Last week, things perked up — a little — for the embattled development community, after several weeks of unrelenting gloom. Alas, as the battle over USAID contracts heads to the Supreme Court, things look dark again.
Nor do they look rosy in the United Kingdom, which faces another major cut — and the loss of its development minister.
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Inside the (new) UK aid cuts
The U.K. will slash billions in aid in order to increase military spending, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced last week.
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The decision preceded Starmer’s visit to Washington — as well as the pyrokinetic confrontation between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. But it is understood to be in direct response to the position taken by the White House on the defense of Europe, and in particular, the defense of Ukraine.
The cuts will not come into force until 2027, but they have already prompted the resignation of the U.K. development minister.
In order to bring you up to speed on the likely impacts, we’ve broken down the current state of U.K. funding.
Read: How might UK aid funding change after the latest cuts? (Pro)
+ On March 11 at 10 a.m. ET (3 p.m. CET), we’ll bring you an exclusive live analysis of the current state of U.K. aid. I’ll be joined by senior figures from the U.K. development community to assess the impact of the cuts as well as their impact on the wider state of world affairs. Register now to join us.
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Funding activity
We publish tenders, grants, and other funding announcements on our Funding Platform. Here are some of the ones that have been viewed the most in the past 10 days.
The Asian Development Bank is inviting consultancy firms to conduct a pre-project survey for the development of a payment guarantee system in Kazakhstan.
The United Nations is seeking technical advisory and capacity-strengthening services to enhance rice-fish integrated farms, aiming to alleviate poverty and malnutrition in Liberia.
The African Development Bank is looking for firms to provide consultancy services for a water supply system and fecal sludge treatment unit in Zambia.
The World Bank has announced a partnership to support small and medium-sized enterprises and the growth of climate finance in Egypt.
The Ford Foundation has announced $5.7 million of funding to support energy transition in Africa.
The World Food Programme and the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre have signed a $68 million partnership to enhance humanitarian aid and relief efforts worldwide.
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The axe has fallen. Now for the gavel
As I write this, we’re waiting for an incredibly consequential decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, which could well decide the fate of billions of dollars of USAID money.
The last fortnight has seen several court orders repeatedly commanding the government to unfreeze USAID awards and pay back what it owes for work already done. But late last week the Supreme Court stepped in and paused the latest order, hours before its deadline. Now it is likely to make its own determination about what happens next.
That’s pretty vital, because the government’s response to the pay-up order had been to take a slash-and-burn approach, canceling nearly 10,000 contracts all in one fell swoop, even those which already had waivers.
There was widespread fury in the development community at the brief messages which terminated most contracts, which ended with a terse “God Bless America.”
“God bless” might not be the two-word phrase currently being used most widely around the world, particularly among those whose lifesaving aid has been cut off by the recent decisions — an impact carefully charted by one USAID official, who lost his job as a result.
Information on the impact clearly remains at a premium, however. USAID officials have been reduced to emailing their own customers, asking them which of their projects have and have not been canceled.
The looming Supreme Court decision will impact one piece of a larger lawsuit that remains ongoing at a lower court in Washington, D.C. With this decision, the Trump administration will either need to pay its debts immediately, or be given a reprieve from doing so. And once it is decided, the judge of that lower court will schedule a hearing to continue his own proceedings — a case that could determine the fate of the 10,000 awards already canceled.
ICYMI: Supreme Court pauses order to release billions of dollars in foreign aid
Plus: ‘God Bless America’ and the death of 10,000 projects
Don’t miss: USAID official dismissed after detailing ‘failure’ to give lifesaving aid
Furlough fallout
The U.S. aid freeze has had a bewildering impact on aid organizations throughout the sector, with announcements of job cuts coming almost daily. We’re tracking the organizations which are making layoffs and other cuts.
Funding freeze fallout: Tracking furloughs, layoffs, and cuts
Rapid response
We’ve already written that it’s not going to be possible for philanthropists and other donor agencies to make up for the sudden shortfall from USAID. But some are doing what they can. We’ve gathered a list.
Read: 5 rapid response funds for organizations affected by the US aid freeze
What’s happening to other US funders?
While USAID is by far the largest provider of aid in the United States, there are many other U.S. agencies which also provide significant development assistance. Here’s a list of the current major players which could well have a bigger role in the development landscape going forward.
Read: Outside of USAID, how much did other US agencies spend on development? (Pro)
+ Tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET (8 p.m. CET), we’ll be giving our Pro members a congressional perspective on the dismantling of USAID and the evolution of U.S. development policy, in an exclusive conversation with U.S. Rep. Ami Bera of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Save your spot now.
Local commitments
Last year, the main focus of many in the sector was on how we could increase funding to local organizations. While that issue has probably been put on the back burner for now, we did see an interesting analysis on the subject last week, which found that of 26 major foundations that committed to increasing localization, only one has reported clear results.
Read: Have foundations met their local funding commitments? (Pro)
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Help us help you
These have been some highly troubling and disruptive weeks — to say the least — and the Devex data analysis team is keen to understand the best way to continue to meet the needs of business development experts in the aid community.
Over the past few weeks we’ve tried to focus on two key things — initially, understanding the impact of USAID cuts, and latterly, identifying other major sources of funding. But we’d love to know what your main needs are right now. Send an email to devexpro@devex.com to let us know what data Devex can most usefully bring you, and we’ll try to do so.
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About the author
David Ainsworth@daveainsworth4
David Ainsworth is business editor at Devex, where he writes about finance and funding issues for development institutions. He was previously a senior writer and editor for magazines specializing in nonprofits in the U.K. and worked as a policy and communications specialist in the nonprofit sector for a number of years. His team specializes in understanding reports and data and what it teaches us about how development functions.
