Is a controversial food-distribution scheme in Gaza looking to poach USAID employees?
Also in today’s edition: India has pulled out of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, in a move that threatens Pakistan’s crop supply and flood planning.
+ Join us on June 26 for a briefing with Rémy Rioux, the CEO of the French Development Agency, on the future of development finance. We’ll cover innovative solutions for debt, private investment, and domestic resource mobilization. This event is a must-attend before the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. If you’ll be in Sevilla, Spain, for the conference, come to Casa Devex, where we’ll host journalist-led briefings from June 29 to July 1.
The head of a controversial U.S. and Israeli-backed humanitarian relief organization in Gaza is seeking to recruit U.S. government aid officials.
John Acree, a former USAID official who serves as interim executive director at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, expressed interest in hiring staff from USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance for “short term, long term or remote positions,” according to a June 5 internal email by a senior U.S. official.
The recruitment comes on the eve of a new round of layoffs at the end of the month in the humanitarian assistance bureau, suggesting that GHF is looking to lure experienced U.S. aid workers who are at risk of losing their jobs in the coming weeks.
“I am sharing the below information that was sent to the BHA leadership … as I want to make sure opportunities presented are transparent and that leadership is not withholding information that could be of interest to you individually,” Emily Dakin, the director of the Middle East, North Africa and Europe Office at USAID, wrote in the email, first reported on by investigative journalist Jack Poulson.
“I am also sharing this with the caveat that this is not an official or unofficial endorsement, and I want everyone to have the opportunity to make the best decision for themselves,” Dakin added.
Dakin wrote that the bureau’s leadership learned Acree “indicated he is looking to hire BHA staff and there are short term, long term and remote positions available. Anyone interested in learning more may text John.”
The email also included a cell phone number where interested staffers could reach Acree. “Again, this notice is not an official endorsement, but I want to share and ensure you all have every chance to explore possible opportunities during this time.”
Dakin, Acree, and the USAID did not respond to requests for comment before this was published.
ICYMI: NGOs say that new Gaza aid model is undermining lifesaving work
Related: Staffing priorities for the Gaza humanitarian crisis (Career)
+ A Devex Career Account membership lets you unlock the article and enjoy other benefits, including regular special reports analyzing development career trends, access to the full Devex job board, a highlighted profile on the Devex database, exclusive events for insights and advice from top recruiters and sector leaders, and more. Start your 15-day free trial now.
India has pulled out of the Indus Water Treaty — a landmark 1960 agreement brokered by the World Bank — following what it called a Pakistan-backed terrorist attack in Kashmir. “We will ensure that not even a drop of water from the Indus river goes to Pakistan,” India’s water minister declared. One tributary’s flow has already dropped by up to 90%. Pakistan decried the move as “an act of war.”
The treaty, which divided the Indus River system between India and Pakistan, had withstood decades of conflict. But climate change, population growth, and nationalist politics have pushed it past its limits. Pakistan, whose agriculture relies on the basin for over 90% of crops and a quarter of its gross domestic product, faces escalating food and water insecurity. Global food prices could also rise, as both countries are among the world’s top 10 producers of wheat and rice.
The treaty’s rigid structure — physically dividing rivers — has long drawn criticism. “It is a clear partition, 1947-style,” says UNESCO’s Ashok Swain. It’s led to dam-building races and ecological harm, rather than cooperation.
A better approach? Joint climate adaptation. Researchers from CGIAR, IFPRI, and others are working with both countries to map crop productivity, groundwater risks, and optimize irrigation — aiming for more “crop per drop.” But scientific coordination isn’t enough on its own. “The greater the gap between water demand and supplies, the greater the potential power held by parties positioned to control water resources,” says David Michel of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Read: India-Pakistan conflict shows the need for better water agreements
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to give a speech at the high-level pledging summit of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance in Brussels on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter. This comes at a moment when American support for Gavi is on shaky ground.
Last June, then-U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration pledged at least $1.58 billion to Gavi over the coming five years. But in March, the Trump administration distributed a spreadsheet to Congress that specified termination of a $2.6 billion award to the organization from 2022 through 2030 — and later, its 2026 budget request excluded funding for Gavi altogether.
What Kennedy says during his speech may bring clarity on U.S. intentions. Earlier this month, RFK — a vocal critic of vaccines — fired the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which is the panel that guides the CDC’s vaccine decisions. He then appointed new members, including several vaccine skeptics.
ICYMI: Trump budget request and rescission plan slashes global health funding
+ For more content like this, sign up to receive Devex CheckUp, our free weekly newsletter that provides front-line and behind-the-scenes reporting on global health.
After struggling to secure funding, Publish What You Fund, aka PWYF, announced it would scrap the 2026 edition of its flagship Aid Transparency Index, which has tracked donor transparency since 2012. It lost key backing before its last biennial edition in 2024, but at that point, the International Aid Transparency Initiative stepped in as a one-off savior.
Now, after hearing from past participants, PWYF has changed course, Devex Business Editor David Ainsworth writes. The index will return — but only for donors that pay to be assessed. Those that do will get a transparency ranking and an accreditation mark.
Gary Forster, PWYF’s CEO, says development organizations were disappointed when the index was put on pause — not just because of the scores, but because they valued the detailed feedback. In today’s skeptical climate, he says, showing transparency is more important than ever.
Still, turning the index into a paid service raises tough questions. “We’ll need to carefully manage our independence and any potential conflicts of interest,” Forster says. “But we’re confident ... to uphold a global standard, and to continue working with the aid and development sector to improve the quality, availability, and usefulness of aid data.”
Read: How the Aid Transparency Index rose from the dead
Data is important, which is why USAID supporters have been working to preserve the agency’s vast collection of information after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency effectively expunged much of it — ironically, in the name of transparency.
In a special Saturday edition of Devex Pro Insider that will be published for the next few months, my colleague Michael Igoe breaks down the breakdown of USAID and what happens next. In the latest edition, he reports on the body of knowledge that has been lost by the DOGE-driven budget cuts, staff firings, and shuttering of decades of USAID-built resources.
One is being led by the Institute for Development Impact, or I4DI, to save USAID’s Development Experience Clearinghouse from oblivion. The organization came up with DECipher, an AI-enabled information tool that provides free guidance in areas such as project management, communications, monitoring and evaluation, and foreign assistance regulations, based on what it has learned from decades of development documentation.
Meanwhile, the Aid Transition Alliance was established by senior USAID women leaders in February after the White House began shutting the agency down. Their mission is to help alleviate the resulting development workforce crisis and the “potential loss of over six decades of irreplaceable institutional knowledge.” That includes interviewing officials at USAID’s country missions to produce searchable collections of knowledge about the development experience in different countries.
“We want to make sure that the next generation of development professionals have access to this,” says Susan Reichle, who helped spearhead the alliance.
Read more: The race to salvage USAID's institutional memory (Pro)
+ For more exclusive content like this, start your 15-day free trial of Devex Pro, which gives you access to our Pro Insider newsletter along with expert analyses, insights, funding data, events, and more.
Of the 83 million internally displaced people recorded worldwide, at least 1.2 million were displaced by crime-related violence in 2024 — more than double the 2023 levels. [UN News]
The International Monetary Fund approved $1.3 billion in development financing for Bangladesh aimed at restoring economic stability in the country. [Bloomberg]
Fifteen international human rights organizations have called on the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and other private contractors running humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza to cease their operations, warning of possible complicity in war crimes. [The Guardian]
Update, June 25, 2025: This Newswire edition has been updated to clarify that Jack Poulson first reported about USAID staff being encouraged to apply for roles at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Sign up to Newswire for an inside look at the biggest stories in global development.