It’s been a chaotic and confusing week for staff members of the United States Agency for International Development who’ve been left to wonder what will happen to the programming into which they’ve invested time, energy, and resources — as well as their own job security.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for a 90-day pause in disbursements of foreign aid. This was then followed by the U.S. State Department issuing a stop-work order for existing grants and contracts and an immediate pause on new foreign aid spending. That led to widespread criticism from many organizations worldwide that depend on the agency for lifesaving humanitarian and development aid.
On Friday, Jason Gray, the acting administrator of USAID, wrote a memo to staff, serving as initial guidance on how to move forward with implementing Trump’s vision to uproot the ways in which American foreign policy has been undertaken for decades.
About the author
Sara Jervingsarajerving
Sara Jerving is a Senior Reporter at Devex, where she covers global health. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, VICE News, and Bloomberg News among others. Sara holds a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she was a Lorana Sullivan fellow. She was a finalist for One World Media's Digital Media Award in 2021; a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 2018; and she was part of a VICE News Tonight on HBO team that received an Emmy nomination in 2018. She received the Philip Greer Memorial Award from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2014.
