NEW DELHI: 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 organisations 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. 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 organisations and agencies steering projects for govts, make it clear that they must minimise 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 cancelled,” the directive states. It is learnt from sources in the development sector 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 said on conditions of anonymity while asserting that her organisation 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 programmes preventing gender-based violence and protecting and supporting the disabled population.
According to development sector professionals, the civil society has already been feeling the heat of a funds crunch with sources of global aid slowly drying up over the decades. Moreover, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act restrictions in recent years have made it harder for local organisations to get foreign donations.
Harsh Jaitli, CEO of Voluntary Action Network India, which is a network of 600 civil society organisations, said USAID pause on funding is part of a larger global trend with big agencies from Sweden, Germany and UK cutting down on aid to countries.
However, smaller civil society organisations working at the grassroots level largely remain unimpacted by the USAID directive as the agency support is largely seen in big programmes like combating tuberculosis and outreach on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). According to those working in the sector, since 2004, USAID has been largely supporting technical work on the projects steered by govts.