“When I meet up with people at the moment and they say ‘how are you?’, it’s a bit like going to a funeral and being asked, “how are you, under the circumstances?”, said Romilly Greenhill, chief executive of Bond, the membership body for U.K.-based international development organizations.
The country’s development sector has reason to be somber. When the Trump administration imposed a sweeping freeze on programs operated by the US aid department on Jan. 20, many of Bond’s members were forced to halt or close humanitarian programs, according to Greenhill.
Bond responded by gathering signatures from its members for a letter, seen by Devex, to U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy. “Many of us are either funded directly by US foreign assistance or by the multilaterals they support, or work in partnership with those who are,” the letter read. “Our colleagues and partners on the frontline of this suspension are telling us that the impacts are unprecedented, and risk immediate loss of life. There are also risks to many organisations simply ceasing to exist because they are not able to sustain themselves through this pause or adjust to a future without US funding.” It goes on to urge Lammy to increase the U.K.’s overseas development assistance above 0.5% of gross national income.