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This week we dig into the different proposals on how the Trump administration could reform foreign assistance. According to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s post on the social media platform X, 1,000 programs will be retained, with plans to potentially fold USAID into the State Department.
We also learned that Peter Marocco, who acted as deputy administrator of USAID for 6 weeks, has officially left USAID but remains at the State Department. However, given that the two government bodies may be interlinked in the not-so-distant future, he may still play a role in the shaping of U.S. foreign aid.
With programs being canceled, reinstated, and canceled again, a great deal of uncertainty remains on what programs will be kept at the end of the process.
The Department of Government Efficiency has also taken over the U.S. Institute of Peace, which appears to be the first nonprofit Elon Musk’s agency attempted to breach.
What will become of USAID? Which foreign aid programs will be kept?
To unpack these stories, Senior Reporter Adva Saldinger sits down with President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar and Global Development Reporter Elissa Miolene for the latest episode of our weekly podcast series.
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About the author
Thomas Cserep
Thomas Cserép is an Associate Editor who manages and oversees Devex's social media presence, coordinates Devex’s audience outreach, and produces the This Week in Global Development podcast. Prior to Devex, he worked as a freelance journalist, with his writings appearing in a variety of publications, including Get Spanish Football News and the magazine of the Hungarian Geographic Society.
