“They are radical left -wing crazy.”
“A criminal organization that is time to die.”
This is how the US President Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk From the agency that supports millions of people in need of help around the world.
Trump frozen almost all of the USA for 90 days. The development cooperation agency USAID, which Trump’s administration has begun to drive down, has become a special eyeball.
The effects are huge.
The United States is a giant of international assistance, covering about 40 percent of all humanitarian funding in the world. In 2023, the United States gave an international a total of approximately EUR 65 billion.
The depletion of the cash flow was immediately reflected in the work of Finns.
Finland’s largest international organization of international assistance in the Church’s Foreign Aid has had to suspend its support for refugee education in East Africa.
– Funding for funding directly affects school attendance in Uganda and Kenya with over 200,000 refugees and adolescents, says the head of the advocacy work Tapio Laakso From the Church’s Foreign Aid to .
Schoolchildren are now missed. In addition, they are left without child protection services and psychosocial support.
Other Finnish organizations also have project partners in different countries who have received support from the United States. The help of these projects also suffer from the aid of the aid.
The only direct funding from the US administration in Finland has received direct funding in Finland. Last year, the organization received approximately EUR 6 million from the US Population, Refugee and Migration Agency.
Now these money is closed.
The work of the world’s food program became more difficult
Frozen funding has stopped at least hundreds of US -funded programs around the world.
Many organizations have had to interrupt a work about saving lives.
In Sudan, a civil war, at least half a million people are on the verge of famine. The UN World Food Program WFP has provided food aid in Sudan.
Now the freezing of US support makes it difficult for its work.
The source of the situation tells tells . does not publish a person’s name because of his or her position.
Many international assistants now want to talk about the subject anonymously or avoid the Trump administration’s decisions directly. Organizations are afraid of difficulties and direct retaliation.
Less than half of the world’s food program financing comes from the USA. In its warehouses, Sudan has, for example, rice, lenses and oil that the world food program now has no access, Lähde tells .
has not been able to confirm information from another source.
The Trump Administration has granted or promised to grant some of the exemptions for some of the so -called vital help. However, according to the organizations, the situation of exemptions is unclear.
According to Reuters news agency The United States has stopped purchasing for international food aid programs, despite the need to continue with emergency food assistance.
-For people who rely on food aid, every hour is crucial, says EPN interviewee.
According to him, the world’s food program is still waiting for information about a possible exemption that could continue to work in Sudan. Nobody can replace US funding with a quick schedule.
“USAID has been a reformist”
According to Trump US foreign assistance actors “undermine world peace” by promoting ideas that break good relationships within and between countries.
According to the Trump administration, the USAID is wasting money and must be made to follow the new president’s policy. This week, the administration has laid or terminated most of the US employees.
Trump’s decisions are difficult to understand in many ways, as USAID has brought a lot of influence to the United States, says a Finnish development policy expert.
– Development cooperation is part of foreign and security policy. USAID has played an important role in obtaining information, understanding the local context and in the work against terrorism, Eppu Mikkonen Fingo, the umbrella organization of the development organizations, says.
In addition, much of the money spent by USAid has returned to the United States because the agency has had to obtain a large proportion of products and services from American consultants and companies.
According to Mikkonen, the USA is also far -reaching that the agency has been remarkably reformed.
For example, it has promoted a principle where the decision -making power of development cooperation is increasingly given to the people who are influenced by the projects.
Finland could profile
Even if Trump would not completely down the US’s foreign aid completely, different sectors are likely to be removed. These include, for example, equality themes.
In any case, the most vulnerable people are suffering, says Eppu Mikkonen.
They are typically women and girls, but also people with disabilities, for example, who have done a lot of work to improve the position.
– Indeed, many financiers leave the needs of people with disabilities aside. This is not necessarily easy to get to replace anyone to replace the financial gap, Mikkonen says.
The rights of women and girls and people with disabilities have long been at the heart of Finland’s development policy.
According to Mikkonen, Finland would now have a place to bring out its skills and show that he is a reliable partner.