Over a frantic weekend, USAID said it cut an extra 42 programs worldwide, only to reconsider some decisions days later. The cuts, which hit emergency food aid hard, were described — as usual — as being for the “convenience of the U.S. government.”
Also in today’s edition: What does all this aid chaos mean for higher education programs?
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USAID's funding chaos gets even messier
On Friday, Peter Marocco, director of the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance, dropped a bomb in an email, stirring up his team with this urgent update:
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“I’m fielding [White House] calls on whether we’ve complied yet with the President’s order to stop all payments to Afghanistan,” he wrote, setting off a flurry of activity to halt funding, as Devex snagged a peek at the chaos.
The directive wasn't just for show; by the end of the weekend, 42 programs previously on the survival list were axed — not just in Afghanistan but also in Gaza, Yemen, Haiti, and more, with cuts totaling around $1.3 billion globally, according to a document shared with Devex by staff in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. The reason? Simply “for the convenience of the U.S. government.”
The Trump administration had told the U.S. Congress that some of these programs would continue, and now they were suddenly gone.
The latest round even included cuts to emergency food aid. The World Food Programme alone saw $804.4 million in food assistance evaporate across 14 countries. But come Monday, an email scrambled to undo six of those cuts.
“If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation,” WFP posted on social media platform X.
And as the dust refuses to settle, everyone's left scratching their heads: Which cuts are final? Are some awards coming back from the dead? It’s all up in the air, leaving partners dangling and desperate for clarity.
Read: A 'death sentence for millions' as US cuts more aid
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Card carrying
World Bank staff received new instructions and recommendations for foreign nationals as a result of new U.S. policies, according to a copy of the message obtained by Devex.
All foreign nationals in the U.S. for 30 days or more — including those who hold green cards signifying permanent residence — must register with the U.S. government by April 11, when it will begin enforcing registration requirements for all foreign nationals.
Permanent residents “are required to always carry their green card with them” said the message from the World Bank Group senior leader team, specifying that the actual card and not a copy was required. For others, the bank still recommended that staff carry proof of their immigration status.
“We would also like to remind all staff that to date, the U.S. government has not imposed any new restrictions on entry to the U.S. We are continuing to monitor as there are news reports of potential upcoming travel bans that may impact citizens from several countries,” the message said.
It also provided contact information for the World Bank emergency line and HR operations on any visa-related matters.
Leak of legends
At the end of last month, we got a big leak: a list of terminated and retained USAID awards, intended for Congress. We've used that data to build a picture of how aid has been affected by the Republican administration's plans. We've mapped out the worst-affected contractors, nonprofits, and multilateral agencies.
However, there have been some questions about the accuracy of the list. Just the other day, one NGO raised several questions. Our article, they said, contained several errors. One big award that was listed as canceled had actually continued, and the numbers for terminated and active awards were wrong.
We checked again, several times, and our figures still seem to add up. In which case, it appears the list may contain some inaccuracies.
This raises the question: How many other figures might be questionable? We'd love to hear from other agencies. If the figures on the government list don't match your own calculations, please email us at editor@devex.com.
Degrees of separation
The shake-up in U.S. foreign aid, spearheaded by the dismantling of USAID, is causing ripples across higher education. Universities that have traditionally prepared students for careers in foreign service and international development — and presumably their prospective enrollees — are now questioning the job prospects that follow such programs.
Georgetown alumni career coach Colin Steele puts it bluntly: “If you had a school or a program that was traditionally an aid feeder, who and what is that program for now? Why would anyone hand you $250,000 to do that?”
With thousands of USAID staffers facing or suffering layoffs and major cuts in projects, universities such as Jessup and Georgetown are concerned about potential shifts in enrollment. Some might decide now is the perfect time to take shelter in an education program, while others might reconsider their studies altogether.
Yet, despite these challenges, the need for skilled professionals in global development persists. Universities are responding by adapting their curriculums to include broader teaching on development, focusing more on skills such as social entrepreneurship and less on traditional USAID-focused strategies.
Read: What will USAID feeder schools do now? (Career)
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Running toward the fire
On the latest episode of the Devex Book Club, Notre Dame Professor Emerita Viva Ona Bartkus, the author of “Business on the Edge: How to Turn a Profit and Improve Lives in the World’s Toughest Places,” discusses how the world's most challenging markets are a place where some businesses are figuring out how to thrive.
In a conversation with Devex Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar, Bartkus shares findings from her research, which documents 80 companies that are achieving high returns by engaging with — not avoiding — conflict zones and extreme poverty. Their success isn’t a coincidence but a strategy: crafting ventures that flourish in fragile contexts by replacing extractive business practices with collaborative models that build lasting economic foundations.
Listen to Hard places, high returns: Rethinking crisis markets with Viva Ona Bartkus.
In other news
The African Development Bank is seeking to raise $2.2 billion for agricultural zones in 28 Nigerian states to boost food security and create jobs. [Reuters]
Germany has suspended refugee admissions under a U.N. program as a conservative-led government prepares to take office. [Al Jazeera]
The World Bank committed $1.1 billion to fund Jordan’s economic reforms and expand social safety nets as the kingdom battles rising debt. [AFP via Barron’s]
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About the author
Helen Murphy
Helen is an award-winning journalist and Senior Editor at Devex, where she edits coverage on global development in the Americas. Based in Colombia, she previously covered war, politics, financial markets, and general news for Reuters, where she headed the bureau, and for Bloomberg in Colombia and Argentina, where she witnessed the financial meltdown. She started her career in London as a reporter for Euromoney Publications before moving to Hong Kong to work for a daily newspaper.
