Policy Updates

On April 11, 2024, the US announced that it will provide an additional US$25 million in assistance to refugees in the Uganda. The resources from both the Department of State and USAID will go to the UN High Commission on Refugees and the WFP.

The resources will be used to support food, health care, and education, as well as other emergency support to refugees whom have fled South Sudan, the DRC, Somalia, and Sudan. The US noted that Uganda has the highest number of refugees in Africa, having received more than 130,000 refugees in 2023.

The US separately called out a 2024 ruling of the Ugandan court, which had upheld a controversial anti-homosexual law, stating that the US was committed to ensuring that all assistance would be delivered without discrimination.

In advance of the Paris International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and it Neighbors, Power also announced an additional US$100 million in emergency assistance for the 25 million people who have been affected by the civil war in Sudan. Five million people are close to famine and eight million have been displaced. USAID also called out the violence being perpetrated on the people of Sudan by both sides of the armed conflict. The emergency assistance will include food, nutrition, and other services. This brings total US humanitarian assistance for Sudan to over US$1 billion.

On April 3, 2024, due to deepening humanitarian needs in Lebanon, USAID announced an additional US$67 million in assistance to the people of Lebanon and Syrian refugees in the region.

The resources are slated to provide food, WASH, health care, and psychosocial and humanitarian support.

The ongoing humanitarian crises in the region have been exacerbated by the conflict in Gaza, which has internally displaced 91,000 Lebanese people. Food assistance will be delivered through the WFP. Health services will be provided through International Medical Corps and Relief International.

USAID, which already has provided over US$202 million in food assistance in FYs 2022 and 2023, called upon other donors to help meet the needs of the most vulnerable as demand outpaces resources.

On March 25, 2024, amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Sudan, Open Canada is criticized the government of Canada for its inaction to address the public health and nutrition crisis, as well as the government’s lack of focus on the African continent as a whole.

The humanitarian crisis in Sudan followed the outbreak of war in April 2023, with 8 million people displaced, roughly half the population (approximately 25 million people) in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, a cholera outbreak, and a widespread famine predicted by June 2024.

Open Canada criticized the government for its passivity in the crisis, with neither Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau nor Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly having spoken publicly about Sudan since shortly after the outbreak of war. While Canada evacuated its Sudanese embassy in April 2023, it did not follow other donor countries in maintaining the presence of a senior official in the region to assist in conflict resolution or support key international humanitarian and development organizations. Open Canada also noted that, unlike the EU, UK, and US, Canada has not imposed sanctions on Sudan.

The group also criticized Canada's apathetic approach to the region more broadly. Canada announced a new Foreign Policy Engagement Plan for Africa in 2022, however, the strategy has since been transitioned into a “framework” with the Canadian government yet to release any details of the plan. Open Canada called on the Canadian government to implement a proper engagement strategy in Africa, particularly amid the growing humanitarian, development, and security crisis in Sudan.

On March 25, 2024, during a visit with the President of Guatemala, US Vice President Kamala Harris announced a package of economic, development, health, and security funding for Guatemala contingent on Congressional notification.

The funding is part of the Biden Administration's Central American Root Causes Strategy, which aims to help Guatemalans build a prosperous and safe country by focusing on the causes of Guatemala's economic, security, and democratic challenges. The assistance supports efforts to combat corruption as well as improving agricultural technologies and health outcomes. It is slated to establish the first youth service corp, as well as supporting locally led development and promoting inclusive growth.

On March 22, 2024, the US foreign assistance budget for FY2024, which should have been passed before October 1, 2023, finally cleared the Congress and was signed by US President Joe Biden as part of a six-part appropriations package that required strong Democratic support in the US House to pass.

Foreign assistance funding saw an overall 6% cut to funding across various funding lines.

Humanitarian funding through USAID increased by US$800 million. PEPFAR's funding remained level and also received one-year authorization, which global health advocates had strongly pushed for. Other global health programs saw level funding, and Gavi received a US$10 million increase.

Other development accounts, such as programs for WASH, democracy, and education were cut. Global heath security saw a decrease of US$200 million. The World Bank's IDA allocation was cut by US$50 million. UNRWA, the Palestinian refugee agency, was reduced to zero.

The boost to humanitarian and refugee support seen in the US in 2023 came at the cost of developmental programs. Advocates criticized that with this, the US is funding the shorter term at the cost of solving longer-term problems. Given acute global needs and crises, development experts expressed concern about the trade-offs that will be necessary with the new development budget cuts.

On 13 March 2024, Sweden announced a new agreement between Sida and the USAID, which is set to advance sustainable development initiatives, prioritizing local initiatives and engaging the private sector closely.

The agreement was officially sealed in Washington DC on 4 March by Sida's Director-General Jakob Granit and USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman.

The agreement, slated to span the next four years, introduces new focus areas including digitalization, cybersecurity, the enhancement of global public goods like food security, climate action, and the improvement of transparency and oversight in development.

On March 15, 2024, USAID Administrator Samatha Power announced that the US will provide an additional US$25 million in humanitarian assistance to Haiti.

The funds are in addition to the US$33 million announced by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on March 11, 2024.

Noting the recent violence and the deepening humanitarian crisis, which has now displaced 362,000 people, Power stated that 5.5 million people need immediate help with food, water, healthcare, and hygiene. The US, through its embassy and mission, is slated to provide essential services and supplies as well as services to protect the most vulnerable populations.

These additional resources build upon the US$146 million that the US has provided to Haiti since October 2022, making the US the largest humanitarian donor to Haiti. The US urged all humanitarian donors to scale up assistance, which the UN estimates is funded at less than 7% of the need.

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 March 6, 2025, the US Senate held a hearing on global food security.

The hearing focused on global food security with testimony from Dina Esposito, USAID's lead for the Bureau of Resilience, Environment, and Food security, and Cary Fowler, special envoy for food security at the State Department. The testimony focused on the dire global situation, with more than 330 million people at risk of acute food insecurity and famine. Esposito testified that, without the passage of the US$10 billion supplemental humanitarian bill, which remains stalled in the House of Representatives, the US humanitarian budget for food security would be half of the 2022 level.

The Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Cardin, recognized the need for US leadership and funding, but also cautioned that others needed to also step up. The US currently spends approximately US$2 billion on food security, but Esposito stated that an additional US$33 billion is required to meet the need.

Samantha Power, Administrator of USAID, announced an additional US$53 million in emergency assistance to the people of Gaza and the West Bank. Power made the announcement while traveling to the region. A few days later, on March 1, 2024, President Biden announced that some assistance will be airdropped to Gaza, in light of the deadly confrontation around humanitarian assistance in Gaza City. The first of the airdops began the next day, with assurances that more would follow.

As announced by Power, the assistance will flow through the World Food Program as well as international humanitarian organizations. They will provide food, shelter, water, nutrition and health services, and protection to meet the dire needs of the populations in Gaza and the West Bank. Of particular concern are severe water shortages, prevention of the spread of infectious disease, support to field hospitals, and the provision of food aid.

This latest infusion of assistance brings the total of US assistance to the conflict region to US$1880 million.