for its buck. USAID alone runs health and emergency programs in around 120 countries, including in the world’s poorest regions, boosting Washington’s battle for influence against rivals such as China.

“We are witnessing one of the worst and most costly foreign policy blunders in US history,” Samantha Power, the USAID chief under former president Joe Biden, wrote in a scathing New York Times opinion piece.

Hard-right Republicans and libertarians have long questioned the need for USAID and criticized what they say is wasteful spending abroad.