As the U.S. Agency for International Development dissolved, it instilled fear and uncertainty among staff, undermined U.S. relationships abroad, and proved fatal for the people who relied on USAID services, said former USAID Chief Economist Dean Karlan.
Now, what’s left of USAID will be reconstructed through a new humanitarian assistance bureau in the U.S. State Department. Karlan, who spoke at a Devex Pro briefing with Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar on Wednesday, said the new institution will need evidence-based approaches to program funding and greater focus on long-term and preventative measures — but that, he said, will require restoring the previous budget that the Trump administration had sought to cut.
In the final days of USAID, as it once functioned, Karlan said fear paralyzed USAID functions. "The effect was to make people afraid," Karlan said. Now, weeks later, he said it has been fatal abroad.