Trump’s plan to suspend USAID funds set to hit hard India's health, education projects

Following the issuance of an executive order by President Donald Trump to review US foreign assistance and align them with the policies of the new administration, US Agency for International Development (USAID) has issued a directive asking all organizations implementing projects with its support in India to suspend work until further notice.

The move has raised concerns among those engaged with USAID-funded projects in India.

The biggest impact is expected on health-related programmes where USAID funds have been seen to have bolstered technical support to grassroots-level outreach. Other sectors where impacts going forward are likely to be felt include education, gender and climate change.

According to experts USAID exit will have a "huge impact," as the agency has been at the forefront of tackling several issues.

Though USAID has a small footprint in India, the prospect of its engagement shrinking further comes at a time when global aid has considerably dropped, and can compound the financial troubles facing NGOs in development.

USAID's directive to partners including voluntary organizations and agencies steering projects for governments, makes it clear that they must minimize expenditure on the collaborations during the pause period.

"The recipient shall not resume work under this agreement until notification has been received in writing from the Agreement Officer (USAID) that this award suspension has been canceled," the directive states.

Sources in the development sector were quoted as saying that the 'stop work' orders come with the caveat of a 90-day period during which the existing grants will be reviewed.

"But the uncertainty is causing panic," a development practitioner wishing anonymity while asserting that her organization is able to continue work as there are other donors.

According to the USAID website, as of Jan 2021, the agency was supporting mother and child health initiatives in six states with a focus on improving maternal and child health services.

It was also funding initiatives to improve health by advancing access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in several cities, and in addition to this, partnered with states and private agencies to support programs preventing gender-based violence and protecting and supporting the disabled population.

According to development sector professionals, civil society has already been feeling the heat of a funds crunch with sources of global aid slowly drying up over the decades. Also, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act restrictions in recent years have made it harder for local organizations to get foreign donations.

According to Harsh Jaitli, CEO of Voluntary Action Network India, which is a network of 600 civil society organizations, USAID pause on funding is part of a larger global trend with big agencies from Sweden, Germany, and the UK cutting down on aid to countries.

However, smaller civil society organizations working at the grassroots level largely remain unimpacted by the USAID directive as the agency's support is largely seen in big programs like combating tuberculosis and outreach on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Since 2004, USAID has been largely supporting technical work on the projects steered by governments, according to those working in the sector.

‘Huge impact’

The head of an NGO working in the development sector said the USAID exit will have a "huge impact," as the agency has been at the forefront of tackling several issues.

"They have been on the frontier working on TB, maternal health, and WASH. They have initiated so many innovative programs. They created a program under WASH called Local Development. The impact is going to be huge, even in terms of the nature of intervention," she said, requesting anonymity.

She emphasized that long-term change requires sustained collaboration and leadership, which the USAID provided.

"If you do one thing very well but don't strengthen related areas, you may see short-term gains, but they won't endure. Holistic change needs donors like USAID. They were even providing leadership. We had a sub-grant from them, never a direct grant, but they were running something called Momentum, which was helping in reproductive health. We also work at the grassroots, and we saw the impact it was having on the ground," she added.