Updated / Saturday, 8 Feb 2025 20:11
A group representing Irish humanitarian organisations has warned that the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will “cost lives”.
US President Donald Trump has argued that the major American agency, which is the world’s biggest aid donor, needs to slash its budget to stop “waste”.
USAID funding has been frozen for 90 days, with some exceptions, to allow assessments to be carried out on programmes that benefit from its donations.
“This is going to cost lives. The effects of this may not be seen for weeks or months to come but it is going to have a huge human toll.
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“We know that there are millions of people who are completely reliant on the US’ funding,” Dóchas CEO Jane-Ann McKenna told RTÉ News.
Irish NGOS have benefitted substantially from USAID over the years.
Aid agency GOAL was awarded more than €100 million in 2023, which made up over half its funding.
USAID’s contributions made up about 7% of Trócaire’s budget, according to its latest annual report, and it recieved over €1m.
Ms McKenna said that the funding it vitally important for Irish NGOs.
“All organisations working in Ireland are very much dependent on the funding the US provides to UN agencies and other agencies that they work with on the ground in countries such as Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen and Myanmar,” she said.
“The aid system is completely interdependent. Although organisations may not receive funding directly form the USAID, they would be relying on the likes of UN agencies to provide those pipelines for nutrition programmes,” Ms McKenna added.
Organisations are already seeing the collapse of health facilities and projects due to the funding freeze as they do not have cash reserves to see them through this period.
Dr Nadine Ferris France, Executive Director of Irish Global Health Network, returned to Dublin from Kenya this weekend and saw the impact first-hand.
“I was with a group of incredible advocates working on HIV. And while we were there… day by day each of the organisations were getting calls to say their organisations were collapsed, they had lost their jobs and the people that they were serving in their communities, the most vulnerable people were losing access to services” she said.
“We’re working with in Zimbabwe… [supporting] young people living with HIV.
“This week they have been thrown in to absolute panic. They don’t know if they will continue to receive their life saving medication.
“The medication for HIV is what keeps people alive. With the order that has come in, the medications have been stooped,” she added.
Some projects have been granted waivers however, NGOs are in the dark as to how long their programmes can last as USAID employees are locked out of their systems or placed on administrative leave.
“A revamp for aid is really important and the sector is working towards that. Being dependent isn’t a good thing.
“But to pull aid overnight and to leave people without medication, without access to the health that they need to survive is appalling,” said Ms Ferris France.
