In a world where millions of people are already struggling to meet their basic needs, the United States’ recent cuts to international aid funding are expected to have devastating consequences.
The recent announcements of sweeping budget reductions for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as well as the unprecedented 90-day freeze on the organization’s work is causing a horrifying ripple effect across the globe. This agency, that delivers humanitarian and longer development assistance on behalf of the U.S. government, is the leading contributor to the global effort of providing essential support to communities facing crises. But with these cuts, it is the most vulnerable populations across the globe, as well as the local partner agencies implementing the work, who will bear the brunt of this political decision, and many will pay with their lives.
A number of those wonderful organizations who have been cut off from delivering lifesaving food and medical supplies are the same partners some of our members work with. They are regularly audited and work to strict requirements in terms of monitoring and evaluating of their programming. Their results are astounding and easily accessible for all to see.
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But instead of being able to provide essential assistance, we’re hearing heart-rending stories of food purchased for starving people sitting unused and rotting in shuttered warehouses in places like Houston, Texas; Djibouti and South Africa, and millions of people being cut off from lifesaving medications that are locked away in cabinets.
How many lives lost will it take to realize what a colossal and disastrous mistake this is?
As Christians, our work to end hunger is rooted in the belief that it is God’s desire for no person to go hungry, and that we are called to act with compassion towards those who are most vulnerable in the world. It’s why we believe in a values-based approach to international development that is deeply rooted in the intrinsic value of a human being, not a transactional or agenda-based approach.
Prior to these cuts, agencies working in areas with high levels of hunger were already having to make decisions to stop supporting people living with considerable hunger — to instead provide support to people who are starving. USAID has historically made a massive financial commitment to provide access to food for millions of people. Inevitably, we will see more and more people go hungry around the world because of these recent decisions.
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This shift in priorities risks undermining years of progress in the fight against hunger, poverty and inequality.
In Canada, we’ve been told that politicians feel they can cut aid because they don’t hear regularly from Canadians that our international efforts are important to them.
Yet now is not the time for Canada to back down from our responsibility to our global neighbours. We must continue our commitment to global co-operation and stability, and increase our efforts to help in emergencies. We can demonstrate humane and compassionate leadership on the global stage by helping to build both resilience and sustainability in a time of growing global crises.
During this difficult time, please pray. Pray for people who were already living with the stark realities of poverty and are now living with the fear that they will not receive support. Pray that people will continue to let their governments know that helping some of the most vulnerable people in the world is a good thing for the global village we live in. And pray that as a society, we continue to value people because they are made in the image of God, not on the basis of what they can give us.
I’m proud and humbled to be part of a global community of aid workers who tirelessly serve those in need. The courage of my colleagues, who put their lives at risk to help others, is nothing short of extraordinary. They, along with the countless people they serve, deserve better. We cannot afford to abandon them now.
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Andy Harrington is the executive director of Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
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