Potential State Loses Because of USAID Dismantlement

 Friends of the US Agency for International Development created a website that tracks on a state-by-state basis what US-based organizations stand to lose if USAID contracts and assistance are terminated as most of them will be.  The biggest losers are non-governmental organizations, universities, and companies in Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and California.  

WAMU Podcast: Putting a Face on USAID

 WAMU, American University Radio, posted on 6 February 2025 a 40-minute podcast titled "Donald Trump and Elon Musk Are Targeting USAID."

Although the radio program aired a month ago and USAID is confronting a far more dire situation today, it is one of the few efforts that puts a human face on the dismantling of a proud and important aid organization.  

USAID Projects Shutting Down in Africa and Across Globe

 The Associated Press published on 1 March 2025 an article titled "USAID Cuts Are Already Hitting Countries Around the World.  Here Are 20 Projects that Have Closed" by Sam Mednick, Wilson McMakin, and Monika Pronczuk.  

USAID terminated some 10,000 contracts on 26 February with non-governmental organizations around the world.  This article lists 20 projects--half of them in Africa--that have closed already.  

Responsiveness of Chinese Mining Companies in Africa to Resistance

 The Extractive Industries and Society journal published in September 2024 a study titled "Contention and Concessions: Exploring the Responsiveness of Chinese Mining Companies in Africa" by Jan Sandig, Jana Honke, and Claude Kabemba.  

The study sought to understand how Chinese mining companies in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo respond to resistance from local communities, workers, and civil society groups.  The authors concluded that the Chinese companies mostly conceded when facing sustained disruptive actions and pressure from hosting state elites and domestic and international non-governmental organizations.  

Horn of Africa Needs To Make More Use of Civil Society

The Institute for Security Studies published on 15 May 2019 a report titled "The Horn of Africa Should Improve Citizen Engagement."

Efforts by the African Union and Intergovernmental Authority on Development to cooperate have been largely devoid of citizen participation. They both have a mandate to include civil society organizations in their planning, but have usually ignored them. The report argues it is time to include them.

A More Equitable Humanitarian System

African Development Solutions (Adeso), in consultation with other national and local nongovernmental organizations in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, has developed a position paper titled "A More Dignified and Equitable Humanitarian System: How to Truly Localize Aid" to influence the future policy direction of the humanitarian system.  The paper highlights the changes that need to be implemented from the perspective of local nongovernmental organizations to create a more effective humanitarian system in the future.  The paper calls for donors, international nongovernmental organizations and policy makers to put people back at the center of the humanitarian system.  Adeso operates in Somalia, Kenya, and South Sudan.

Preventing Abuse of Non-profit Sector in East Africa

The Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation issued in February 2012 a discussion paper in Nairobi, Kenya, titled "Regional Working Group Meeting on Preventing Abuse of the Non-profit Sector for the Purposes of Terrorist Financing." The focus of the paper is the three countries in East Africa and Somalia. The goal of the paper is to protect non-profit organizations (NPOs) from abuse by terrorists while preserving the good work that they provide. The Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy institute dedicated to strengthening international counterterrorism cooperation.

In East Africa, the Center identified four key factors that have shaped the discussion about the regulation of NPOs in light of their vulnerability to terrorist abuse:

--First, the threat of terrorism in the sub-region is significant and emanates principally from Somali-based al-Shabaab.

--Second, al-Shabaab uses Somalia as a base for a small financial empire based on extortion and environmentally rapacious charcoal exports.

--Third, many states in the region face significant constraints in terms of their capacity to implement measures to regulate NPOs in an appropriate manner.

--Fourth, within the sub-region the issue of countering terrorist financing through the non-profit sector arises in the context of the broader relationship between the state and NPOs.

Click here to read the report.