In cooperation with the Austrian Research
Foundation for International Development (ÖFSE)
Irene Horejs in conversation with Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou and
Stephan Klingebiel
DOES THE „ZEITENWENDE“ MEAN THE END OF INTERNATIONAL
AID?
At the beginning of 2025, President Trump started his 2nd
Presidency by shutting down USAID and 90% of US foreign aid. The
“stop work order” hit aid organizations and vulnerable
communities particularly in Africa like a bomb. Aid organizations
stopped working from one day to the other, US financed medicines
stopped being distributed, health centers and medicine stores
remained closed. Some UN agencies like UNHCR and WFP, both highly
dependent on US finance, were forced to drastically reduce their
operations and staff– all with a devastating impact on the
affected populations.
However, Donald Trump was not the first one to cut down foreign
aid agencies and budget. In 2020, Boris Johnson dissolved
DFID, the highly prestigious aid agency of the UK and merged
parts of it into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. More
recently, other EU donor countries like the Netherlands, Belgium,
France, Germany and Austria reduced their aid budgets and framed
them into short term interests like curbing migration, securing
trade and others.
Does the “Zeitenwende” mean the end of international solidarity
and of development as a global good coordinated by a set of norm
giving, multilateral institutions? Are we confronted to a new
politization of aid? Or is this only an “easy” way to save
strained budgets in face of the new imperative of rearmament?
What is the impact on developing countries, affected populations
and how do they react? Are there any alternative means to finance
not only humanitarian aid, social and economic development but
also the necessary actions against climate change?
Introductory Remarks:
Werner Raza, Scientific Director, ÖFSE
Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou, Director of the Politics
and Governance programme at the Overseas Development Institute
(ODI), UK
Stephan Klingebiel, Head of the research
department „Inter- and Transnational Cooperation“ at the German
Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Moderator:
Irene Horejs, Former Director of DG ECHO and
former EU Ambassador to Peru, Mali and Niger
This second event under the focus “Humanity in der Zeitenwende”
is organised in cooperation with the Austrian Research Foundation
for International Development (ÖFSE).
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