Tag: USAID

In Memoriam: Arthur Eugene ‘Gene’ Dewey, A Life of Service and Compassion

 Gene Dewey, who passed away on February 22nd, was one of the great humanitarian leaders of his generation, inspiring many people and managing to move food and relief supplies to needed areas over the course of several decades. He was also an institution builder, seeing the need for new organizations to lead and to train leaders.

His career spanned many of the global emergencies of the last 40 years, from Biafra in the 1960s to Sudan in the 1980s, to Rwanda in the 1990s, to Afghanistan in the 2000s.  While he attained senior levels in the UN and US Government, he never lost the common touch. He was affable and supportive of his colleagues and never stood on ceremony.

Throughout his distinguished career, Ambassador Dewey embodied an unwavering belief in the power of multilateral cooperation to address the world’s most pressing humanitarian crises. His conviction that international challenges required international solutions shaped his approach to diplomacy and refugee protection for more than four decades.

He is survived by his wife Priscilla, his daughter Elizabeth Parce Ainsworth, son in-law Anthony Ainsworth, and grand-daughter, Charlotte.

Arthur Eugene Dewey went by the name of “Gene.”  Testimonials contributed from his friends and colleagues for this obituary appear in the following

I.  Gene’s Life and Mission

Born on February 18, 1933, in Pennsylvania, Gene grew up in a ministerial family that taught him values of service and compassion, which would define his life’s work.  Gene graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1956 and began a distinguished 25-year military career. After earning a Master of Science in Engineering from Princeton University in 1961, Gene deployed to Southeast Asia for two combat tours.  For his leadership during a multinational prisoner rescue operation in Cambodia, he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and six additional air medals.

Philip Sargisson (UNHCR):  “Gene was a highly principled yet particularly warm human being. We worked together, traveled together and remained close friends.“

His advocacy for streamlined international aid structures and enhanced civil-military cooperation in humanitarian response reflected his belief that effective assistance required both strategic coordination and operational flexibility.  His vision influenced how the aid agencies respond to displacement crises today.

Betsy Lippman (State Dept):  “Gene Dewey was the ultimate humanitarian and a gentleman in the old style.  One of a kind.  He will be truly missed.”

II. Gene’s Leadership in Fighting Global Hunger

Gene fought malnutrition and hunger in numerous capacities, starting as a White House Fellow in 1968 when he was posted to USAID to coordinate civilian food aid for the Biafra famine (also known as the Nigerian Civil War), which was the first real-time, big night-time news crisis in Africa.

Susan Martin (Georgetown):  “I met Gene in 1981 when he had retired from the military and began working on refugee issues in the State Department.  He was largely responsible for shifting U.S. policy toward finding solutions for the famine in Ethiopia.”

Working at the U.S. Department of State Gene supported the response to the devastating Ethiopian famine of 1984-1985.  He played a pivotal role in convincing the UN Secretary-General to establish the UN Organization for Emergency Operations in Africa that responded to the regional famines across the Horn of Africa including the Ethiopia famine.

Margaret McKelvey (State Dept):  “I cannot count the number of times he [Gene] cited the UN Office of Emergency Operations in Africa work on famine across the continent in the mid 1980s as the UN’s finest hour.”

Angela Berry (UNHCR Nutritionist) met Gene in 1985:  “At that time, I had met many dignitaries. I assumed my list would disappear into some distant bureaucracy. To my astonishment, within weeks everything I had requested began to arrive – tents, blankets, therapeutic food, emergency kits – pouring in with a speed and coordination I had never seen. I knew it was Gene. … Knowing Gene was there, steadfast in his dedication, unwavering in his humanity, was a deep comfort to me and to so many others. Over the decades we continued to exchange messages, sharing concerns about neglected crises and places in need of attention. He always seemed like someone who would be with us forever.”

In 1993, Gene set up and led the Congressional Hunger Center (CHC), which was authorized by Congress in the wake of the dissolution of the House Select Committee on Hunger.  Working closely with Congressional representatives, Gene built up the CHC.    Drawing on his experience with the White House Fellows program, Gene led the CHC to provide two-year fellowships to dozens of young leaders to train fight hunger, working with UN agencies and NGOs.

Margaret Zeigler (CHC):  “He inspired a generation of young leaders who now work to make the world a better place – in the UN system, in the US government, private sector and in the humanitarian non-governmental organizations here and around the world. Gene always lifted up young leaders and especially believed in women, youth and those less advantaged. His favorite words were “we” and “us”.”

Ambassador and former Congressman, Tony Hall chaired the Committee on Hunger from Congress.  He remembers:  “Gene Dewey was one of the most decent and honorable man I’ve ever met.  He was always caring and working to help people who were hurting.”

In 1989 Gene was tapped to lead USAID’s new, unprecedented aid to the former Soviet states when the Soviet Union unraveled and brand, new countries were in need.  He pioneered new ways of providing aid to unconventional populations in Central Asia.  His partner in this effort, Don Krumm, remembers:  “He was a big-minded guy, energetic, and encouraging.  He was always there with positive bravo.  He liked audacity.  Gene kept the supply lines going in.  It was a chance, if we succeeded, to be on top of a transition to democracy.”

Margaret Zeigler explains “CHC still exists today, and is a private, bi-partisan center that keeps a focus in Congress on domestic and international hunger and humanitarian issues and galvanizes action.  It is where our teams established the Bill Emerson Hunger Fellowships and the Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellowships, programs that raise up the next generation of leaders working to end hunger in the United States and around the world.”

 III.  Gene’s Leadership in Refugee Assistance and Protection

While outside of government, during the Rwandan Refugee Crisis in 1995, Gene Dewey arranged, developed a five-point plan shared with the National Security Council and the U.S. President that helped facilitate the deployment of military assets to provide water supply in Goma and the refugee camps around Goma.

Later, as Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration from 2002 to 2005, Dewey oversaw the return of over four million Afghan refugees following the fall of the Taliban.  By mid-2002, approximately 1.6 million refugees had returned home, supported by U.S.-funded UNHCR programs providing transport, shelter, and reintegration assistance.  Dewey championed an innovative Program Secretariat Structure in Afghanistan that paired UN agencies with Afghan government ministries, creating accountability mechanisms while building local capacity. He also initiated the Afghan Conservation Corps, modeled on the U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps, to employ returnees in environmental and infrastructure projects.

      Susan Martin (Georgetown University):   “My most vivid memories of Gene were working with him when he was Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees. UNHCR had been pressured by some of its member states to do a better job in protecting the rights of refugee women and children. Some of the UNHCR staff saw the problems faced by women and girls to be social issues, not human rights issues. When I talked with Gene about it, he immediately brought a group of staff members together and let them know that UNHCR had an obligation to protect all refugees and they should cooperate with the efforts underway to address the many problems facing women and children. I will always be thankful for Gene’s support.”

At the Department of State, Gene encouraged Don Krumm  to pioneer early warning of refugee flows, such as in the Fergana Valley in Central Asia.  Don  (State) remembers:  “Gene was always encouraging new thinking.  He was one for pushing the envelope.   He and I got along so well because I would recommend going to the site of the problem, and he trusted me to do that.”

 Anne Richard (State}:  “When he became head of the refugee bureau at the State Department, the humanitarian community expressed huge relief….  He made his mark early on when his issued a fact-based report that defended UNFPA’s role with regard to China’s coercive one child policy. …    His leadership on refugee matters was respected throughout Washington, DC… While a friendly and avuncular figure, he never hesitated to critique humanitarian policies if he thought they were off-track.”

Gene negotiated the reopening of Vietnam’s Orderly Departure Program in 2004, allowing thousands of refugees to resettle safely.  He also advocated for Bhutanese refugees in Nepal and North Korean refugees in China, pressing for their recognition and protection under international law.

Globally, he advocated for “un-warehousing refugees” i.e., out of long-term artificial camps so they could actively participate in finding their own solutions.

Kelly Clements {UNHCR):  “He was known then as a man of conviction and determination to make the lives of others better with Africa a focus during his time at State Department and serving at UNHCR during the 1980’s pivotal adoption of the Comprehensive Plan of Action for Indochinese Refugees and the CIREFCA process which provided a humanitarian framework to implement Cartagena protection principles and solutions in Central America. “

United Nations’ Leadership

Gene’s commitment to multilateralism and “burden sharing” among donors found its fullest expression during his tenure as UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees from 1986 to 1990. Based in Geneva, he served as the second-ranking official at UNHCR during a pivotal period of global displacement. His leadership helped strengthen the agency’s capacity to respond to refugee crises worldwide, and he championed the integration of protection principles into all humanitarian operations.

In this role, Gene worked to enhance coordination among UN agencies, NGOs, and national governments, recognizing that effective humanitarian response required seamless collaboration across institutional boundaries. His efforts to promote burden-sharing among nations and to elevate refugee protection on the international agenda left a lasting imprint on the global refugee system.

Margaret McKelvey (PRM):  “He was tenacious in his views and committed to multilateralism.”

Jan de Wilde (International Organization for Migration):  “Gene was a rare combination of the good and the practical.  Trust found an easy home in him.  His Christian faith was a quiet but driving force in his charitable works, at least as far as I could tell.”

Former U.S.  Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reflected how Gene was devoted to a life of public service.  She called out his “belief that the world’s most difficult challenges require multilateral cooperation.  You represent the highest ideals of public service.”

Dr. Michel Gabaudan worked with Gene at UNHCR in Geneva.  He remembers Gene as “always extremely courteous and looking at how to solve problems, Gene always saw the individuals, and their suffering, behind the policies, or institutional politics that guided them, carried out by our offices. And he always calmly analyzed the broader context in which we operated, which he understood with discerning subtlety. Some 20 years later, when we met regularly during my stints in DC, Gene remained the same concerned, amiable and well informed person we had always known. A true humanitarian gentleman.”

Strategic Partnerships with International Organizations

From long and hard experience, Gene learned that the U.S. Government’s humanitarian efforts were most effective when conducted in partnership with established international organizations. He cultivated long and deep operational relationships with UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration.

In January 2002, Gene was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration where he oversaw a humanitarian budget of over $700 million a year in refugee assistance that flowed through NGOs and international organizations.

Kelly Clements (UNHCR):  “We worked most closely together when he was Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration from 2002 to 2005 and I was Deputy Director of Policy and Resource Planning.  He argued forcefully for the U.S. to address significant humanitarian need from increased displacement in multiple parts of the world, including importantly in and around Afghanistan with senior department, White House, and Congressional leadership.  I remember in particular his first budget defense in front of then Deputy Secretary Robert Zoellick – neither were shrinking violets and it made a lasting impression on me at a young age. He carried the day and our robust budget request proceeded to the White House.”

IV. Charitable Initiatives and Enduring Legacy

Gene co-founded the nonprofit, USA for UNHCR, establishing an enduring bridge between American compassion and global refugee protection. His role as Director Emeritus of USA for IOM further amplified his influence on international migration policy.  In 2018, USA for UNHCR, established “the Gene Dewey Refugee Award” in his honor, recognizing individuals who demonstrate visionary leadership and extraordinary dedication to helping forcibly displaced people.   The award’s criteria, courage, selflessness, sacrifice, and humility, mirror Gene’s values.   Recipients include refugee-led organizations in Uganda to the Eleon Foundation providing therapy for Ukrainian refugee children in Poland.

Jeff Meer (US Association for UNHCR):  “Gene was one of the first people I met who could move smoothly between public and private service.  I learned so much in watching him do that.”

Kelly Clements (UNHCR)  “While there are many Gene stories, the other piece of lasting advice I remember from our PRM days together is something often repeated now, with due credit to Gene.:  ‘there are no lessons learned, only lessons identified.’  We can all take that to heart.”

Eric Schwartz (State) remembers Gene as:  “a true humanitarian who was prepared to speak and lend his expertise without concern about which political party was in the White House. He will truly be missed. May his memory be a blessing.”

Encouragement of Others

Gene’s legacy lives on through the institutions he helped build and the countless lives transformed by his dedication. The award bearing his name continues to inspire new generations of humanitarian leaders, ensuring that his vision for a more compassionate world endures.

Betsy Lippman (State):    “Gene showed me the ropes.  How he used his discerning intelligence, diplomatic skills and knowledge were incredible to watch and learn from.  His passion and caring for the forcibly displaced was so clear and his drive to change their lives for the better and help them find solutions was always at work.”

Margaret Zeigler (CHC)  “First and foremost, in a town like Washington DC, where most people rarely share the limelight, Gene was radically different: he always created space for young people, like me, to get involved in everything he was working on”

Angela Berry (UNHCR) remembers Gene coming through with needed supplies when she reported her assessments.  “He simply told me to stay the course. After a month, he called me back to Headquarters. He never drew me into the immense politics of that mission; he asked only that I remain true to the technical and humanitarian purpose of the work.” 

John Buche (State):  “At my 90th birthday party, after the string quartet had played “Happy Birthday”, I asked Gene to say a “few words”.  Gene began with mentions of my college education, my army experience, my Foreign Service assignments, pointed out meeting me for the first time when I was in Zambia, continued with my assignments working together in PRM, and ended with recollections from our discussions at our luncheon get togethers in retirement. I felt so honored!”

Mukesh Kapilla (UK Government):  “He was a good man and in my dealings with him I found him sincere, serious and sympathetic in co-operating constructively even as global and American politics swirled around us.”

Following the news of Gene’s passing, many offered testimonials, as Bill Hyde (IOM) notes:  “Over the past days I’ve watched a cascade of emotion burst forth from decades of civil servants who were touched by Gene Dewey. Every person swiftly pulled up ‘a Gene moment’ – the time he listened when they needed it; the time he paused in his own busy life to guide them to do better; the time he reached out and amplified the effect of their efforts by easing a path. Many were surprised that a senior official like Gene even remembered them to offer help – but that’s exactly the kind of man he was. Gene didn’t need the praise, he simply wanted everyone to serve the best that they could. “

V. Recognition and Personal Life

Margaret McKelvey (State):  “A committed Christian, he often cited the Biblical verse “the truth shall set you free” – not as a theological statement but as an admonition to always give a complete and truthful assessment of a humanitarian situation along with a detailed “get well” plan.“

During his final year, Gene was still at work writing and corresponding and trying to educate the U.S. government about how to save lives, as in this letter to the editor in the Washington Post (May 2, 2025), titled A Missing Sense of Duty, wherein he recalled the USG’s success in 1985 in stopping measles deaths during the Ethiopian famine through vaccinations, and questioning the recent changes in US policy, writing:  “Where is that sense of duty for potential measles victims in America today?  Health leaders who plant unscientific doubts about vaccine safety need to be held accountable.”

A few weeks before his passing, Gene met for lunch with Don Krumm:  “he was looking incredibly spry.  He talked about emergency operations in Africa was a high-water mark in Africa.  We talked about old times.  He said he was working on some draft recommendations.  He was an exemplary person, driven to do good. “

Gene’s  contributions earned distinguished recognition, including the Distinguished Graduate Award from West Point in 2006 and the John W. Gardner Legacy of Leadership Award in 2011.

Angela Berry (UNHCR):  “Quiet. Kind. Sincere. Reflective. These are the qualities I will always associate with Gene Dewey. They are also the qualities that defined his extraordinary gift to the world and to all who had the privilege of knowing him.”

Bill Hyde (IOM):  “I recall a dozen times over the years when I would receive an unexpected note from Gene. Each would convey his awareness, his appreciation, his offer in some way to contribute. And then he would slip away again, asking neither thanks or focus. Only better service. That’s the definition of a humanitarian.”

Throughout his peripatetic humanitarian life, his wife Priscilla provided unwavering support, for which he expressed profound gratitude.

March 8, 2026

Further informaon about Gene Dewey:

To see Ambassador Dewey’s testimony to Congress about Haiti, see the March 3, 2004 CSpan Haiti testimony where he speaks 46 minutes in:  https://www.c-span.org/program/house-committee/political-crisis-in-haiti/197804

https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/mss/mfdip/2004/2004buc02/2004buc02.pdf

USAID Library of Project Reports and Evaluations Now Available from Third Parties

By: WHES Board (*Note this post was updated from its original Feb 18, 2025 version to add the two new pages with DEC resources.)

 

American Taxpayers often have questions about how funds for foreign aid work.  In early 2025 there has also been claims — and false information — by Congress and social media about an overall lack of transparency about this aid.

The primary or lead aid agency for the US Government is the United States Agency for International Development or USAID.  In tracking the tens of thousands of projects that have been funded, USAID has maintained a public, transparent, free, easy, searchable database, called the “Development Experience Clearinghouse”, or DEC.   Indeed, World Hunger Education Service has turned to the DEC many times in the last few decades to help provide educational content to the public.

The Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC) is large database of several hundred thousand reports for sharing and accessing USAID-funded technical and program documentation, including reports, evaluations, studies, and other resources related to international development.   Most of the independent rigorous evaluations conducted of USAID activities can be freely download or read from this site.  In addition to serving as a historical record of USAID’s work, it also fosters knowledge sharing about American solutions to problems and technical advances between countries.  There is no comparably comprehensive, one-stop-shop source of information about development insights, for instance by the UN or in Europe or the UN.

Reports on the DEC are typically written by groups implementing programs overseas, including American nonprofits, universities, research groups and other independent specialists or front-line implementers summarizing their programs.

Ironically, during the January/February 2025 period of claims by some Congresspeople that USAID is not transparent, the new Administration shut down the DEC, so that it is no longer accessible for American citizens, including students or Congresspersons, to learn from.  No explanation was given about why the new Administration is blocking transparent access to details about USAID-funded programs.

However, two different independent groups have attempted to recreate the DEC (or at least portions of it) and make it available to the public for free again.

The Passing of William Garvelink, Food and Disaster Leader

William Garvelink, from Falls Church, Virginia, who led how US aid could go to persons displaced within their country’s borders, passed away this August 23 unexpectedly.  Known to all as Bill, he studied Latin American history and dreamt of being a university professor before getting work at the Department of State in emergency response.  As colleague Dr. Joe Barbera (Professor of George Washington) reflects, “He ended up creating history, not just teaching it.  He pushed the bounds of humanitarian assistance in ways that were critically important.”

Historically, United States (US) aid to refugees who have crossed borders was managed by the U.S. Department of State where Garvelink worked before moving to USAID, where he pioneered new approaches to assistance to internally-displaced populations.

Garvelink often told the story of how, in 1988, the US Government was failing to assist NGOs working in the Sudan.  Eventually, USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) received the go-ahead to bypass diplomatic concerns from Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger who said “Don’t ask permission, just tell (Sudanese President) Bashir and the SPLM that you’re going to provide humanitarian assistance.”  Garvelink recalled “We broke through war lines because people were starving. That was the only calculation that mattered.  That changed everything,” recalled Garvelink. “That’s how humanitarian assistance has been provided ever since.”

In 2010, Garvelink became the first head of USAID’s $3.5 billion/year “Feed the Future” initiative, a new USAID flagship global food security and agriculture program.  He brought to this job a background of leading U.S. disaster assistance teams in countries fighting food crises, Somalia, Rwanda, and beyond, as well as helping launch Operation Lifeline Sudan, a groundbreaking effort to deliver food across conflict lines.  He said “Food security is not charity. It is the foundation of stability, dignity, and peace”.

Disaster field expert, Kate Farnsworth recalls: “Bill was a creative humanitarian and a supportive supervisor. He always saw possibilities for a principled humanitarian response, even in the midst of complex scenarios as in Sudan, Somalia, and Rwanda.  While he was an expert in working the bureaucratic system in Washington and on the Hill, those of us in the field saw how he enjoyed being on the ground and we knew that when Bill arrived on the scene there would be a breakthrough in whatever challenge we were facing.  With his tireless, engaging conversational, down-to-earth style, he endeared himself to donor colleagues, UN, NGOs, and ICRC workers, local communities, governments and “non-state” actors and in short order would develop a plan of action that everyone could buy in to. Even after he left fulltime work, we stayed in touch and I enjoyed reconnecting with him to review old experiences and discuss current humanitarian issues. His passing is the end of an era.”

Disaster shelter expert Chuck Setchell recalls: “Bill was my first supervisor when I began working at the OFDA in 1998.  Behind his genteel demeanor was a sharp, probing mind, a sharp wit, and an intense desire to provide quality, effective assistance to the affected populations we were hoping to support.  Bill asked a lot of questions, was open to new ideas, and took me to task a few times, but he never once failed to support my recommendations.  He set the bar of leadership very high, and pushed me to be a better humanitarian, for which I’m eternally thankful.”

He led USG Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs) in critical and often dangerous environments, providing life-saving assistance to communities devastated by conflict and natural calamities.  In recognition of his extensive experience and leadership, Garvelink was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2007 to 2010.

“I remember when I first joined OFDA in 1996, Bill, then OFDA Deputy Director, was encouraging and affirming, telling me that it was better to make a decision, even if wrong, then to not act,” recalls Emeritus World Hunger Education Service Chairperson, Peter Morris, adding, “He also told me not to be awed by position and rank in government, that in our work field experience was as important.”

Over his career, Garvelink received multiple USAID and State Department commendations, including a Presidential Meritorious Service Award. But those who worked alongside him often cited his field instincts and personal courage. Whether in Mogadishu, Kigali, or Kinshasa, he pressed the U.S. government to act decisively and compassionately, and he mentored a generation of younger humanitarian professionals who today carry forward his legacy.

Dina Esposito, who followed him as the head of USAID’s food security bureau credits Garvelink with her early formative experience, “and informed all that I did after.”  In her view, “He helped set the rules of engagement for U.S. intervention in the post–Cold War era, from Kuwait to Somalia to Bosnia and beyond. With deep faith in humanity and unmatched skill in policymaking, strategy, and operations, he was a compelling voice for action. He drew together the brightest minds of his era and helped unlock U.S. leadership as a force for good, saving millions of lives in war torn countries and inspiring those of us privileged to work with him.”

A USAID colleague, Carol Peasely recalls “Bill was a delight to work with. I would call ‘Bill the Quiet and Effective American.’  He quietly led; was always a gentleman who listened to others; and was a great team player.  That was not always easy to do within USAID where turf battles too often arose. Yet, Bill always had the uncanny ability to bring people together to solve problems and get the job done.  His quiet and calm leadership and collegiality was a model to others and saved countless lives around the world.”

Patricia McIlreavy recalls an engagement with Garvelink: “He had a way of supporting people with both wisdom and humor. In early 1996, I was being interviewed by an NGO VP in Kigali for the Sudan country director role.  Bill, who was visiting in-country on a DART rotation, strolled right up to our table, asked if we were done, and told the visiting VP he hoped she wouldn’t promote me because he wanted to bring me back to OFDA. With a grin, he added that I’d refused him up to that point, since I was holding out for the chance at this role.  It was classic Bill: simultaneously strategic, protective and quietly encouraging. That moment, like so many others, showed how deeply he invested in people, not just programs.”

Peter Morris adds, “Bill was always open to new ideas to improve emergency response and was interested in creative thinking to do our work better.  He had worked with Fred Cuny, Kate Farnsworth, Bob Gersony and Tim Knight in what I would call the ‘heady days’ of Humanitarian Assistance.  Bill had a great memory and could tell great stories that were always personable.  I will really miss him.”

After retirement, Garvelink became an advisor to the International Medical Corps, served on Boards, and became a regular lecturer in university courses, fulfilling his original dream.  Dr. Barbera adds: “His post-retirement efforts in advising and mentoring young professionals interested in humanitarian careers has been inspirational.  Bill Garvelink’s quiet humanitarian commitments changed the world. He will be deeply missed professionally and personally.”

Testimonies from his memorial service in October 2025 can be watched at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QowC1jHl8Zo

A 400-page oral history of his career is currently being edited by the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training.  More about his life can be found at:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Garvelink , and https://usaidalumni.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/William-John-Garvelink.pdf

The end of my career in global health

The election of Donald Trump in November 2024 was a gut punch, but I did not know then that the real destruction of the world as I knew it would begin to unfold in January 2025, when Trump began the destruction of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), shuttering almost all of the foreign development assistance that the United States had long led the world in providing.

I have worked in international development assistance for my entire career. I became interested in public health because of a volunteer activity at age 16 when I signed up with a private volunteer organization, Amigos de las Americas, in the summer of 1976 and spent a month in Nicaragua vaccinating children door-to-door with a local Ministry of Health promotor. That experience hooked me on public health, and I spent the next four summers working for Amigos, first as a supervisor of a group of volunteers in Honduras and then three summers in Paraguay. This experience was formative as I learned to speak Spanish fluently and how to deal with mayors, customs officers, and Ministry of Health officials. When I graduated from college, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in international health. I applied and was accepted to the International Health Program of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Hygiene and Public Health.

My Hopkins advisor had received a grant from the Primary Health Care Operations Research (PRICOR) Project, a USAID-funded program to support studies to find ways to improve primary health care (PHC) programs. PRICOR was managed by University Research Co., LLC (URC). The grant was to study community financing of water supply and the Visitadora community health worker program in Brazil. Since I spoke Portuguese, my advisor sent me to Rio de Janeiro to interview one of the principals managing the Visitadora program at the Fundaçāo Serviços Especiais de Saúde Pública (FSESP). In the spring of 1983, I spent a week interviewing FSESP officials and reviewing documents about the program. When I came back from Brazil, I met with my advisor and the PRICOR monitor for the grant, who told me that PRICOR was starting an internship program and encouraged me to apply.

On October 24, 1983, I started at PRICOR as the Spanish-speaking intern, working alongside another recent MPH graduate who spoke French. We supported the staff of five senior scientists at PRICOR who managed funded studies and developed monographs on PHC operations research. As part of the oversight of PRICOR studies, we each accompanied a senior scientist to visit country teams and supported proposal development workshops. After the year-long internship, both of us were offered full-time jobs, and we became involved with other International Division projects and business development activities of URC.

PRICOR I was followed in 1985 by PRICOR II, and PRICOR II by the Quality Assurance Project (QAP) in 1990. I worked on PRICOR II, QAP I, II, and III, working part-time when my children were little. I was fortunate to have pediatrician David Nicholas as my supervisor who was very supportive of family life and flexible working arrangements. This kind of support and my keen interest in the work of QAP and its successor projects made it easy to stay at URC. I went back to work on QAP full-time when my youngest started kindergarten.

When QAP began to focus more on collaborative improvement methods—where purposeful learning among improvement teams is a critical part of the approach—my focus shifted from communication to knowledge management. The inclusion of knowledge management in a project about improving health care was due in large measure to the foresight of Dr. James Heiby, the USAID Project Manager for PRICOR II and QAP.

When QAP was followed by the USAID Health Care Improvement (HCI) Project in 2007, my work increasingly focused on learning from improvement work and creating knowledge products to convey that learning to others. This emphasis on learning and knowledge management became even more important on the USAID Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST) Project (2012-2020). When ASSIST was extended in 2016 to support Zika prevention and treatment in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), the value of knowledge management became even clearer, since knowledge management focuses on how to learn from our work and apply that learning to have more impact. The last part of ASSIST through June 2020 was perhaps my most impactful development assistance work, since the improvements we supported benefited not only families affected by Zika but also strengthened prenatal care, newborn care, and early child development services for all mothers and children in 13 LAC countries.

The beginning of the end of my career was Trump’s January 21 Executive Order freezing U.S. foreign assistance pending a 90-day review. Then on February 3, Elon Musk announced on X that “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could have gone to some great parties. Did that instead.” Under the direction of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, USAID’s headquarters in Washington, DC was closed, over 2,000 USAID staff immediately terminated, and another 4,765 direct hires placed on administrative leave. By early February, USAID contractors and implementing partners, including those providing humanitarian assistance and emergency food relief, began receiving stop-work orders. Some of these contractors and implementing partners then received communication that the stop-work orders were lifted, but then in many cases were contacted again to say the stop-work orders were still in effect. By July 1, most of the 10,000 staff that USAID had worldwide had been terminated, except for a few hundred who were transferred to the State Department to manage what was left of U.S. foreign assistance.

Effectively gutting the USAID workforce meant that actions to issue waivers for lifesaving programs, as the Trump Administration claimed it was doing, or to support the continuance of “approved” programs, were not happening. USAID’s payment system was frozen, and as a result, most contractors and implementing partners like NGOs and universities had not been paid for work they did before the freeze, and most have been forced to lay off staff or even cease operations.

While U.S. Secretary of State Macro Rubio, who appointed himself acting administrator of USAID, repeatedly said he had issued a blanket waiver for lifesaving programs, including food and medical aid, there being no staff left at implementing partners or USAID meant that promises of such waivers were intentionally misleading and untrue. In early March, Rubio announced that 5,200 USAID programs worth over $1.3 billion had been terminated and that about 1,000 USAID programs would be continued, somehow, but administered by the State Department.

The chaotic way in which USAID implementing partners and grantees were notified of the cuts (often, receiving news that the program was cut, then that the program was reinstated, and then cut again) was cruel. USAID staff were locked out of their emails and offices, placed on administrative leave, and eventually terminated.

Having worked for USAID-funded projects for over 40 years, I know firsthand how USAID was a force for good in the world. As a knowledge management practitioner, I have especially admired how USAID has been a champion of learning, both internally within its own operations and externally as a development strategy. USAID encouraged all of its implementing partners to systemically derive key lessons and knowledge products from the work USAID funded and to make them freely available on the USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse.

I have seen over the past decades a continuous push by staff at USAID to do development better—to make the investments of U.S. taxpayer dollars more impactful and more sustainable. USAID’s policy emphasis on localization and locally led development signaled important shifts in how USAID did business—lessons that will likely not be internalized by staff at the Department of State.

Why should Americans care?  For several reasons.  First, USAID, until it was decimated, was the world’s largest provider of food aid, nutritional, health, and humanitarian assistance, saving millions of lives of women and children around the world.  A recent article in the Lancet used rigorous methods to quantify the impact of USAID assistance over the past 20 years and estimated that USAID programs prevented the death of over 30 million children under five and the deaths of over 25 million people living with HIV and of 8 million with malaria. Cancellation of this aid has direct and immediate impact on vulnerable people. Another recently published study in the Lancet estimated the impact over the next five years of eliminating this assistance as:
       • 4.1 million additional AIDS-related deaths
       • 600,000 additional TB-related deaths
       • 2.5 million additional child deaths from other causes
       • 40-55 million additional unplanned pregnancies
       • 12-16 million unsafe abortions
       • 340,000 additional maternal deaths
       • 630,000 additional stillbirths

Second, the destruction of USAID hurts American businesses and farmers. USAID had a well- established strategy to prioritize contracts for small American companies like Rhode Island-based Edesia which manufactures a lifesaving paste for severely malnourished babies. Cancellation of Edesia’s contract not only harmed its 150 employees but also the farmers across 25 states, the U.S. cargo ships Edesia paid to deliver hundreds of metric tons of its therapeutic paste around the world, and finally, to the international organizations that distributed it to malnourished children.

Third, this assistance, proudly branded by USAID as “From the American People”, created good will towards the United States and its citizens. It also contributed to America’s and global health security by fighting infectious diseases and strengthening local capacity to detect and fight scourges like Ebola, Mpox, and Avian flu which continue to be threats to the United States. Wholesale cancellation of support for infectious disease and research on how to prevent and mitigate pandemics makes Americans less safe and more vulnerable.

I know that my situation, having enjoyed a full and meaningful career and being financially secure, is much better than that of most of my colleagues in the U.S. and other countries. Beyond my sadness at the destruction of USAID and the callous way in which the development assistance sector and so many livelihoods and careers were eliminated, I am fearful of the lasting damage inflicted on our country and the world.

*Views expressed represent the author’s views and not those of WHES.

Future of America’s Assistance for Global Health – Roundtable

Hunger Notes joins with other sponsors in convening an expert discussion  on July 17, 2025 about the role of American foreign aid in global health, looking ahead 5+ years.  The Consortium of Universities for Global Health, the Partnership for Quality Medical Donations, the World Hunger Education Service, and George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health are organizing an online (Zoom) roundtable conversation of American public health professionals about how future United States foreign assistance can best promote global health in least developed countries.

It asks about the ongoing battle against the risks of death and illness among children in many lesser developed countries, but also what are new risks that may become disease priorities?  Neglected tropical  diseases or pandemics?

What American research is making a difference or will be in solving emerging problems?  Where are emerging gaps?  Should U.S. government aid target pneumonia, measles, tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS, malnutrition or which other priorities?

What are new opportunities for partnerships?  Which new technologies from America will make a difference?  What are the best roles for U.S. NGOs, networks, drug manufacturers, medical equipment providers and U.S. universities?

Results from this roundtable will be synthesized into a 5-page white paper that will be shared with the U.S. Congress, State Department and media.

Hunger  Notes welcomes your inputs on these issues, as well as questions to be posed.  WorldhungerEd@gmail.com.  Questions can also be addressed to:  ForeignAidRoundtable@gmail.com .

This roundtable is one among a series of similar roundtables organized this year about the future of American foreign aid.

Famine Early Warning System Restarted

Correction & Update:  Hunger Notes reported on March 19 about the cancellation of the important, 40-year-old Famine Early Warning System program, created and funded by USAID.  While true at the time, FEWS NET has been re-established. You can access it here.

The May 2025 prediction report is available here and  reports that “Conflict remains the most severe and widespread driver, particularly in settings with protracted violence or rising geopolitical tensions in East Africa, the Middle East, the Sahel, Central Africa, and Haiti. The  intersection of insecurity, inflation, and limited humanitarian access presents critical concerns across the most affected regions…the residual effects of prior droughts and floods are expected to contribute to food insecurity in parts of southern Africa, eastern Africa, and Afghanistan. Additionally, available weather forecasts suggest rainfall patterns in Sudan, South Sudan, and West Africa may mirror those of 2024, bringing flooding to riverine, wetland, and low-lying areas and dry conditions in the Gulf of Guinea. If this materializes, the resultant loss of cereal crops, cash crops, and livestock will be most acute in areas already impacted by concurrent conflict and economic shocks.”

 

– S Hansch, WHES

Roundtable on June 5 about American Foreign Assistance and Faith-Based Organizations

World Hunger Education Service (the nonprofit overseeing this Hunger Notes site), joins with Fordham University, HIAS, Lipscomb University, and George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health in organizing and convening a virtual (online) roundtable of experts on June 5, 2025, a Thursday,  to discuss how American faith-based organizations may be able to lead in the delivery of foreign aid against poverty, assisting development and providing humanitarian relief.

This will be a roundtable conversation with no panels or presentations, and is open to all faiths.

Invited organizations include operational NGOs, universities, research groups and other faith-based organizations in the United States.

Among the questions the roundtable will discuss are:

  •          How well do faith-based organizations blend donations from different sources (citizens, private sector corporations and foundations) to solve problems and relieve crises? Are they more localized, sustainable and cost-efficient in their assistance?
  •         In which sectors are faith-based organizations best at addressing, comparing for instance hunger, primary health care, basic education, food security, trade, industrialization, governance, marine conservation, or higher education?
  •         Looking ahead to future years, what expanded role should faith-based organizations play in executing new programs funded by the United Statessponsoring organizatons Government?

The roundtable will adhere to “Chatham House” rules in that no quote or perspective will later be attributed to any person or organization, whether in the meeting summary or by anyone attending.  Participants are asked to leave their organizational affiliations “at the door” and speak candidly, as experts, about the issues from their experiences over their careers.

This is one in a series of roundtable about the future of American foreign aid.

Interested faith-based organizations may email to:  WorldhungerEd@gmail.com, or ForeignAidRoundtable@gmail.com

Why the Destruction of USAID Increases Hunger and Harms America

March 21, 2025

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the agency created by Congress in 1961 to lead America’s development and humanitarian assistance, has been decimated by President Trump’s January 21 Executive Order freezing U.S. foreign assistance.

Why should Americans care? For several reasons. First, USAID, until it was decimated, was the world’s largest provider of food aid, nutritional, health, and humanitarian assistance, saving millions of lives of women and children around the world. While many Americans believe that foreign aid takes a large share of federal spending, in fact this assistance accounts for less than 1% of government spending.

Cancellation of this aid has direct and immediate impact on vulnerable people in low- and middle-income countries. Nicholas Enrich, the acting assistant administrator for global health at USAID, who was placed on administrative leave on March 2 for documenting the failure of the Trump administration to follow through on its pledge to allow waivers for lifesaving foreign aid, has written that the consequences of halting $7.7 billion in funding for lifesaving global health programs will lead to the following each year:

  • 5–17.9 million cases of malaria, with an additional 71,000–166,000 deaths;
  • a 28-32% increase in tuberculosis globally;
  • an additional 200,000 paralytic polio cases;
  • more than 28,000 cases of Ebola, Marburg, or related diseases;
  • 17 million pregnant women without access to life-saving services when faced with delivery complications;
  • 11 million newborns not receiving critical postnatal care;
  • 1 million children not treated for severe acute malnutrition.

“USAID’s failure to implement lifesaving humanitarian assistance under the waiver is the result of political leadership at USAID, the Department of State, and DOGE, who have created and continue to create intentional and/or unintentional obstacles that have wholly prevented implementation,” wrote Enrich on Feb. 28. “This will no doubt result in preventable death, destabilization, and threats to national security on a massive scale.”

Second, the decimation of USAID hurts American businesses, faith-based organizations, and farmers. USAID had a well-established strategy to prioritize contracts for American small businesses like Rhode Island-based Edesia which manufacturers a lifesaving paste for severely malnourished babies. Cancellation of Edesia’s contract not only harmed this business of 150 employees but also the farmers across 25 states, the U.S. ocean liners Edesia paid to ship hundreds of metric tons of its Plumpy’Nut therapeutic paste, and finally, to the international organizations that distributed it to children staving off death.

Third, this assistance, proudly branded by USAID as “From the American People”, created good will towards the United States and its citizens. It also contributed to America’s and global health security by fighting infectious diseases and strengthening local capacity to detect and fight scourges like Ebola, Mpox, and Avian flu which continue to be threats to the United States. Wholesale cancellation of support for infectious disease and research on how to prevent and mitigate pandemics makes Americans less safe and more vulnerable.

Presidential Advisor Elon Musk bragged on X on February 3 that “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could have gone to some great parties. Did that instead.” Under the direction of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, USAID’s headquarters in Washington, DC was closed, over 4,000 USAID staff terminated, and another 4,765 direct hires placed on administrative leave.

By early February, USAID contractors and implementing partners, including those providing humanitarian assistance and emergency food relief like Catholic Relief Services and Lutheran World Relief, began receiving stop-work orders. Some of these contractors and implementing partners then received communication that the stop-work orders were lifted, but then in many cases were contacted again to say the stop-work orders were still in effect.

Effectively gutting the USAID workforce means that actions to issue waivers for lifesaving programs, as the Trump Administration claimed it was doing, or to support the continuance of “approved” programs, are not happening. USAID’s payment system is not accessible. As a result, most contractors and implementing partners have not been paid for work they did before the freeze, and many have been forced to lay off and furlough staff or even cease operations.

While U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, now the acting administrator of USAID, has repeatedly said he has issued a blanket waiver for lifesaving programs, including food and medical aid, no staff at implementing partners or USAID means promises of such waivers are cruel hoaxes. In early March, Rubio announced that 5,200 USAID programs had been terminated and that about 1000 USAID programs would be continued but administered by the State Department.

In addition to stopping the delivery of food and humanitarian assistance, the Trump Administration also ended the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) which monitored drought, crop production, food prices, and other indicators in order to forecast food insecurity in more than 30 countries. FEWS NET was created following the 1984 famine in Ethiopia, which killed an estimated 400,000 to 1 million people – and caught the world off guard. President Ronald Reagan then challenged USAID to create a system to provide early warning and inform international relief efforts in an evidence-based way. Managed by contractor Chemonics International, FEWS NET employed researchers in the United States and around the world to provide eight-month projections of where food crises will likely emerge. Now, its work to prevent hunger in Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and many other countries has been stopped. Amid the aid freeze, FEWS NET has no funding to pay staff in Washington or those working on the ground. The wealth of data that underpinned global analysis of food security – used by researchers around the world and paid for by the American people – has been pulled offline.

Aside from the immediate damage to health and health security that the decimation of USAID poses, the assault on USAID has also removed access to the world’s largest public repository of development assistance documentation, the USAID Development Experience Clearinghouse. A public good paid for by American taxpayers, the Clearinghouse and its thousands of resources are now unavailable. It is clear from the draconian cuts to USAID programs and staff that it is not a priority for the Trump Administration to make development knowledge and information available.

In Memoriam: The US Famine Early Warning System, Known as FEWS, as well as SERVIR

The program which many experts considered to be the most effective at stopping famines and starvation and arguably the single most valuable aid program of all time, has ended its 40 year run of success, as the White House shut it down, alongside hundreds of other global initiatives, without review, discussion or debate.  The “Famine Early Warning System” aka “FEWS” was created to address the longstanding problem that U.S. food aid, which takes months to plan, procure and ship across oceans, kept arriving too late to save lives where there was famine.

FEWS has prevented the deaths of an estimated 10 million children from famine during its tenure.  FEWS played an important role in the decline in famine deaths seen in the last century.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) created FEWS following the late famine relief efforts of the mid 1980s when famine hit Ethiopia, Sudan and the Sahel.  In those famines, US food aid saved many lives, but could have saved more, and prevented mass forced migration (the uprooting of refugees) if food aid had reached those in need at earlier stages of crisis.  The President of Tufts University (in Massachusetts), Dr. Jean Mayer, a nutritionist, proposed a new famine early warning initiative to the head of USAID at the time, and the new program was born.  In the decades since, US food aid became dramatically more effective at addressing emergency food needs in a timely way, in the process saving millions of lives.

From its inception, FEWS cleverly combined data from a range of different sources about local crop production in countries from Somalia to Mali, from Afghanistan to Haiti.  FEWS obtained and compared data from satellite imagery of fields under cultivation, ground visitations, rainfall, local retail prices, surveys of malnutrition, and distress sales by households (an early indicator of intention to migrate).  Its methods elegantly blended insights from markets, biology, climate, and remote sensing.  FEWS brought together contributions from other parts of the government:  including NASA, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NOAA, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Various universities including the University of California/Santa Barbara and the University of Maryland also provided critical satellite monitoring and analysis, all under USAID management, backed by networks of field analysts and scientists.  The first American group leading FEWS was Tulane University School of Tropical Medicine.

Graduate courses in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) taught about FEWS as a case study of a successful application of layering information in multi-colored maps to target food aid where it was needed most.  Courses in schools of public health taught about FEWS as well.  Humanitarian aid became a science.

USAID renamed the program “FEWS NET” and funded it to avoid appearance of conflict of interest to inflate food needs through funding appeals.  The cost of FEWS NET has been a small fraction of the value of the humanitarian food aid that USAID distributes. As FEWS matured and became a global network, FEWS NET, it provided ongoing, real-time reporting about a several dozen countries spanning continents and became a mainstay of USAID, being renewed continuously.  FEWS provided guidance not only to US food aid, but food from other donor countries including Canada, Japan, Europe and Australia.  To emphasize this collaboration with other contributing nations, in 2000, the initiative was renamed to Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) to emphasize the importance of collaboration with international and local information systems.

FEWS NET integrated varied data to build the most-likely scenarios to project food insecurity conditions in designated countries four and eight months in advance, indicating where timely humanitarian food aid might save lives and livelihoods.  FEWS NET’s analysis have answered the who, what, where, when and why. FEWS NET also reviews livestock conditions, markets and herder mobility (and fisheries, where important), along with crop conditions.  In recent decades, conflict became the biggest driver of food insecurity due to broken market links, shrinking livelihood options, death or injury of main breadwinners, and population displacement, leading to aid dependence.

No other public source has provided this kind of independent and globally consistent food insecurity intelligence.  FEWS NET briefings to all branches of the US Government, UN and NGO community are well respected and eagerly sought.  FEWS NET also reviewed livestock conditions, markets and herder mobility (and fisheries, where important), along with crop conditions.  In recent decades, conflict became the biggest driver of food insecurity due to broken market links, shrinking livelihood options, death or injury of main breadwinners, and population displacement, leading to aid dependence.

Famines will continue to occur, but prevention and early mitigation and response will be hampered now in the absence of FEWS.

In addition to the termination of FEWS, the USG also terminated other early warning projects, such as SERVIR.  The SERVIR program was a joint initiative of NASA and USAID that leveraged satellite-based Earth observation data to support climate resilience, disaster preparedness, and prevention in poorer countries. Established in 2005, SERVIR’s mission is to “connect space to village,” making NASA’s Earth data accessible for locally-driven environmental and development solutions. SERVIR tracked food security, water resources, weather, land use, and natural hazards.  SERVIR partnered with regional organizations in Amazonia, Eastern and Southern Africa, Hindu Kush Himalaya, Mekong, West Africa, and Central America.

Other sources about the demise of FEWS:   New Humanitarian about Data Streams;  and National Public Radio’s piece.

About Servir, see:     https://nasawatch.com/trumpspace/usaid-erasure-impact-nasa-halts-servir-solicitations/ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20210022715/downloads/Anderson2021_Getting-ahead-of-disaster-impacts-EO-CB_20211015.pdf

Prayer Vigil for Foreign Aid Unites Evangelicals for Aid

A prayer vigil for foreign aid was held March 11, among some 50 Christians, at the Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, attended by Bread for the World, World Relief, Compassion International, Catholic Relief Services, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, World Renew, Hope International, the Accord Network, and others.

Speakers called on Congress, the Administration and the American people to re-install aid programs serving the hungry around the world.

According to Ministry Watch:  Eugene Cho, president and CEO of  Bread for the World, denounced the “broad, un-targeted cuts” recently implemented at the U.S. Agency for International Development as an assault on vulnerable populations all over the globe.