After a months-long shutdown, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network — or FEWS NET — is officially back, marking a significant step in the reactivation of some U.S. government-run programs that were halted as the Trump administration slashed nearly all U.S. foreign aid.
The system, historically funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented through contractors such as Chemonics and the American Institutes for Research, is now gradually resuming operations. Management of FEWS NET is expected to shift fully to the State Department in the coming weeks. Chemonics began to restart some of its FEWS NET work several weeks ago, while AIR has now also restarted activities, a spokesperson confirmed.
Its return is a welcome development for aid agencies around the world that rely on the program’s timely, in-depth analyses to coordinate and prioritize their own responses to humanitarian crises. Widely regarded as the world’s most reliable early warning system for food insecurity for its four decades of existence, FEWS NET has been offline since January — although it did publish one report in May. It used to publish dozens of reports annually.
About the author
Ayenat Mersie
Ayenat Mersie is a Global Development Reporter for Devex. Previously, she worked as a freelance journalist for publications such as National Geographic and Foreign Policy and as an East Africa correspondent for Reuters.
