The latest news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive insights on how the Trump administration's policies are reshaping global development.
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The Trump administration claims U.N. austerity measures need to cut deeper.
Ten months after USAID fell apart, many of the most consequential cases challenging Trump’s foreign aid agenda are still unfolding.
Opinion: Moving Food for Peace, a key humanitarian program that has survived cuts to U.S. aid so far, to the U.S. Department of Agriculture would be a grave mistake.
The USAID-backed nutrition system that once reached some of Nepal’s most vulnerable districts has collapsed, halting screening and straining health posts already short on staff and supplies.
Under the ‘America First’ global health strategy, African governments “won’t be aid recipients, but customers who recognize value,” said the State Department's Jeff Graham.
Debt, inequality, and climate finance dominate the agenda, but boycotts and geopolitical rifts threaten to overshadow South Africa’s historic year at the helm.
INGOs — and the whole nonprofit sector — have been targeted by a raft of vague but threatening pronouncements from the White House. It’s creating a culture of fear, which has driven some into silence, but pushed others into the beginnings of a fightback.
Despite U.S President Donald Trump’s plans targeting nonprofits and moves to investigate George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, its president, Binaifer Nowrojee, says it remains steadfast in its U.S. work.
This is part of the State Department’s new strategy around global health — engaging directly with countries as opposed to through implementing partners.
Opinion: The agency's abrupt closure has left gaps in U.S. foreign policy that will take years to rebuild — and may have permanently damaged America's reputation abroad.
Opinion: With the quiet expiration of AGOA and the dismantling of USAID, the Trump administration has shut down U.S. foreign policy tools in Africa, ceding ground to China's zero-tariff policies.
Or a bit of both?
With the development hub in Washington, D.C., fragmented, professionals are moving on.
A USAID-backed moringa project in Uganda offered rural farmers modest payments and a rare path toward stability. Then the funding stopped for good.
Former USAID global health lead Atul Gawande is exposing the human toll of the Trump administration’s foreign aid cuts in "Rovina’s Choice," a new documentary he executive-produced.
In the wake of USAID’s dismantling, can the agency’s former implementing partners find a new market for their global development expertise? Many are eyeing a pivot to private sector-led development, but it may be easier said than done.
What happens when U.S.-funded peace programs go dark? Plus, how much aid really reaches low- and middle-income countries, and why U.S. budget fight is a “reset” moment for foreign aid priorities.
As U.S.-funded initiatives disappear, this peace-building organization says they’re “operating blind” in one of Nigeria’s most fragile regions.
And it’s due time for organizations to speak up about the future of development funding, says Christy Gleason, chief policy officer at Save the Children US.
The nonprofits are seeking refuge abroad, with one Canadian law firm saying it had seen a tenfold increase in inquiries, while a U.K. law firm said it had seen a fivefold increase. Plus, at the Trust Conference, a call to work together against rising authoritarianism.
Many predicted that left-leaning nonprofits and foundations would be in the crosshairs of the U.S. president. Now that it’s happening, what do those attacks look like and how can they be countered?
At the American Foreign Service Association, a recognition of the USAID staff who spoke up as their agency was being pared down.
Opinion: The dismantling of the very U.S. agency that was best positioned to help with Gaza's reconstruction is a self-inflicted wound.
Sources tell Devex there’s still uncertainty around how this will impact global health work.
U.S. seeks to support peacekeeping missions à la carte.
Opinion: The U.S. is in a very different global position to when its aid agency, USAID, was founded in 1961.
At UNGA, development leaders confronted eight months of disruption — and an emerging U.S. foreign aid landscape in which some are poised for success, and others face very difficult questions.
A new federal strategy to target political violence, paired with DOJ discussions of racketeering charges, is raising fears across the nonprofit sector.
Constitutional questions about who controls government spending are at the center of this closely watched case.
Janti Soeripto reflects on “overcommunicating,” making mistakes, and other lessons after U.S. foreign assistance was decimated.
The Global Health Council was barred entry to U.S. global health event; all the news and behind-the-scenes from Day 3 at UNGA80 and Devex’s impact summit; millions raised by former USAID staffers could keep programming alive; and who are the top global development recruiters in New York City?
A U.S.-based global health NGO was denied entry to a U.N. side event on the future of U.S. global health aid. It put a sharp edge on the Trump administration's plan to work with governments and the private sector — but not NGOs.
The U.S. is rushing to spend $6.5 billion in foreign aid before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, amid overlapping processes and strategic uncertainty.
Over the past nine months, the U.S. foreign aid sector has faced unprecedented upheaval as the Trump administration’s "America First" policy dismantled USAID and shifted aid programming to the State Department.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee markup is done after a grueling 36 hours, but the debate over the bill, or whether it's a bipartisan effort, is not.
The strategy signals a shift away from NGO-led delivery toward more bilateral deals, country coinvestments, and partnerships with private sector and faith-based organizations. Plus, plans for merging agencies of the U.N. begin to take shape.
It emphasizes direct relationships and coinvestments with aid-receiving countries, boosting front-line health supplies and workers, protecting Americans from outbreaks originating abroad, and promoting American-made health products.
Opinion: The gutting of USAID is affecting the very scaffolding of global development — leading to desperation, disease, and disillusionment.
The State Department's OIG will be launching 25 new projects into the country's foreign assistance work, with a focus on how the State Department is managing the transfer of nearly 1,000 programs from USAID.
U.S. lawmakers propose sweeping State Department reforms; House debates DFC reauthorization; and the lowdown on Asian philanthropy.
Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee say the proposals reflect bipartisan priorities. The committee's top Democrat says his party was shut out of the process.
With USAID support largely gone, Afghanistan struggles to respond to a quake that has blocked roads, overrun hospitals, and stretched relief operations thin.
For the latest episode of our podcast series, Adva Saldinger sits down with Anna Gawel and Ayenat Mersie to discuss the top global development stories of the week.
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to stay a district court's preliminary injunction issued last week requiring it to spend foreign assistance funding before it expires Sept. 30.
Foreign aid funding used to follow a fairly predictable script. Not anymore. The Trump administration is pushing to rewrite the rules of federal spending — with billions of dollars at stake.
Due to the loss of $83 million in U.S. funding and an El Niño-fueled drought, millions in Zimbabwe have been left hungry. We look at the impact on schoolchildren. Plus, the Gates Foundation delays the release of its Goalkeepers report.
The elimination of the U.S. aid agency provides some new opportunities, but only for a few.
“This is about women planning their families and planning their pregnancies,” said IPPF's Mallah Tabot. “It has nothing to do with abortions.”
On Friday, the Trump administration proposed another $5 billion cut to foreign aid spending. It might not matter if Congress approves or not.
Malawi was at the forefront of HIV prevention efforts before Washington cut global aid. Now officials are struggling to revive traditional prevention services and introduce new innovations.
Judge rules that the Trump administration’s ousting of head of the Inter-American Foundation “essentially puts the Constitution at war with itself.” Plus, how to access the EU’s €300 billion Global Gateway, and is the U.K. abandoning development?
Granting the president "unfettered discretion to appoint who he pleases" would enable the "very eighteenth-century despotism" the writers of the U.S. Constitution sought to prevent, a federal judge has stated.
State Department email outlines U.S. demand for a leaner U.N. and a return to “founding principles.”
The Peace Corps shuffles leadership team to advance Trump administration foreign aid priorities; and the Hilton Humanitarian Prize increases its unrestricted funding award.
The agency’s CEO, deputy CEO, and acting chief of staff have been replaced ahead of “organizational transformations” to further the Trump administration’s foreign aid priorities. Plus, how to grow trade between the U.S. and Africa.
The Peace Corps has replaced its CEO, deputy CEO, and acting chief of staff in advance of “organizational transformations” to advance Trump administration foreign aid priorities.
After U.S. aid cuts halted critical programs, Mercy Corps secured private funding to resume work in Nigeria and Afghanistan, offering a playbook for donor diversification under pressure.
Sweeping U.S. aid cuts have gutted humanitarian programs across the DRC, leaving communities without water, protection, or livelihoods — and casting doubt on whether peace can hold.
A U.S. Federal Court of Appeals yesterday ruled that organizations suing the Trump administration over the foreign aid freeze don’t have the legal standing to do so. Plus, why the Clinton Global Initiative meeting will be “re-imagined” this September.
A federal appeals court has ruled that organizations suing the Trump administration's foreign aid freeze did not have the standing to do so — but left unresolved whether the move itself is constitutional.
“At this point, we’re closing up, and there’s not really a whole lot of back-and-forth on what we can do," one senior USAID official told Devex.
After six months that shook the foundations of U.S. foreign aid, the question now is: Where do we go from here?
More aid organizations are eyeing restructures, mergers, and partnerships to survive. A new initiative is helping them pivot — but for many, the clock is running out.
Opinion: Trump’s tariffs have devastated African economies, particularly Lesotho and Madagascar, jeopardizing thousands of jobs and undermining the African Growth and Opportunity Act, while ceding influence to China.
Cuts, chaos, and the race to build something better.
After years of stagnation, global hunger was finally beginning to fall. Now, deep aid cuts — none more dramatic than those of the U.S. — threaten to unravel that progress.
“The waste generated by DOGE in six months could have fully covered the President’s misguided rescissions package twice over — with $2.9 billion to spare,” the report states.
We've heard a lot about foreign aid cuts over the last six months. There is another looming challenge: Everything that still remains.
Over the last six months, here’s how the world’s largest aid donor was torn apart.
Why don’t Americans understand aid, and what do we do about it? Plus, German aid in freefall, and seven development jobs AI can help with.
The Trump administration has a proposal that would significantly revamp DFC, but will the agency be reauthorized in time by the U.S. Congress? Plus, as U.K. aid plummets, there may be hope for development via the private sector.
It's yet another legal victory for the Trump administration, which has hollowed out the world's largest aid agency since the president returned to office.
The war on U.S. foreign aid was a war of information — good, bad, and untethered from reality. Can the development community reclaim its story?
Does the public in the United States support aid? And has the development sector done enough to make the case for the work it does?
Trying to fight hunger abroad won't work by cutting investments in agricultural development that also benefits American consumers and farmers, according to a Devex Pro Briefing panel.
For nonprofits that have seen their business models take a hit due to cuts to U.S. foreign assistance, there are several routes open. When is it appropriate to consider a merger or other form of joint working?
U.N. chief's reform initiative fails to stave off deeper U.S. funding cuts.
Tammy Bruce, the spokesperson at the State Department, also accused the specialized U.N. agency of advancing 'divisive social and cultural causes,' criticizing UNESCO's 2011 decision to make Palestine a member state.
PEPFAR isn't the only one spared from U.S. cuts, and the U.N. gets tiered.
A dizzying week for global development raises a troubling question: Has the “bipartisan consensus” on U.S. foreign aid run its course?
U.S. charitable giving to international causes reached more than $35 billion last year. Could it now eclipse the government as a source of aid? Plus, the U.S. to incinerate reproductive health supplies, but some good news for education.
The U.S. bought millions of dollars of IUDs, birth control implants, and other contraceptive commodities. Now, they will likely be torched.
How U.S. aid can appeal to “America First” Republicans; ADB takes on climate-sensitive diseases; and Trump’s rescissions package clears Congress.
For the latest episode of our podcast series, Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba sits down with reporters Michael Igoe and Elissa Miolene to discuss the top global development stories of the week.
Lawmakers had another marathon night of debates before passing the Trump administration's first multibillion-dollar clawback of congressionally approved aid.
As the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network releases a set of recommendations for USAID's transition into the State Department, top former U.S. officials argue a new Trump-friendly approach is needed.
U.S. lawmakers demanded answers from the deputy head of the State Department about the department’s firings and hirings in an intense hearing yesterday on Capitol Hill. Plus, Trump’s rescissions package clears Senate hurdle, but PEPFAR spared.
The U.S. Senate advances the $9 billion rescissions package, slashing foreign aid. Now the House must act before a fast-approaching deadline to send it to the president’s desk.
The 500 metric tons of high-energy biscuits — enough to feed 1.5 million children for a week — were reportedly intended for children in Afghanistan and Pakistan but have been allowed to expire. It will cost $130,000 to burn the food.
At a testy Senate hearing, Democrats grilled a top State official on how the department chose who to keep and who to let go.
“I don’t want to be China. I don’t want to be Russia," Democratic Rep. Ami Bera told his Republican colleagues during a congressional hearing on Tuesday.
As U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returns to office for a second term, we have a handy guide to all the possible picks to lead USAID and other U.S. foreign assistance agencies.
For the latest episode of our podcast series, Devex's David Ainsworth and Colum Lynch are joined by Tom Hart, president and CEO of InterAction, to discuss the top global development stories from the past week.
From USAID to global health, how will a second Donald Trump presidency shape US foreign aid and development policy?
The arrival of Donald Trump is likely to herald changes for philanthropic foundations — but how will they respond?
Will Donald Trump pull out of multilateral systems or will the possibility of China filling the void make him soft-pedal? Plus, how global health replenishments fared in 2024, and Kenya’s president weighs in on the IDA replenishment.
A look at what's at stake for the major priorities of the global development community under a second Trump administration.
The “Predictions for Global Development” series offers insight from thought leaders for the year ahead. Here are areas to watch in global health.
Personnel will be key to determining policy, and much is still unknown, but experts say to expect a transactional, conditional relationship with the global lender.
