Uncertainty looms over USAID crisis
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Thursday February 20…..9.30 am. I am woken up by a call and it’s Kalabala Silva, the often-agitated academic, on the line. “What….you’re calling to discuss the budget?” I asked, still bleary-eyed after a late night on Wednesday.“Aiyo, by now the budget has been fully dissected and trashed, it’s not the flavour of the month anymore in my view,” he said. “So what would be important?” I asked again.
“Well I am worried about the impact the recent freeze on USAID funding would have on local communities,” he said. “That indeed is a serious issue amidst all kinds of allegations and counter allegations that some components of the funding may have had hidden agendas,” I said. “Whatever one might allege, USAID funding helped communities and I know many people in local projects who would lose their jobs and livelihoods,” he said.
With USAID working in multiple countries across Asia, Europe and Eurasia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and West Asia, US President Donald Trump’s decision has caused ripples of uncertainty across the world.
In the Sri Lankan context, while the decision affects all USAID projects, there are instances where local NGOs who have received funding through the US State Department have also been told the funding has stopped. One NGO has had to discontinue 12 workers as a result of the cuts.
Another NGO was told in a letter, to await further intimation after a US court suspended Trump’s decision. At least two dozen workers at USAID Sri Lanka are likely to lose their jobs.
According to the USAID website, since 1956, US-supported programmes have invested in Sri Lanka, working in sectors such as agriculture, environment and natural resources, health, education, business development and trade, good governance and humanitarian assistance.
In times of man-made and natural disasters, USAID has played a lead role in providing humanitarian assistance. During the past decades, USAID has mobilised emergency aid for recovery, reconstruction and rebuilding after the 2004 tsunami; the end of the conflict in 2009; and the floods that have been occurring every year since 2010. USAID works with the people of Sri Lanka to strengthen democratic governance, social cohesion and sustained and inclusive economic growth, the website said.
Some of the programmes include school and maternal feeding programmes in the 1950s: efforts to provide school age children with a nutritious biscuit on 180 school days every year and address maternal nutrition deficiencies. This nutritional supplement – Triposha – is still in use and is considered one of the most successful Food for Peace programmes worldwide.
In the late 1950s, USAID provided diesel power coaches modernising Ceylon’s railway transport facilities. Diesel-powered coaches were more efficient than the coal-burning engines previously used and a substantial saving of one rupee per train mile was achieved. As a result, in 1958, the railroads were able to accommodate 36,000 daily commuters.
From the 1950s-80s, by providing equipment, insecticides, research, pilot testing assistance and training for staff, USAID helped to control and eradicate malaria. Sri Lanka was declared malaria free in September 2016.
From the late 1970s to the early 1990s, USAID supported the country’s largest river-basin development programme including irrigation, on-farm water management, enterprise and environment development, reforestation and agriculture and rural development.
USAID has also helped to modernise the Colombo Stock Exchange and to expand private sector investment in Sri Lanka. Parliament also got support for training and capacity building.
According to foreign media reports, the Trump administration plans to keep fewer than 300 USAID staff out of over 10,000 worldwide. Some local watchers of these developments are hoping a US court decision to suspend Trump’s move would eventually restore USAID funding of its global projects.
Even if Trump succeeds in the freeze on USAID funding, a better and more rational approach would have been to phase out funding with end-of-term projects rather than a one-shot approach.
“While the US has the right to do what its people think is right, a more reasonable and humanitarian approach would have been to end the funding after projects ended their terms and workers were given adequate notice,” said Kalabala. “Yes, I remember when Suntel (the telecom company eventually acquired by Dialog) was winding up, it gave adequate notice to its employees to find other jobs,” I said
Among its funding projects was one in March 2023 when the US through USAID provided US$46 million in funding to procure essential fertiliser, providing much-needed nutrients to paddy crops, helping increase paddy production and averting a food crisis.
According to local NGO sources, at least 1/3rd of USAID funding went to civil society projects, while the balance was distributed to the government and the business community.
It is likely that the USAID freeze might affect 4,000-5,000 local workers on various funded projects with at least 2,600 jobs likely lost in the landmine clearing operations in the north which USAID partly funded. In fact, a key stakeholder in these operations, HALO had already earlier begun a major employee transition project that will prepare staff for a ‘successful working future’ once Sri Lanka is mine-free.
The sources said that in USAID projects, some have completed 50 per cent of the work with allocated funds while some have signed agreements and are just about to start these projects. “It’s okay to investigate the projects (if that is Trump’s concern) as most NGOs have to ensure proper accounts and transparency,” one source said
Hankering for another mug of tea, I walked to the kitchen and couldn’t help overhearing the conversation by the trio who had gathered at their usual meeting place under the margosa tree.
“Aya-weya hondai neda (Good budget, noh)!” said Serapina. “Thava sahana janathawata dunna nam hondai (Maybe some more concessions should have been given to the people),” noted Kussi Amma Sera.
“Company wala weda karana kattiyage padi wedi karoth hondai. Api wagey gruha sevikavanta nam ithin sahanayak nae-ne (I hope salaries of workers in companies would also be increased. Of course, for us housemaids, there is no relief),” added Mabel Rasthiyadu.
As we head into another week, one hopes that saner counsel will prevail in the US and Trump’s decision is reassessed and projects given time to complete their work which would also provide some flexibility for the thousands employed on these projects to find other work.
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