I’ll be straight with you — this edition of Dish might leave you with as many questions as answers. But at this point,in United States President Donald Trump’s playbook.
The sudden U.S. foreign aid funding freeze last month left aid workers, American farmers, and logistics teams scrambling to already en route or awaiting distribution to food-insecure people in Haiti, South Sudan, Bangladesh, and elsewhere. Sources told my colleague Tania Karas and me last week that around half a million metric tons of U.S.-grown surplus food — including commodities meant for Food for Peace, the U.S. government’s flagship in-kind food aid program — were stuck in ports and warehouses around the world.
This food, enough to feed more than 36 million people, faces a growing risk of spoilage. And much of it is stamped with the same emblem: “USAID from the American people.” The U.S. government spends more than .
“We’ve seen over time, since [Food for Peace] was established, how these programs positively affect both food security but also trade,” says Gena Perry, who runs the American Soybean Association’s World Initiative for Soy in Human Health. Countries once dependent on U.S. aid are now its trading partners.
Meanwhile, a report from USAID’s Office of Inspector General published Monday . It warned of the challenge of “safeguarding and distribution” of $8.2 billion in undisbursed aid. For one thing, it could end up in the hands of terror groups.
Sen. Jerry Moran, a Republican from Kansas, was among the first members of the U.S. Congress to sound the alarm on the stranded U.S.-grown commodities. Other Republicans — many of them from states with big agriculture industries — of the Trump administration’s shutdown and dismantling of USAID.
“They were funding a lot of stupid stuff,” Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska told the Wall Street Journal. “That’s a fact, but they’re also doing a lot of good stuff, too. So you don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water. Instead of taking a sledgehammer, let’s get the scalpel out.”
Last weekend, that scalpel finally seemed to emerge, with the World Food Programme announcing it would resume food aid deliveries after a halt due to the U.S. stop-work order. Other implementers of emergency Title II Food for Peace programs now tell us they have been . But with USAID payment systems still down, implementers may lack the ability or resources to act.
And increasingly, there’s , too. International NGOs funded by USAID are laying off workers. USAID contractors have been terminated or furloughed. The same goes for direct hires — though some have been granted a brief reprieve after a U.S. federal judge blocked the agency from placing thousands on administrative leave until this Friday. After that, the future remains unclear.
What happens next is anyone’s guess. But as my colleague Colum Lynch writes, one thing is certain: The U.S. aid model we’ve grown accustomed to over the past half-century is dead.
U.S.-grown food aid is stranded in ports worldwide despite waiverU.S. food aid disruption confirmed in WFP email to USAIDWFP to resume food aid delivery after halt due to U.S. stop-work orderThe end of U.S. foreign aid as we know it
• On Thursday, USAID notified the two big American producers of ready-to-use therapeutic foods, or RUTFs, and other nutritional supplements after they received stop-work orders a week earlier. Mana Nutrition of Georgia and Edesia of Rhode Island — both nonprofits that are heavily reliant on USAID funding — tell Devex they feel relieved to again produce lifesaving food for severely malnourished children. on how the U.S. aid freeze has disrupted nutrition aid supply chains.
• The United Kingdom has averted feared aid budget cuts, but when it comes to next month’s Nutrition for Growth, or N4G, Summit, the outlook is less positive, writes my colleague Rob Merrick. Despite calls for the United Kingdom — the host of the inaugural N4G summit in 2013 — to take a lead in Paris and commit £500 million ($619 million), development minister Anneliese Dodds signaled, citing an ongoing spending review.
• “It’s unfortunate that the U.S., which is the biggest emitter historically and per capita, has pulled out [of the Paris Agreement],” Ali Mohamed, chair of the Africa Group of Negotiators on climate change, told Devex on the sidelines of the group’s special session in Nairobi, Kenya. He expressedhope that other institutions, including private philanthropy, would step up and acknowledged Bloomberg Philanthropies for pledging to . He said African countries are “working hard” to submit their nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, which were due earlier this week. Devex will be watching how they incorporate plans for food systems transformation.
A our global team of reporters has delivered this past week:
• How USAID’s dismantling could affect noncommunicable diseases: The ripple effects of the U.S. funding halt could lead to a move .
• What’s included in the U.S. global health waiver: A includes provision of services including severe acute malnutrition, but only if their absence could “lead to mortality in women, newborns, and children under five.”
• How the USAID freeze hit the agency’s biggest partners:For some organizations, . My colleague Alecsondra Kieren Si crunched the numbers for Devex Pro members.
• The U.N. official pushing to unite biodiversity and climate goals: Most countries missed the NDC deadline this week. Marcos Neto, the assistant secretary-general of the United Nations Development Programme and director of its Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, is trying to integrate these plans with biodiversity strategies ahead of the United Nations’ COP30 climate conference in his hometown of Belém in Brazil.
• New lawsuit challenges US foreign aid funding freeze:A pair of NGOs — one focused on HIV clinical trials, the other on anti-corruption — of the Trump administration’s actions after their work was halted.
• U.N. migration agency expunges website of DEI catchphrases:The International Organization for Migration to sexual and reproductive health rights; gender-based violence; LGBTQ+; and diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, in an apparent effort to stave off budget cuts from the U.S.
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“How can we get back on track in an increasingly fragmented and uncertain world?” That’s the question ministers, development professionals, and smallholder farmers are asking themselves over the next two days at the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s annual Governing Council meeting in Rome. The attendees are all too familiar with the threats climate change and conflict increasingly pose to poverty and food insecurity. But amid geopolitical complexity, the U.N. agency wants to figure out in particular.
Rural communities, including fisherfolk and farmers, are often seen as the last mile — when in fact for the rest of the world, President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone told attendees at the opening ceremony earlier today, and called for targeted investment. “It is our responsibility therefore to prioritize empowering rural communities, especially women and youth.”
Those rural communities include Indigenous people and, following the biannual Indigenous Peoples’ Forum, which also took place in Rome earlier in the week, a group of on how the U.N. agency and governments can better partner with Indigenous communities. “This is the first time there is so much space given to Indigenous Peoples issues within the Governing Council,” Ilaria Firman, IFAD’s senior technical specialist on Indigenous people, tells Devex contributor Rebecca Root. We’ll have more updates from the event in next week’s Dish.
in India an alternative income?[Devex]
The for projects funded by the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Childhood Nutrition Program and the Food for Progress Program. [USDA]
Africa’s green revolution requires investment and collaboration. [Devex Opinion]
An inside look at the World Food Programme’s innovation accelerator. [Devex Pro]
Rebecca Root contributed to this edition of Devex Dish.
