USAID freeze: Uncertain future for SL NGOs
View(s):According to Rohana Hettiarachchi, Executive Director of the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), more than 400 workers have lost their jobs in addition to 250 consultants. Mr. Hettiarachchi is a member of the Civil Society Organisations (CSO) Collective, a network of 400 organisations, and in their study done recently 53 organisations responded with details, revealed disturbing data about the impact.
US President Donald Trump in January 2025 froze all USAID foreign aid jeopardising global humanitarian efforts, in a move that affects more than 40 per cent of total global assistance flows. This week a US federal judge blocked the Trump administration from taking any further steps to shut down USAID but it’s unclear whether Trump would accept the ruling.
According to the CSO research study, which Mr. Hettiarachchi says represents just 10 per cent or less of the impact as only 53 out of 400 organisations responded to the appeal for information on the impact of the USAID move, the funding implications amount to Rs.4.0 billion. “This is the tip of the iceberg. The impact in monetary terms is far greater to Sri Lanka’s humanitarian crisis,” he told The Sunday Times Business, adding that the data collected so far doesn’t reflect the ‘true picture’. The quantum of funding for current and ongoing projects provided with USAID funds amounts to over US$160 million, more than half the IMF’s singular tranches under the bail-out package for Sri Lanka.
This preliminary study revealed that in addition to job losses, direct beneficiaries affected were 56,232 persons while indirect beneficiaries totalled 4,489,288 persons. The number of children affected was 10,194 and youth 27,473.
“We are trying to meet the Ministry of Public Security to discuss in general NGOs affairs and the USAID aid cuts,” he said, adding that they have been promised a meeting with the Minister after the budget debate ends.
According to Ghanian analyst Bright Simons, with many developing countries trapped in a seemingly inescapable cycle of aid dependency, it is increasingly clear that the dominant foreign aid model is ill-suited to today’s economic and geopolitical realities. But many of the alternatives being pondered in the Age of Trump offers no real solution, either. Foreign funding, he said in an article, has long been a key driver of global development, shaping economic trajectories in ways that are often overlooked.
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