Browsing: USAID

• WHO Chief faults Trump’s suspension of funding to PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, noting that it has caused immediate stop to HIV treatment, testing and prevention services in 50 countries.
• With the immediate halt of U.S. aid plan, ongoing prevention programmes for at-risk groups disrupted as clinics close, sending thousands of health workers home.
• For decades, economies across Sub-Saharan Africa have pivoted on USAID to drive critical health interventions and humanitarian relief.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded the alarm over looming negative impact on several critical health initiatives in Africa including HIV, malaria, and Tuberculosis (TB) across the world following the withdrawal of financing by the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s new administration.

In an update on Tuesday, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that economies across Africa and beyond risk plunging into disruptions to ongoing HIV treatment plans, while also suffering setbacks on …

• Suspension of USAID funding could severely affect the availability of antiretroviral drugs, HIV testing, and prevention programmes.
• Other essential programmes at risk are malaria prevention, maternal and child health, family planning, reproductive health, nutrition.
• Ghana is exploring alternative funding mechanisms and reallocate resources to prevent any disruption in these vital programmes.

President Donald Trump’s recent move to dismantle USAID has left Ghana grappling with a funding shortfall of roughly $156 million for her healthcare and social programmes.

With the funding gap, the country is likely to face a crisis in tackling a range of pressing healthcare challenges including fighting malaria, enhancing child health among other key interventions critical to the country’s success.

Under President Trump’s new administration, USAID, traditionally a key plank in U.S. humanitarian and development efforts globally, is being dismantled and merged into the State Department. This move has resulted in a freeze on billions of dollars …

• USAID was established in 1961 by US President John F Kennedy.
• The charity arm has over 10,000 global employees and spends $40 million in humanitarian support.
• Trump, Musk allege USAID is run by “radical left lunatics” getting away with “tremendous fraud.”

A notice placed on the USAID website that announces to all its global staff, over 10 000 personnel, the commencement of an administrative leave this Friday.USAID, a giant charity arm of the US government is being dismantled by U.S. President Donald Trump. This decision is set to sent shockwaves across the world as it comes after almost a century of USAID operations. Established in 1961 by President John F Kennedy, USAID has over the years assumed a huge role in humanitarian affairs across Africa, but under Trump, the organization is now unceremoniously been drugged through the dirt.

Its over 10,000 employees will either be laid off or reassigned and …

• Donald Trump threatens to cease all funding to South Africa.
• South African-born Elon Musk against Expropriation Law.
• South Africa says the new law is just and seeks land equality in the wake of apartheid. 

Donald Trump and his advisor, Elon Musk, have threatened to cease all aid to South Africa over its Expropriation Law. The move comes after South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa signed an Expropriation Bill into law this January a move that does not sit well with Trump and Musk, an American billionaire who was born in South Africa.

South Africa says the law, seeks to empower the state to conduct land expropriation to provide equitable compensation to those who lost their land under the infamous apartheid regime. “The land expropriation law seeks to repeal the apartheid-era Expropriation Act (1975) which saw thousands of African families forcibly removed from their land to benefit the white minority,” explains a …

• Existing programs like the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) are under review, with a shift toward enforcing stricter reciprocity.
• USAID, traditionally a key player in U.S. humanitarian and development efforts, is being dismantled and merged into the State Department.
• Stricter visa policies and a reduction in refugee resettlement quotas directly impact African nations.

With the new Trump administration taking shape, its foreign policy direction for Africa is becoming increasingly evident. Guided by the “America First” principle, this strategy prioritizes American interests through pragmatic diplomacy, targeted partnerships, and a focus on security and economic priorities.

Below is a detailed exploration of the policy directions and their implications for U.S.-Africa relations, updated to reflect the latest developments.

Pragmatic Diplomacy and Economic Engagement

The “America First” strategy emphasizes partnerships that yield mutual benefits for American investments and strategic interests. African nations with significant economic or geopolitical advantages are likely to attract …

• Digital solutions offer sustainable food security options for Africa.
• African governments must invest in agri-tech to boost productivity.
• Kenya’s Shamba Shape Up cited as a viable agri-tech solution. 

Agriculture digital solutions have the power to transform agri-food systems in emerging markets by bringing efficiency across all value chains.

“Technology, when applied to agriculture, results in higher income for farmers, increased output, and improved food security…these are among the benefits of utilizing digital tools in an agricultural setting,” said Prof. Mark Natoloi, in a recent research report that reviewed digital solutions for African farmers.

Governments could assist farmers and other agriculture stakeholders by deploying digital tools for important tasks, such as distributing subsidies to farmers or managing the inventories in storage facilities.

“When used as part of a national agricultural-transformation program, digital tools could help raise the incomes of smallholder farmers, increase crop output, and support food security,” reads the report …

• Questions are lingering about US food aid to Tanzania that targets schools, with critics terming it unnecessary.
• US food aid to Tanzania has been ongoing for the past decade.
• Tanzania now wants the US to buy the food from Tanzanian farmers and fortify it in public.

An ongoing program of US food aid to Tanzania has come under sharp scrutiny after the public in East Africa’s second largest economy took to social media condemning the support from the American people.

At the moment, X (formally Twitter) is awash with Tanzanians and its thousands of nationals in the diaspora questioning the safety of US food aid which authorities in the country received recently.

Raising more questions was the fact that the food aid was not distributed to the general public but to hundreds of schools.

In its defense, the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) has issued a public statement saying the …

• EAGC funding seeks to tackle trade challenges directly by removing trade impediments and building food export capacity in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
• This is across export value chains such as Maize, Beans, Millet, Sorghum, and Rice.
• Further, a core part of this is to increase the ability of grain producers to export both regionally and to the rest of the world.

Food export competitiveness in East Africa

Through USAID’s Economic Recovery and Reform Activity (ERRA) program, the United States government has awarded a three-year grant worth $2 million to the Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC).

The funding is geared towards strengthening the competitiveness of export-oriented staple food value chains in East Africa.

ERRA program is delivered by TradeMark Africa (TMA), with funding from Feed the Future. Via its five-year $75 million program, USAID and TMA are driving transformative trade and investment reforms in the East and Horn of Africa.

This …

• USAID is committing $3 million in funding for water and sanitation investment projects in Africa.
• The financing through African Water Facility (AWF) will be in grants and technical assistance to African countries.
• AWF assists African nations in achieving the goals and targets outlined by the African Water Vision 2025.

The African Water Facility (AWF) has received a $3 million commitment from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The financing will facilitate the planning of water and sanitation investment projects in Africa. Financing will be through grants and technical help to African nations and regional economic groups.

Housed by the African Development Bank, the African Water Facility was launched by the African Ministers Council on Water. It is the first institution in Africa fully dedicated to addressing water and sanitation challenges.

AWF assists African nations in achieving the goals and targets outlined by the African …