Freeze US aid funds disrupt global help and contractual work

Freeze US aid funds disrupt global help and contractual work

The effects of the sudden 90-day suspension of most foreign aids through the Trump administration are still unclear after almost a week. Officials and aid organizers abroad strive to understand the applicable guidelines and the associated activities that must now be hired.

Confusion about aid projects and payments

The suspension of foreign aid was announced in a diplomatic letter by Foreign Minister Marco Rubio last Friday. This decision not only leads to far -reaching confusion for ongoing aid projects, but also means that some auxiliary companies are not paid for work that has already been done. An insider from the auxiliary industry that wants to remain anonymous to CNN: "Terms and contractors who work with USAID often have to advance the costs of auxiliary work and only receive a refund later."
Now many remain in the millions without payment for services.

Consequences for small companies

"We were instructed to relieve all of our staff," reported Annie Feighery, CEO of Mwater, a US company that offers governments a free digital platform worldwide to improve water access. As a subcontractor, your company currently bears the debt burden of its projects and has not yet received any payment for the work carried out in January.
Feighery made it clear: "The USAISID-STOP work arrangement has consumed 80% of our company's budget. If we may be allowed to work again in May, we have to pay the work in June. It is terrible to imagine that a company has to make two quarters without financing."

Concerns about international rivalries

Feighery also expressed concerns that other countries such as China could possibly fill the gap in the 90 days of suspension of foreign aid. "It would be better if foreign governments use data-based systems based on US technology instead of switching to Chinese technology." A humanitarian official warned against CNN that countries such as China and Russia could use the suspension to expand their own influence. There is a risk that non-state actors, such as terrorist groups, gain power in regions in which US financing is currently supporting refugee camps.

Unclears about humanitarian aid

Several international NGOs reported CNN that they have asked for clarifications to suspend aid funds or have not received any answers so far. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday that the suspension of humanitarian aid does not affect. This is defined as "life -saving medication, medical services, food, accommodation, and necessary resources for providing such help."
The ministry assured that "critical exceptions to national security were granted" in order to ensure the protection of US personnel abroad and attribute illegal immigrants.

Development help and their meaning

A source from the U.S. foreign aid industry emphasized that the exemption for humanitarian aid does not include the most development measures that are also life-saving. Development cooperation aims to promote long-term improvements, for example in water and food safety. These are still exposed. The world association of credit cooperatives reported that projects in Peru and Ecuador were hired to support Venezuelan refugees on the basis of the stop employment arrangement.

Financing stop for HIV programs

A spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the WHO welcomes the decision of the US administration on Tuesday to include the financing of HIV medication in the exception. "But we are very concerned about the stop of the financing of other parts of Pepper (the President's emergency plan for AIDS aid)."
A stop in HIV programs could expose people with HIV to an immediately increased risk of diseases and death and endanger efforts to prevent transmissions in communities. Such measures, if they are extended, could turn back to progress for decades and reverse the world to the 1980s and 1990s than millions of worldwide, including many in the USA, died annually from HIV.

The Gates Foundation expressed its willingness to work on these topics with the government and demands that the decisive financing be continued immediately while the reviews are underway.