The Gutting of USAID
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Published: 03/21/2025
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The world woke up last week to find the primary US foreign aid agency effectively shut down with its future in doubt and immediate risks to programs on the ground.
Let me start by acknowledging issues with aid – 1) aid effectiveness, 2) strategic priorities – are they aligned with broader US goals, 3) corruption, 4) too much money leaking out to highly paid consultants and not enough making it to the intended recipients. Further, rolling USAID into the State Department isn't particularly radical and other countries have done similar.
My goal with this post is to put the issue of USAID in context with facts.
Two Key Republican Aid Programs
Far from USAID being a hot bed liberal priorities, USAID reflects decades of US leadership. Two critical programs - PEPFAR (HIV treatment) and the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) – were both started by George W. Bush.
PEPFAR operates under the Bureau of Public Health and so information was still available despite the shuttering of the USAID website. Today on the State Department’s website one can learn that PEPFAR has saved 26 million lives (see image).
Let me start by acknowledging issues with aid – 1) aid effectiveness, 2) strategic priorities – are they aligned with broader US goals, 3) corruption, 4) too much money leaking out to highly paid consultants and not enough making it to the intended recipients. Further, rolling USAID into the State Department isn't particularly radical and other countries have done similar.
My goal with this post is to put the issue of USAID in context with facts.
Two Key Republican Aid Programs
Far from USAID being a hot bed liberal priorities, USAID reflects decades of US leadership. Two critical programs - PEPFAR (HIV treatment) and the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) – were both started by George W. Bush.
PEPFAR operates under the Bureau of Public Health and so information was still available despite the shuttering of the USAID website. Today on the State Department’s website one can learn that PEPFAR has saved 26 million lives (see image).
According to StatNews, the PEPFAR shut down impact has been immediate:
“As a result of President Trump’s pause on foreign aid …PEPFAR, has been thrown into disarray. Some groups that receive funding as part of the program — which helps extend HIV treatment to some 20 million people globally, including more than 550,000 children — are halting the provision of medications even if they’re already on clinics’ shelves, according to experts.”
My experience with USAID
While working for a Bangladesh NGO I had some interaction with USAID. Specifically, I was a focal point for a USAID grant for post Ebola psycho-social support in Liberia, whose purpose was addressing stigma of survivors and victim’s families. At a USAID conference I gave a presentation discussing market based agriculture value chains in Africa.
Bangladesh Example
Though USAID’s website has been shut down, other websites have information about USAID programs. For example, from the “grants.gov” website one can find a 2023 $70M grant to Bangladesh - an enormously important country politically and economically and the 8th largest country in the world and after China, the second largest supplier of Ready Made Garments (RMG).
This grant’s program areas includes economic growth and livelihoods and access to safe drinking water. All uses hardly controversial and far from the inflammatory stories making the rounds.
Bangladesh recently experienced a peaceful revolution with a transfer of power to Mohamed Yunis, Nobel Peace Prize winner for his pioneering work in microfinance. Elections are expected in late 2025/2026. Taking our eye of the ball in Bangladesh would be unwise in the extreme.
USAID in numbers (see image)
Of $68B in foreign aid, USAID was the largest source at $42B. The largest program area is Economic Development at 1/3 of commitments. Other key programs include public health and humanitarian relief.
No where in sight are the controversial uses of USAID (though they do exist) that have been used to demonize the department. These are all reasonable, bi-partisan goals of USAID and foreign policy.
