‘I don’t think anyone can survive for 90 days’: Aid’s grim new reality
By Elissa Miolene // 30 January 2025
For nearly two weeks, the hits have been ceaseless.
First, a 90-day pause on all foreign development assistance. Then, a gag order to keep the U.S. Agency for International Development staff from talking about it. And after that, a halt of nearly all USAID-funded programs — a move that’s thrust thousands of the agency’s partners into free fall.
“I’ve got people crying. I’ve got people not knowing whether they have a job or not,” said the leader of one humanitarian organization, which receives more than half of its funding from USAID. “I have people saying: but we really need to send these medicines. Are you telling me I can’t do that?”
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About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene covers U.S. foreign assistance from Washington, D.C. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for The Wall Street Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, and other news outlets across the world. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for aid agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
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