The Trump administration’s gutting of foreign aid has seen a $400m hit to Australian projects, with 120 projects affected, at least 20 offices closed and people left without crucial support for health, education, humanitarian and climate change issues, the Australian Council for International Development (Acfid) has found.
Acfid has surveyed its members and their partners, who deliver projects on the ground, on the impact of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) cuts, which took effect when the president, Donald Trump, froze funding for 90 days from 20 January.
By the time the 90 days expired, despite a waiver for humanitarian blockistance, 5,200 of the agency’s 6,200 programs had been stopped. Those that were left were absorbed into the state department.
Workers in Australian programs described “chaos” and “total panic” at the time, and warned programs could shut, causing “unnecessary deaths and suffering”.
Some Australian aid projects had direct USAID funding, while others were jointly funded or subsidised through US funding.
“Australian NGOs and their partners have had to reduce operations and staff with dire consequences to local communities that are now no longer receiving essential healthcare, education, food or other blockistance,” Acfid’s report, released on Monday, says.
“At least 20 partner organisations and/or country offices of Australian NGOs have closed. Some local organisations have also had to close their doors permanently.”
The report points out that it collected information during that 90-day period, that it was a time of “upheaval” and many organisations did not have a clear picture of the impacts.
Less than half provided financial data, so the figures “should be read as a low estimate of impact on the Australian aid agencies and the local partners they work with around the world”, the report states.
More than 120 projects were hit, with a financial value of more than $400m. The projects were mostly in the Pacific and south-east Asia.
Projects to help children, combat climate change and provide humanitarian support were the hardest hit.
In Nepal, 307 girls are no longer able to go to school after an education project closed. Without education, girls are at higher risk of child marriage and being trafficked, Acfid says.
In Kiribati, almost 2,000 people lost access to improved water, sanitation and hygiene practices, leading to reduced access to clean water and increased risk of disease.
The Acfid policy and advocacy chief, Jessica Mackenzie, said the development sector was only now fully grasping the scale of the fallout.
“We’ve heard first-hand accounts from people on the ground ranging from communities in the Pacific losing access to clean water, to girls in Nepal deprived of education and fearful they may be forced into marriage,” she said.
“At least $400m in humanitarian and development projects have been directly impacted by the USAID freeze for Australian NGOs. That’s millions of people losing access to food, healthcare and education.”
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The cuts could not have come at a worse time, she said.
“Communities already on the frontline of climate change are losing access to programs that were helping them adapt, prepare and survive.”
Acfid says Australia’s own foreign aid spending is the lowest it has ever been, at a time when the world needs it most.
Other countries including the UK, the Netherlands and Germany have cut their foreign aid, despite the context of growing global conflict and uncertainty.
Acfid is calling for the government to increase spending on foreign aid from 0.65% to 1% of the federal budget. Save the Children Australia has made a similar call.
Its proposals include spending on climate action, development, and work on gender, disability and social inclusion.
In March, Australia moved to plug the funding gaps in the region by directing about $120m in foreign aid to support economic, health, humanitarian and climate responses in the Indo-Pacific.
That money came from funding for other programs, which the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, called “hard strategic decisions”.
DFAT has also committed to 2.5% annual increases in aid funding.
Wong announced on Friday that another $10m would go to help distribute urgent medical and food supplies in Gaza, taking the total blockistance there to $110m since 7 October 2023.
On Thursday, the Trump administration announced it would eliminate all USAID overseas positions by 30 September.
