From Brussels to Washington DC, international aid is facing existential challenges, with severe cuts which will leave “the aid sector looking very different in a few years from now.”
Major donor countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, US and UK are in the process of substantially cutting foreign aid, raising numerous questions about the global implications for security and stability. How are the cuts already impacting NGO operations on the ground? What are the reasons for this new uncooperative political climate? How will the humanitarian and peacekeeping sector respond?
"We're reassessing everything we do, and even the way we talk about our work and who we talk to," Executive Director of Search for a Common Ground, Hilde Deman, told The Brussels Times on how they are responding to US President Donald Trump’s planned cuts.
Deman heads the European arm of one of the largest field organisations in the peacebuilding sector. Mainly based in Washington DC and Brussels, their global peacebuilding operations cover around 35 countries – mostly Sub Saharan Africa, Middle East, Asia, a bit of Latin America, with one project in the US too. They have teams of people from 10-100.
Search's projects aim to resolve global injustices in nonviolent ways by transforming cultural and structural conditions in areas of conflict. Faced with a new reality in the sector, the organisation's Director says they have always tried to diversify their investment portfolio to avoid "scrambling" for new donors if anyone pulls out.
"That said, the US is an important donor for Search. One of our headquarters is in DC as well, and so we have many projects that are directly impacted. We recently learned about the decision taken by the Trump administration for the termination of many, many grants."
US President Donald Trump signs executive orders on the first day of his second term. Credit: Belga
Just after coming into office, Trump issued an executive order to cut 90% of USAID grants, which amounted to $60 billion in overall US assistance around the world. On Monday, it was reported that Rubio had cut 83% of USAID programs after a six-week purge. A judge also ruled this week that Trump had overstepped his constitutional authority, but did not stop the cuts going ahead.
"So yeah, that's absolutely hitting us," Deman continues. "We felt it immediately, because it meant from one day to the other when we received the stop work orders – in other words, that we had to close the taps."
Western foreign aid has been crucial to supporting Search for a Common Ground’s peacebuilding project in conflict zones such as Lebanon or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
One example of how the US’ rapid withdrawal has affected a Search project is in Lebanon, where the organisation works on building relationships between young people and security forces, especially at the community level, given that there's often tensions.
"That week, we were starting an activity bringing them together in a hotel, for a dialog platform, with lots of activities in trust building," Deman explains. "We had a group of young people on a bus going to Beirut, and we had to call them to tell them to say that you need to turn back – the activity has been cancelled."
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) too, which is currently under attack from M23 rebels and the Rwandan army, the pulling of support for projects in the conflict-ridden east is directly putting lives at risk.
A radio project in the DRC. Credit: Search for a Common Ground
"We do a lot of work through networks of community radio stations, because that's often where people get their information, especially in a time of conflict. We had to abruptly also stop the partnerships with those radio stations, and people are no longer able to get the information they need."
In Sudan, Search and many other peacebuilding organisations continue to still provide support to communities who are affected under very difficult circumstances. Before Trump, the US was funding a peace envoy who was bringing different sides in the conflict around the table. Search were supporting a group of women from different civil society sections and journalists to attend and contribute to this process – but this too has been stopped.
"It's definitely going to have an impact on conflict dynamics," Deman continues, adding that the ability to protect civilians, work with security forces and help people shelter from violence will be much harder now.
Yet this issue is not only Trump’s watch. Under the new Belgian Government, foreign aid is being cut by a quarter (25%). "The Dutch have announced heavy cuts, the Belgians, and the Germans too. So if you add everything up, the whole sector is really in a dire crisis," Deman added.
With the collapse of transatlantic support for foreign aid, organisations like Search are looking for new allies – such as Qatar and Japan. Qatar, for example, has expanded their presence in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
'We need to tell that story better'
Yet Deman stresses that these countries could not plug the gap left by the US’ withdrawal. Rather, a better route for the aid sector is to have self-critical analysis, given that the loss of support for foreign aid has mainly come at the ballot box.
"We often have a hard time convincing people why it's important. European governments will decide to reinvest in foreign aid if their voters tell them to, right? That’s something we need to get better at – explaining in plain language what we do."
The war in Ukraine too, has shifted European attitudes into becoming more inward looking. Deman stresses this is perfectly understandable in the context of the ongoing security challenges, but warns that it’s a form of short-termism which only puts Europe’s immediate interests first. "I don't think we're looking ahead enough at what this is going to mean for 10 years or 20 years on how people are going to perceive Europe," she adds.
Community engagement in Nigeria. Credit: Search for a Common Ground
In the current European and American political climate, topics such as lowering immigration, cutting government spending while also investing in defence have dominated political debates in recent years.
Yet the failure to make the case for development and peacebuilding in the Global South as being mutually beneficial for Europe too is at the heart of the challenge. In other words, foreign aid can also help address some of the core reasons why people decide to leave their home countries, often against their own will. It could act as a counterbalance to voter concerns about immigration.
"If you invest in conflict prevention, peacebuilding, development aid – those are absolute ways to address some of those root causes, right? And I think we need to tell that story better," Deman explains.
Belgium
For the first time, Belgium’s newly-elected government has said it will explicitly move away from the OSCE’s 0.7% of GNI target of development spending. Deman adds that they continuously failed to reach it, but "at least they kept it as an ambition."
Under the new Arizona government agreement, migration needs to be underpinned to all development cooperation projects. "I see where they are coming from, but it was going to be used to tell all NGOs that we need to help send migrants back. That's not what we're here to do."
Weekly meeting of a committee made up of women married to members of the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC). These women both witness and face violence in their homes and community. These programmes have dramatically reduced violence in their communities in Burundi. Credit: Search for a Common Ground
Search’s funding will not be immediately affected by Belgium’s aid cuts, as their work together is in the Great Lakes region, "and I don't think there's any future where Belgians are not going to be present in the Great Lakes anymore," Deman said.Belgium too is facing pressures to invest more in defence, spearheaded by the new US administration. Deman argues that, right now, it is impossible to tell Europeans: "Don't invest in defence."
Foreign aid or defence
However, she also argues that many defence analysts will agree that funding peacebuilding and development projects are just as important as defence spending, because they have seen what goes on in conflict areas.
Either way, NGOs need to do more to get their message out and change the narrative, particularly when faced with disinformation on their work from the far-right. This means "getting out of their comfort zone" and being willing to talk to people that they do not necessarily always align with politically.
Executive Director Hilde Deman. Credit: Search for a Common Ground
"I work for a peacebuilding organisation, our teams on the ground go on a daily basis to talk with the Taliban and other armed actors. So if our teams can do that elsewhere, then it shouldn't be too difficult to try to talk with people on the far-right or any extreme of the political spectrum."
Europeans also have a tendency to emphasise promoting European values when it comes to foreign assistance. "That becomes a little bit patronising. And I think many governments and people in other countries, especially after Gaza, are a little bit like: ‘Who are you to come and talk to us about your values, as if we don't have our own’."
These wider conversations about the aid sector, however, do not mask the situation many organisations have been left in by Trump’s quick-fire order which reversed at least six decades of foreign assistance policy.
"There's probably issues around efficiency that can be improved, but what is happening on the US side has caused absolute havoc, and luckily, I don't see Europeans doing that."
