Last week, things perked up — a little — for the embattled development community, after several weeks of unrelenting gloom. Alas, as the battle over USAID contracts heads to the Supreme Court, things look dark again.
Nor do they look rosy in the United Kingdom, which faces another major cut — and the loss of its development minister.
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The U.K. will slash billions in aid , Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced last week.
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The decision preceded Starmer’s visit to Washington — as well as the pyrokinetic confrontation between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. But it is understood to be in direct response to the position taken by the White House on the defense of Europe, and in particular, the defense of Ukraine.
, but they have already prompted the resignation of the U.K. development minister.
In order to bring you up to speed on the likely impacts, we’ve .
How might UK aid funding change after the latest cuts? (Pro)
+ On March 11 at 10 a.m. ET (3 p.m. CET), we’ll bring you . I’ll be joined by senior figures from the U.K. development community to assess the impact of the cuts as well as their impact on the wider state of world affairs. Register now to join us.
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As I write this, we’re waiting for an , which could well decide the fate of billions of dollars of USAID money.
The last fortnight has seen several court orders repeatedly commanding the government to unfreeze USAID awards and . But late last week the Supreme Court stepped in and , hours before its deadline. Now it is likely to make its own determination about what happens next.
That’s pretty vital, because the government’s response to the pay-up order had been to , canceling nearly 10,000 contracts all in one fell swoop, even those which already had waivers.
There was at the brief messages which terminated most contracts, which ended with a terse “God Bless America.”
“God bless” might not be the two-word phrase currently being used most widely around the world, particularly among those whose lifesaving aid has been cut off by the recent decisions — an impact carefully charted by one USAID official, .
Information on the impact clearly remains at a premium, however. USAID officials have been reduced to emailing their own customers, asking them which of their projects have and have not been canceled.
The looming that remains ongoing at a lower court in Washington, D.C. With this decision, the Trump administration will either need to pay its debts immediately, or be given a reprieve from doing so. And once it is decided, the judge of that lower court will schedule a hearing to continue his own proceedings — a case that could determine the fate of the 10,000 awards already canceled.
Supreme Court pauses order to release billions of dollars in foreign aid
‘God Bless America’ and the death of 10,000 projects
USAID official dismissed after detailing ‘failure’ to give lifesaving aid
The U.S. aid freeze has had a bewildering impact on aid organizations throughout the sector, with announcements of job cuts coming almost daily. We’re .
Tracking furloughs, layoffs, and cuts
We’ve already written that it’s not going to be possible for from USAID. But some are doing what they can. We’ve gathered a list.
5 rapid response funds for organizations affected by the US aid freeze
While USAID is by far the largest provider of aid in the United States, there are many . Here’s a list of the current major players which could well have a bigger role in the development landscape going forward.
Outside of USAID, how much did other US agencies spend on development? (Pro)
+ Tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET (8 p.m. CET), we’ll be giving our Pro members a congressional perspective on the dismantling of USAID and the evolution of U.S. development policy, in of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Save your spot now.
Last year, the main focus of many in the sector was on . While that issue has probably been put on the back burner for now, we did see an interesting analysis on the subject last week, which found that of 26 major foundations that committed to increasing localization, .
Have foundations met their local funding commitments? (Pro)
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These have been some highly troubling and disruptive weeks — to say the least — and the Devex data analysis team is keen to understand the best way to continue to meet the needs of business development experts in the aid community.
Over the past few weeks we’ve tried to focus on two key things — initially, understanding the impact of USAID cuts, and latterly, identifying other major sources of funding. But we’d love to know what your main needs are right now. Send an email to [email protected] to what data Devex can most usefully bring you, and we’ll try to do so.
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