Presented by International Monetary Fund
The status of U.S. foreign assistance comes up at the World Economic Forum in Davos — with cautious but clear optimism from a key lawmaker.
Also in today’s edition: Real advice for what is still a really demanding job search in 2026.
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Patience is a virtue
Development advocates are holding their breath for — and pinning their hopes on — the proposed $50 billion in U.S. foreign aid spending that could pass Congress very soon.
But as we’ve been cautioning for over a week now, it’s still a big “could.” Perhaps most importantly, the budget, far more than what President Donald Trump was seeking, still needs to be signed by Trump himself.
To the casual outside observer, that looks like a tall order. But to an influential Democratic lawmaker, it looks like a distinct possibility.
“Things are better than we all know and believe, and we can and should be proud of what we’ve accomplished together,” says Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, declaring that “next week, we will finish passing in Congress, and the president will sign $50 billion dollars [of foreign aid].”
Is that hope more like hyperbole? Time will tell, but there are signs that the administration is serious about reinstating some development assistance — as long as it aligns with its “America First” principles.
That includes the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, or DFC, which has seen a significant boost in its mandate and funding. On the former though, there are concerns that strategic interests in middle- and high-income countries will come at the expense of poverty alleviation in lower-income ones. But Coons remains positive.
“Yes, it is going to do more than initially imagined in critical minerals and working with middle- and upper-income countries, but the reauthorization fight, which is ongoing right now, is about keeping [DFC] development-oriented,” he says.
He also points out that if the $50 billion bill is signed, the U.S. will remain the world’s largest foreign aid partner, my colleague Elissa Miolene, who’s in Davos, writes.
That may evince skepticism in bruised aid advocates, but Coons asks for patience: “We are having a fight over who we are as a country,” he says. “Give us a little time to have that fight over who we are. Don’t give up on us. We will be back.”
Read: Sen. Coons expects Senate to pass, Trump to sign $50B aid budget bill
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Working it
Regardless of if there’s an injection of $50 billion into U.S. foreign assistance, for many who worked at USAID, the damage is done. But the job prospects are not — despite how intimidating the job market still looks a year after USAID’s disbanding.
For those ready to move forward in 2026, there is no single “right” way, according to career experts Devex recently spoke to. But all emphasized the importance of recognizing that this moment requires different approaches than past development job searches.
According to social impact career coach Kelsi Kriitmaa, intentionality is especially critical in the current environment.
“Know the difference between if you are looking for the job or a job, because embarking on a job search can feel incredibly overwhelming, particularly when it’s unstructured,” she said.
And we cannot stress this enough: network, network, network. “Consider applying to jobs as the last step, because networking really is the name of the game right now,” said Radhika Bhatt, a climate and social impact career coach.
In a lot of ways, the actual application part should be at the tail end of the process, the experts said — because you should narrow your focus, instead of doing what recruitment professionals call “spraying and praying,” a tempting strategy that prioritizes quantity over quality in job applications. Instead, the experts advised job seekers to get specific: about roles, sectors, and — most importantly — the parts of their work that actually energize them.
“Many development professionals are superpower generalists,” Bhatt said. “But if you apply to everything, your story doesn’t resonate anywhere.”
Read: For those affected by USAID job loss, how to move forward in 2026 (Career)
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Hungry for confirmation
It’s been an open secret in food policy circles in Washington, D.C., for a while now: Food for Peace, housed at the State Department, would be moving to the Department of Agriculture, or USDA.
Despite an interagency agreement signed last Christmas Eve to that effect, the move still hasn’t been publicly announced, leaving industry groups, NGOs, and implementing partners in a strange unofficial limbo.
No worries though — my colleagues Ayenat Mersie and Elissa have the lowdown on what this transition entails for the food community.
For one thing, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. For more than 70 years, Food for Peace has relied on the USDA to source the American-grown food commodities it sends abroad to feed millions of hungry people. Thus Republicans argue the program is a natural fit for USDA.
But critics say USDA lacks the capacity and know-how to manage such a complex global humanitarian aid program, Ayenat and Elissa write. Another concern: that the transfer will bring back the outdated practice of the U.S. government buying up surplus agricultural commodities and dumping them wherever they can be offloaded.
Despite those concerns, a temporary arrangement for the transition is now in place, and USDA has already begun engaging groups that would be responsible for carrying the program forward.
To that end, the department convened a roundtable with various stakeholders — humanitarian organizations, commodity groups, and shippers — to gather input on how Food for Peace could operate under USDA’s oversight, according to multiple people who attended.
But guess who wasn’t in attendance? Apparently, the State Department — a potential red flag that the agencies aren’t fully coordinated yet on the move. As one participant notes: “No one from State was there. But they were invited.”
Read: After USAID, Food for Peace enters a new and uncertain chapter (Pro)
And don’t miss this opinion piece: The US is breaking a lifesaving food aid program
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Billionaires to trillionaires
$2.5 trillion
—That’s the amount of wealth that the world’s richest accumulated between November 2024 and November 2025, according to a new analysis by Oxfam International.
The organization has other jarring figures up its sleeve: That $2.5 trillion is enough to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over. The surge also coincides with not just wealth, but power — with Oxfam reporting that today, billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than the average person.
“This is happening in a world where 50% of people live in poverty, and one in four actually sleeps hungry,” Amitabh Behar, Oxfam’s executive director, told Elissa during the World Economic Forum in Davos. “What we’re essentially seeing is the power of these billionaires in ensuring that the economic system, and the politics, are rigged in their favor.”
Read: Billionaire wealth grows 3 times faster than ever before, Oxfam warns
+ Listen: Tune in to the latest episode of our This Week in Global Development podcast as Elissa and our President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar, who are both in Davos, join Senior Editor Rumbi Chakamba to bring you the latest from the World Economic Forum.
In other news
Only 32 fossil fuel companies were responsible for half of the global carbon emissions in 2024, according to a report. [Inside Climate News]
Israel has begun demolishing the East Jerusalem headquarters of UNRWA, the United Nations’ main agency for Palestinian refugees, and fired teargas at a U.N. school in the West Bank. [The Guardian]
A group of seven Muslim-majority countries will join U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. [BBC]
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About the author
Anna Gawel
Anna Gawel is the Managing Editor of Devex. She previously worked as the managing editor of The Washington Diplomat, the flagship publication of D.C.’s diplomatic community. She’s had hundreds of articles published on world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, politics, security, trade, travel and the arts on topics ranging from the impact of State Department budget cuts to Caribbean efforts to fight climate change. She was also a broadcast producer and digital editor at WTOP News and host of the Global 360 podcast. She holds a journalism degree from the University of Maryland in College Park.
