US President John F. Kennedy established the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) during the Cold War to counter Soviet influence abroad through foreign assistance to countries like the Philippines. Thus, the US Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act, and President JFK set up the USAID as an independent agency in 1961.
Recently, US President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance to more than 100 developing countries, which has left aid organizations agonizing over whether they can continue with a myriad of their programs.
Through USAID, the US partners with the Philippines with current programs to accelerate and make economic growth more inclusive and sustainable through the Partnership for Growth, efforts to foster peace and stability in six conflict areas in Mindanao, and by supporting measures to improve our country’s environmental resilience.
In all, the U.S. spent about roughly $40 billion in foreign aid in the 2023 fiscal year, according to a report published last month by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.
These assistance programs were linked directly to U.S. Government global foreign assistance priorities:
Economic growth and trade. USAID activities to promote trade and investment, greater competition, increased transparency, and improved fiscal policy and management.
Democracy and governance. USAID supports measures to improve corporate governance, and prevention of corruption to strengthen the rule of law through a more efficient court system, and promotes a more transparent legal and regulatory regime, improve local governance and delivery of basic services in Mindanao’s conflict-affected areas, while promoting civic engagement and developing youth leaders, strengthening efforts against human trafficking, and other forms of exploitation.
Education. USAID improves reading skills for at least one million children, strengthens local governance to improve education outcomes, and addresses gender disparities, particularly the high male dropout rate, as well as the needs of 19,000 out-of-school youth in conflict-affected areas.
Health. USAID supports the Philippines’ goal to increase access and quality of health care to improve the lives of all Filipinos, especially the poor and marginalized communities, improve access to maternal and child health care, family planning information and services, and tuberculosis prevention and control services using innovative approaches to promote healthy behaviors, such as through social media.
Environment and global climate change. As one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, the Philippines typically loses up to $5 billion each year to natural disaster-related causes.
USAID provides emergency relief, and early recovery and rehabilitation support. USAID also helps reduce the risks of disasters, strengthens local natural resource management and biodiversity conservation, and improves the capability of our local governments to implement low-emission development strategies, and climate-change mitigation measures.
Businessman Elon Musk, head of the one-month old Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), said on X (formerly Twitter) in reference to USAID: Live by executive order, die by executive order.
Musk has been empowered by Trump to fire government workers, and cut trillions in government spending.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said their Administration’s 90-day review was a program-by-program evaluation of which projects make “America safer, stronger or more prosperous.”
Quo vadis, USAID?
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