Latest news with #UnitedStatesAgencyforInternationalDevelopment
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bono on Trump, Springsteen feud: ‘There's only one boss in America'
Bono is defending fellow superstar musician Bruce Springsteen, who was recently attacked by President Trump after the 'Born to Run' singer blasted the president during an overseas concert earlier this month. 'I think there's only … only one boss in America,' Bono said during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel's late night program when asked which side of the feud he was on. The Irish singer-songwriter also dismissed the president's accusations that he, Springsteen and other celebrities were paid to endorse former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. 'Two points I'll make: One, to be in the company of Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, and Oprah — I'd play tambourine in that band. And two, U2 and I have never been paid or played a show to support any candidate from any parts. That never happened,' he said. The musician, born Paul Hewson, alluded to attacks Trump has leveled against Kimmel, saying, 'I don't want to cut in on your action, because I know the president at 1 a.m. or 1:30 or whatever that was is usually thinking about you.' The comments were first highlighted by Mediaite. Trump has ramped up his criticism of Springsteen and other celebrities in recent weeks, posting an edited video on social media last week showing him hitting Springsteen with a golf ball amid the ongoing back-and-forth. Springsteen, during a concert in the U.K. days earlier, had criticized the president, saying the U.S. is 'currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration.' Bono, during the interview with Kimmel, said, 'We've got a lot of very religious Catholics, evangelicals, conservatives, who are very, very, very angry with the person that they voted into office, having demolished instruments of mercy and compassion,' mentioning the scaling back of humanitarian assistance throughout the world through the United States Agency for International Development. 'That's the America that we love,' he said. 'That's the America that we all want to be part of, and they are not happy, and there will be trouble.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
USAID has been dismantled. CSR funds should be used in research and innovation
Written by Akshay Saxena & Vandana Goyal On March 28, the US announced its decision to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Over the last decade, USAID has consistently invested more than Rs 1,000 crore every year in projects related to health, sanitation and energy in India. This move may be the first systematic decline in philanthropic capital available to Indian not-for-profit organisations from the United States. Notably, despite its significance, foreign funding makes up only 18 per cent of all philanthropic giving and is likely to be only 10 per cent of all philanthropic giving by 2030. India was the first country to mandate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) through its Companies Act, 2013. Companies with a net profit of Rs 5 crore or more need to donate 2 per cent of their profits to social causes. India's CSR ecosystem contributes over Rs 30,000 crore to philanthropy today and is likely to contribute over Rs 50,000 crore by 2030, making it the single largest funder of not-for-profit organisations in India. And yet, the loss of USAID funding has felt like a seismic shift in the development sector. The key to this lies in what USAID has funded over the years, not the quantum of funding. Most not-for-profit organisations require three pools of capital: Programmatic funding (typically for direct implementation costs), administrative funding (for fundraising, offices and senior management), and funding for innovation and research. Innovation funding allows early-stage entrepreneurs to try new models, collect evidence, and publish research. Most CSR and UHNI (Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals) grants continue to be single-year grants that are heavily restrictive and linked to very measurable outcomes. Not many fund research, innovation and risk-taking. In addition, most large not-for-profits work closely with the government to pilot innovation. When these innovations succeed, there is often a need for large-scale, catalytic funding, which has also been traditionally hard to get from CSR and UHNIs. On the other side, the majority of USAID grants funded innovation: From early pilots to research studies, to the scale-up of technology-led initiatives in partnership with the government. It also funded massive system strengthening efforts focused on building capacity within government health systems, often in collaboration with US universities and medical schools. It is this funding that many not-for-profits find hard to replace. This is not dissimilar to India's venture capital industry in the 2010s. The early investors in India's unicorns were mostly foreign funds. As Indian entrepreneurs exited companies and fund managers returned capital, domestic capital has gradually replaced foreign investors. The same will need to happen with innovation funding in the impact sector. Our experience at Avanti Fellows (an education NGO that we co-lead) is testament to the fact that this is possible. Today, a majority of our innovation, research and systems change funding comes from CSR. This includes significant investments in open-source technology platforms, curriculum and state capacity building. We have benefited massively from the efforts of evangelists within large companies who have painstakingly educated the board, secured funding (often small) for innovation and shown the catalytic impact this funding can have on large government school systems. The majority of our CSR commitments are multi-year, giving us the ability to make long-term investments. We are also seeing increasing willingness for multiple partners to co-invest in large-scale programs, allowing more flexible funders to mitigate some of the start-up risk on new programs. The tide is definitely turning. This trend needs to accelerate. India already has the world's most progressive regulation on corporate giving and the world's most innovative social change organisations. We need to work together to take more risks so that corporate India can help play a leading role in solving our country's biggest problems. The writers are co-CEOS, Avanti Fellows, a not-for-profit organisation that provides equitable access to STEM education for students from lower-income communities in India
LeMonde
6 days ago
- Business
- LeMonde
DOGE's impact: Small savings, but a weakening of the federal government
A total of $175 billion in budget cuts, or $1,086 per American taxpayer: That is the figure posted on the website of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which the billionaire Elon Musk ran from the start of Donald Trump's second term in office until his recent departure. The total has fallen far short of the original $1 trillion goal. In 2024, US federal government spending reached $6.75 trillion, with Joe Biden leaving a deficit amounting to $1.825 trillion. However, the vast majority of American public spending goes toward four sectors that Trump could not or would not touch: pension funds, health care for seniors, defense and veterans' affairs and paying off interest on the national debt. In this context, Musk's room for maneuver was extremely limited, and he focused on highly visible political targets such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which, in the end, have little macroeconomic significance. While he achieved little in terms of budget savings, Musk nevertheless accomplished one of his objectives: weakening the federal government's infrastructure. Around 284,000 public sector employees have been pushed out of or will soon have to leave their jobs, according to a tally by The New York Times, as of its last update on May 12. This figure includes 58,566 people who were laid off, 76,290 who accepted voluntary departure buyouts offered by Musk, and 149,320 more planned job cuts. This tally does not include people whom US courts have ordered must be reinstated.
Los Angeles Times
25-05-2025
- Health
- Los Angeles Times
Haitians with HIV defy stigma as they denounce USAID defunding as lifesaving medicine dwindles
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A video showing dozens of people marching toward the office of Haiti's prime minister elicited gasps from some viewers as it circulated recently on social media. The protesters, who are HIV-positive, did not conceal their faces — a rare occurrence in a country where the virus is still heavily stigmatized. 'Call the minister of health! We are dying!' the group chanted. The protesters risked being shunned by society to warn that Haiti is running out of HIV medication just months after the Trump administration slashed more than 90% of the United States Agency for International Development's foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in overall aid across the globe. At a hospital near the northern city of Cap-Haitien, Dr. Eugene Maklin said he struggles to share that reality with his more than 550 HIV patients. 'It's hard to explain to them, to tell them that they're not going to find medication,' he said. 'It's like a suicide.' More than 150,000 people in Haiti have HIV or AIDS, according to official estimates, although nonprofits believe the number is much higher. David Jeune, a 46-year-old hospital community worker, is among them. He became infected 19 years ago after having unprotected sex. 'I was scared to let people know because they would point their finger at you, saying you are infecting others with AIDS,' he said. His fear was so great that he didn't tell anyone, not even his mother. But that fear dissipated with the support Jeune said he received from nonprofit groups. His confidence grew to the point where he participated in last week's protest. 'I hope Trump will change his mind,' he said, noting that his medication will run out in November. 'Let the poor people get the medication they need.' Patrick Jean Noel, a representative of Haiti's Federation of Assns. of HIV, said that at least five clinics, including one that served 2,500 patients, were forced to close after the USAID funding cuts. 'We can't stay silent,' he said. 'More people need to come out.' But most people with HIV in Haiti are reluctant to do so, said Dr. Sabine Lustin, executive director of the Haiti-based nonprofit Promoters of Zero AIDS Goal. The stigma is so strong that many patients are reluctant to pick up their medication in person. Instead, it is sent in packages wrapped as gifts so as to not arouse suspicion, she said. Lustin's organization, which helps some 2,000 people across Haiti, receives funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though its funding hasn't been cut, she said that shortly after President Trump took office in January, the agency banned HIV prevention activities because they targeted a group that is not a priority — which she understood to be referring to gay men. That means the organization can no longer distribute up to 200,000 free condoms a year or educate people about the disease. 'You risk an increase in infections,' she said. 'You have a young population who is sexually active who can't receive the prevention message and don't have access to condoms.' On the sunny morning of May 19, a chorus of voices drowned out the din of traffic in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, growing louder as protesters with HIV marched defiantly toward the prime minister's office. 'We are here to tell the government that we exist, and we are people like any other person,' one woman told reporters. Another marching alongside her said, 'Without medication, we are dying. This needs to change.' Three days after the protest, the leader of Haiti's transitional presidential council, Louis Gérald Gilles, announced that he had met with activists and would try to secure funding. Meanwhile, nonprofit organizations across Haiti are fretting. 'I don't know what we're going to do,' said Marie Denis-Luque, founder and executive director of CHOAIDS, a nonprofit that cares for Haitian orphans with HIV/AIDS. 'We only have medication until July.' Her voice broke as she described her frantic search for donations for the orphans, who are cared for by HIV-positive women in Cap-Haitien after gang violence forced them to leave Port-au-Prince. Denis-Luque said she has long advocated for the orphans' visibility. 'We can't keep hiding these children. They are part of society,' she said, adding that she smiled when she saw the video of last week's protest. 'I was like, whoa, things have changed tremendously. The stigma is real, but I think what I saw … was very encouraging to me. They can't be silenced.' Experts say Haiti could see a rise in HIV infections because medications are dwindling at a time that gang violence and poverty are surging. Dr. Alain Casseus, infectious-disease division chief at Zanmi Lasante, the largest nongovernmental healthcare provider in Haiti, said he expected to see a surge in patients given the funding cuts, but that hasn't happened because traveling by land in Haiti is dangerous since violent gangs control main roads and randomly open fire on vehicles. He warned that abruptly stopping medication is dangerous, especially because many Haitians do not have access or cannot afford nutritious food to strengthen their immune system. 'It wouldn't take long, especially given the situation in Haiti, to enter a very bad phase,' he said of HIV infections. And even if some funding becomes available, a lapse in medication could cause resistance to it, he said. Casseus said gang violence also could accelerate the rates of infection by rapes or other physical violence as medication runs out. At the New Hope Hospital run by Maklin in Haiti's northern region, shelves are running empty. He used to receive more than $165,000 a year to help HIV/AIDS patients. But that funding has dried up. 'Those people are going to die,' he said. 'We don't know how or where we're going to get more medication.' The medication controls the infection and allows many to have an average life expectancy. Without it, the virus attacks a person's immune system and they develop AIDS, the late stage of an HIV infection. Reaction is swift when Maklin tells his patients that in two months, the hospital won't have any HIV medication left. 'They say, 'No, no, no, no!'' he said. 'They want to keep living.' Coto and Sanon write for the Associated Press and reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Port-au-Prince, respectively.
Scoop
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Scoop
USAID Bears The American Identity
Yossef Ben-Meir Marrakech What an agency, organization, or even an idea becomes will always resemble to some degree—though it fluctuates across time—the inspiration at its inception. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was born from the US Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, and it enshrined for the first time in the short history of international development assistance the concept of people's 'participation' in their own change and growth. Now, generations later, based on evaluations world-wide across cultures, we know that the local beneficiaries need to be integral to the design, management, and evaluation processes in order for initiatives to provide continued gain for the people. Development today, beyond any doubt, has revealed that the longevity of initiatives is primarily determined by the measure of participation. USAID was spawned on this idea, majorly pioneering the principle that beneficiary decision-making on the projects that impact their lives drives sustainability. USAID was also founded on a corollary, indelible concept: poverty alleviation that addresses the economic, social, and environmental conditions that oppress people and deny them livelihood and peace is, in and of itself, the high purpose. Geopolitics is not the single or even primary factor for gaining assistance through USAID. Rather, uplifting humanity from the tortures of extreme poverty, disease, and catastrophes is its calling. USAID delinked assistance being only provided to contain the Soviet Union. Human suffering, wherever it may emanate, is worthy of our attention and eradication. How these central concepts of USAID unfold in those nations of the world where it is invited is particular to the situations in which host nations find themselves. For example, the experience of the High Atlas Foundation in implementing USAID's Dakira cultural preservation program in Morocco (concluded at the end of 2024) ensured that today's young people sincerely internalize their nation's indelible heritage of Muslim, Jewish and Christian solidarity, integration, and shared experience and partnership for survival and growth. This is a priority held by the government and the people of this North African, Islamic country, and USAID provided the support for it. In a world where religious-based strife, misunderstanding, separation, and even violence is ever present, worrisome, and unsustainable, the governments of Morocco and the United States together recognized that the kingdom's experience and its domestic and global knowledge-sharing provide an inspiring model for young people and policymakers. In fact, interfaith collaboration is not only essential for peace, but our best development and growth depends upon it. Morocco stands for intercultural dialogue and connectivity leading to livelihood, health, and education. It is not only a necessary, most viable pathway for itself but is an emblem for the world. USAID not only saves lives through the provision of essential medicine, food, and support in the face of overwhelming disaster, but it also is a critical partner in advancing American ideals with nations who also strive for a more perfect union and inspire others through their journey. To be sure, there is an undeniable phenomenon among organizations and agencies as they grow and naturally change over decades. In time, it becomes increasingly difficult for any entity—including religions or institutions, be they public, civil, academic, or private—to remain absolutely true to the original vision that launched them. How recognizable would nations of the world be to their founders? How recognizable are conglomerates to their original creators or religions to the prophecies that begot them? There may be no greater challenge for any collective body than to remain consistently true to the original mission over time. Certainly, the High Atlas Foundation, dedicated to change driven by the people, finds it increasingly difficult to launch every action in every location with empowerment and building self-belief and confidence as the essential beginning. It is very difficult. So, too, USAID needed to return to its community participation roots. With its necessary, admirable commitment to implementers' financial, programmatic, and reporting compliance, USAID began to heavily rely upon larger organizations to administer local actions around the world. Those organizations in turn partnered with national organizations working at the local level. USAID re-emphasized that localization enacted alongside indigenous civil and private groups is critical for effective development. The lessons in international development generated by USAID have profound implications for the United States' internal growth. For example, cultural preservation efforts in Morocco, financed by USAID, underscore the centrality of interfaith partnership for achieving sustainable benefits. That vital lesson should be a guide for the White House Faith-Based Office, which stretches across federal agencies. Community managed economic projects point to how decentralized administrative systems emerge from carrying out such actions. This points to ways the U.S. federal government can strengthen the enduring core of the country, which is its federalist system. Yes, USAID promotes a more stable and prosperous world and helps to alleviate immediate suffering, but it also brings home vital lessons to promote the U.S.' own best growth. The Farmer-to-Farmer Program, for example, enabled U.S. agricultural experts to devote millions of hours to share their vast knowledge with nations of the world. What they have learned during their volunteering with communities abroad has enhanced their own work, productivity, efficiency, and opportunities at home. USAID is a reflection or extension of the American ideal and may be retrenched for a time, but no doubt, one day, it will continue. It must, lest its expression, which rings from every true American anthem, will grow silent. It is therefore bound to the destiny of the United States, whatever its iteration.
