Policy Updates

On March 12, 2024, US President Joe Biden's FY2025 budget was sent to Capitol Hill, asking for US$64.4 billion for foreign assistance programs, a decrease compared to his FY2024 request of US$70.5 billion.

FY2024 appropriations have not yet been approved, as Congress has been deadlocked on funding decisions. The FY2024 appropriations, which should have been set by October 1, 2023, have instead been postponed with a series of continuing resolutions to extend budget negotiations. Foreign assistance levels have been the subject of intense debates, including assistance to Ukraine, and proposals by Republicans for serious ODA cuts.

Of Biden's total foreign assistance budget, the bulk of it, approximately US$58.8 billion, will go to the State Department and USAID.

The budget proposal is constrained by the spending deal that Biden reached with Republicans in fall 2023, which capped spending. In the proposal, global health faced the largest cuts with the US' contribution to the Global Fund cut down from US$2 billion to US$1.2 billion, largely due to the fact that US law limits US contributions to no more than one-third of all funding from other donors.

Other funding in the budget includes US$10.3 billion for humanitarian and refugee assistance and US$3 billion for democracy, human rights, and governance. Gender programs are slated to receive US$3 billion. The President's Energy Plan for Adaptation and Resilience is also proposed at US$3 billion, with another US$500 million for the GCF, although the GCF has not received any funds from Congress in recent years.

The budget request also includes US$1 billion for IDA replenishment, of which US$750 million is in guarantees. These guarantees are to unlock US$36 billion in new lending by removing risk from the World Bank's balance sheet.

On February 20, 2024, KOICA’s resident officer in India and USAID's India office signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen development cooperation partnerships in India, a key country in the South Korean government’s Indo-Pacific Strategy.

The cooperation is intended to support the sustainable development of countries in the Indo-Pacific region through trilateral cooperation between India, the US, and South Korea. KOICA and USAIDare slated to cooperate in four sectors in India:

• Women’s economic empowerment;
• Disaster and climate resilience;
• Digital literacy; and
• Trilateral cooperation.

KOICA and USAID expressed the intention to explore new development projects in India and bolster joint projects between South Korea and the US. The two countries plan to develop a concrete cooperation plan for the empowerment of female social entrepreneurs in India to support the economic empowerment of women in India.

On October 31, 2023, the US White House released an updated US Strategy and National Action Plan on Women Peace, and Security as a response to what it cited as a swiftly changing geopolitical landscape, as well as recent climate and technology changes.

The strategy detailed five main pillars:

• Increasing women and girls' participation in civic leadership and political processes related to peace and security;
• Protecting women and girls from violence, including gender-based violence;
• Providing both policies and programs to support women and girls in conflicts and disasters;
• Better integrate women, peace, and security policies across US policies and programs; and
• Encourage partnerships that improve gender equality in peace and security decision-making.

On October 11, 2023, USAID announced US$130 million in new investments for girls' empowerment as part of its celebration of International Day of the Girl.

USAID's investment is intended to address the barriers that allow girls to be educated, healthy, safe from violence and empowered both economically and socially in order to create conditions for girls to fully engage and thrive in their communities.

The investments included addressing GBV to prevent child marriages and provide other services in at least six different countries, including US$15 million for these services in Bangladesh. Additional funding is slated to promote girls' health, as well as address the barriers to healthcare that girls face. The funds included promoting access to sexual education and SRHR services.

USAID also announced plans to provide funding for investments in girls' education, intended to advance gender equality through educational efforts, including new investments to support access to leadership fields in STEM to address climate and other global challenges.

During the 78^th UN General Assembly from September 5 to 19, the US pledged a total of US$558 million in humanitarian assistance to countries around the world.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced US$116 million in humanitarian assistance to Myanmar, Bangladesh, and the surrounding area to help Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar. The funding brought total US assistance to the region to US$2.2 billion since the beginning of the Rohingya crisis in 2017.

USAID announced that it will provide an additional US$130 million to assist in the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, providing emergency food assistance, health, WASH, protective services, and other relief. USAID also announced an additional US$247 million of humanitarian assistance to countries across Africa to address protracted humanitarian crises and natural disasters. The assistance will be provided to the Central Sahel region along with Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Togo, and Zimbabwe.

USAID also announced US$53 million for Angola, Kenya, and Madagascar in humanitarian aid to help respond to drought impacts exacerbated by climate change. The support will include emergency WASH services and other emergency aid, as well as assistance to help build resilience against climate shocks.

Finally, the US began airlifting US$11 million in humanitarian assistance to help those in Libya devastated by the floods from Storm Daniel. The funding is in addition to the initial US$1 million provided by the US directly after the floods. The US will work with the World Food Program, the UN High Commission on Refugees, and other international and local entities to provide medical, food, shelter, psychosocial support, and other assistance to help the thousands of people affected in the flood areas.

On September 20, 2023, the US launched USAID's Food Loss and Waste Accelerator through the US's Feed the Future Initiative, which is planned to help reduce food loss and waste.

The new initiative is slated to focus its efforts on youth- and women-led businesses to provide co-financing for climate-smart investments. The initiative will also work with local governments on policies to address food loss and waste, which will generate economic savings and reduce methane emissions.

On September 6, 2023, the US announced that it will provide an additional US$163 million in humanitarian assistance to Sudan in response to the enormous human damage caused by the ongoing fighting and violence.

The US State Department will provide US$103 million and USAID will provide US$60 million.

The assistance will help address a GBV crisis that has put more than 4 million women and girls at risk. In addition to GBV prevention and response, the assistance will provide emergency food, water, nutrition, shelter, sanitation, and hygiene services for approximately a million people in the region.

The US has provided approximately US$710 million in assistance to the Sudanese region in FY2023.

On September 5, 2023, USAID announced new investments in food systems at the Africa Food Systems Forum in Tanzania, including US$15 million to support inclusive and resilient systems as part of the US Feed the Future program.

Included in the new investments is a US$4 million investment in VALUE4HER, a digital agribusiness marketplace designed specifically for women to help provide much needed financial services. VALUE4HER will be implemented by AGRA.

Another US$5 million investment to Sustain Africa was aimed at improving access to and tempering prices of fertilizer, especially for smallholder farmers. The fund will also help build a foundation for a stable and nutritious food supply. The investment, in partnership with private sector partners, is expected to assist six million farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The final investment announced by the US was US$6 million in the N3F, a new investment fund to help address nutrition and diet quality. N3F will provide financing to SMEs, with at least 30% of all funds going to woman-owned or led businesses.

On August 2, 2023, USAID released an LGBTQI+ development policy to better integrate LGBTQI+ individuals into existing USAID policy.

The policy is the first of its kind from USAID. USAID noted that inclusion and protection of LGBTQI+ individuals strengthens economies, democracies, and livelihoods.

Priorities listed in the policy included:

• Protecting civil rights;
• Improving the scope of localization programming efforts;
• Engaging with LGBTQI+ activists; and
• Bolstering USAID response to crises that affect the LGBTQI+ population.

USAID noted progress on LGBTQI+ rights both within the agency's programs and beyond. The agency has announced a plan to develop evidence-based data to strengthen LGBTQI+ policies and approaches.

On July 26, 2023, during the 12^th IAS Conference on HIV Science in Brisbane, Australia, US Ambassador to Uganda Natalie Brown spoke about the harm of Uganda's 2023 anti-gay bill.

The law originally came into effect in May 2023. It allowed for the death penalty as a consequence for "aggravated homosexuality" and sparked immediate controversy among DAC donor countries.

US advocacy organizations have made a point of tracking the law's detrimental effects, which jeopardized gains for LGBTQ+ rights that had previously been made in Uganda. US President Joe Biden called for the law to be immediately repealed.

As of August 2023, the law had impacted medical access and fueled loss of employment and eviction in Uganda. Brown stated that if US funding cannot reach the intended most-vulnerable beneficiaries, many of whom have suffered exclusion and marginalization under the anti-gay law, then US funding to Uganda would need to be reassessed.

PEPFAR stated that it is tracking the impact of the law and trying to provide services directly to affected populations, rather than through other, potentially impacted channels.

The controversy and backlash has brought the law before the Ugandan court for a review of constitutionality.