Facing the aid freeze: What we must do now and tomorrow

This blog originally appeared on the website The Civic Lens with Dzikamai Bere.

Coming to terms with the aid freeze

Dzikamai Bere, Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights)

On 6 February 2025, at the invitation of the National Association for Non-Governmental (NANGO), I participated in the webinar on the impact of the United States President Donald Trump’s Executive Order on Re-evaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid. This article articulates my contribution to that conversation, addressing mainly civic leaders who find themselves facing this storm.

The Executive Order was issued on 20 January 2025. The US Government’s aid programmes come in different forms but mainly through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with an annual budget of over US $40 billion dollars, contributing around 40% of the global aid programmes. On 27 January 2025, USAID ordered all its grantees to pause USAID funded projects for a 90-day review.

However, what started as a review is clearly playing out to be a termination as the US Government’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, has declared that USAID must die.

This development is being felt the world over by millions of people who depended on USAID for life saving supplies like food and medicine.

As a way of ensuring sustainability USAID had started partnering with the private sector and other development partners to increase diverse funding for its projects. Speaking on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, (former) USAID Administrator Samantha Powers said that in places like Ukraine, for every one dollar they received from the US taxpayer, they turned it into three dollars, with contributions from other partners.

“The countries that stand most to benefit,” said Powers, “Are authoritarian nations. There are nations that thrive on corruption and thrive on chaos.”

What this means for Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, USAID has provided over US $5 billion in aid since independence. This has translated into life-saving services in health, education, agriculture and food.  The annual contribution of over US $300 million into the Zimbabwean economy was a great booster in a country where the industry has ground to a halt. Support to civil society groups in the democracy and governance sector helped communities play a more effective role in shaping democracy and advancing constitutionalism.

As all this comes to an end, we are seeing the impact immediately across many sectors. As many projects close, thousands have already lost their jobs. The manner of ending these projects makes it very unlikely that the affected will have legal recourse. Some organizations which were wholly dependent on USAID funding will be closing shop.

What leaders can do in the short-term

As we all grapple with this reality, I share some short-term mitigation measures that leaders in the affected organizations can take. More broadly, I also share long-term strategies for coming to terms with this reality and reshaping the sector. I lead an organization that was affected by loss of donors some seven years ago. I have some understanding of what this may look like. While many employees will be affected badly, we must never overlook the emotional and mental toll it takes on leaders who are in the frontlines of managing the crisis. I also know that we can emerge stronger, but the fight for survival will be bruising and some wounds may never heal. But that is leadership.

Lead with empathy

Perhaps the most important part of this all is what is well captured by my brother Takaedza Tafirei in a recent LinkedI article, where he invites us to Lead with Emphathy During Funding Crisis Crises.

In 2022, together with some colleagues Golden Maunganidze, Unopa Makanyanga, Samuel Wadzai Mangoma, Nkosana Mazibisa and Tapiwa Gwen Mushonga, we wrote a small book, Leadership with Compassion. In that book, Deprose Muchena, who was kind enough to write the foreword, says something fundamental.

He writes, “A time of crisis is a great moment for leadership.” This is the paradox of civic leadership – what I call a crown of thorns. If there were no moments like this, there would be nothing special about civic leadership. It is not just about the cause, but also how we achieve the cause.

Takaedza Tafirei calls us to lead with empathy. Communicate transparently and consistently, centre empathy in decision-making, support mental health and well-being, lead by example, design post-crisis plans. When a crisis like this hits, it is easy to think and say, “I am simply doing my job.”

There are no jobs in civic leadership – only service. We cannot suddenly forget about human dignity because we are in a time of crisis. That is the moment we are called to be at our finest as we navigate the crisis.

Accept the reality and make the tough choices

USAID has been in our lives since 1960. For some, it is difficult to accept that the giant that represented the best of American values is no longer there. It is possible and I have seen it happen, that leaders deny this reality. For some reason they think something will happen and they continue to spend money which is not there because they do not know how to live with less. I know leaders who played this game, found themselves with serious problems that could have been avoided, and multiplied the pain for everyone. Don’t be one of these.

You must make the tough decisions. As mentioned above, communicate honestly and transparently and as a team make the tough choices. Where you need to cut costs, begin doing so and live within your means.

We all believe in miracles when we are confronted by tough situations, but we only spend miracle money when it is already there. Your consolation and encouragement are the knowledge that you are doing your best. Where you can, in deploying your empathy, share the losses as a team.

Documentation and record keeping

The current crisis comes with a lot of complications, one which has been the collapse of the information systems. At the time of the writing of this article, the USAID website was down, and many employees reported that they had been locked out of their emails and other information platforms. When there is loss of information, it is difficult to find recourse even when the situation normalizes. You must take steps as an organization to protect your information in many formats.  If you have a work management platform, ensure that the project spaces are up to date and all the documentation you need is secure.

I also recommend going traditional. Print and file all the necessary documents, project reports, contracts, agreements, receipts, payments. Bring your “A” Game to this.

Managing Labour Matters

You will most likely make some difficult decisions regarding contracts and human resources. It will be more cost effective if you have a legal advisor on your board, so you do not have to spend the scarce resources. If not, document that as a lesson. Ensure that you pay more attention to how you handle labour matters. Run your plans through a legal advisor, preferably one with expertise in labour matters. You do not want to solve a problem by creating more problems.

Long-term considerations in the face of uncertainty

“When conditions in a system change to a point where it can’t cope, the system either dies or transforms. If we, as a civil society, are intentional about the system that we want and work together to imagine it, then we might get close to the transformation that we need.”

This quotation by Stephanie Draper on the Future of Civil Society Organizations found its way into the ZimRights Shifting Power to the People Strategy in 2022, as we stood at the crossroads. It was true of our movement then, and it is true for many of us today. At the last AGM of the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development, I spoke about the inevitability of change and asked the question, “How do you future proof your movement against the turbulence of tomorrow?” I share a few suggestions.

Reimagine the future of your organization

We are living in the future that we so much spoke of yesterday. The non-profit sector has been changing. I have participated in many spaces where the call to reimagine was constant and consistent. The right-wing shift did not start with the 2024 elections in the US. It has been with us for over a decade now. This shift warned us that building the foundations of our movements on the policies of foreign governments is not a sound strategy because when the foreign policy priorities shift, the money moves. It is possible we saw this, but we were in denial or too slow, or we had no options.

This is a moment to reimagine the future of our sector and our organizations. It is not too soon to do so. In fact, it is reckless not to do so as a leader, because the reality and the shift demand that we do so.

Rethinking sustainability

An important area of focus as we reimagine is the question of sustainability. What does sustainability mean to your organizations and for civil society in general? Sustainability has over the years become a buzz word in the non-profit sector.

Many donors required that there be a section on sustainability in the proposals. We found space for this and said some nice things. But for many, these nice things never found themselves in practice. I said in my address at NANGO, that being able to write excellent proposals is not “sustainability.” It is “unsustainable, excellent dependability!”

The time has come now for us to really focus on practical sustainability strategies that we can deploy as part of future-proofing our organizations. Several tests can be used to test the practicability of some strategies and identify some red flags.

One example of such a red flag is that if most of your operational costs are funded from project funds, then you are not an organization; you are just a project.

There is nothing wrong with being a project but then, be aware of this reality and ensure that every member who joins the team is aware of this. Many of us, having been running long-term projects, get carried away and begin to believe we are running organizations.

Reflecting on the big picture about aid in international development

John C. Maxwell reminds us that leaders see first, leaders see far, and leaders see more. In the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, he writes;

“Great leaders always seem to embody two seemingly disparate qualities. They are both highly visionary and highly practical. Their vision enables them to see beyond the immediate. They envision what is coming and what must be done.”

We are at such a time when we need to step into this big picture regarding aid in international development. We must move from being CSO Leaders to being civic leaders. That means we are thinking beyond our small leadership roles in the organization and confront bigger questions of our world.

Dambisa Moyo, in her provocative book, Dead Aid, has taught us that we need to rethink aid. She argues that aid, in the way it is currently structured, makes Africa a charity case, fuels corruption and overthrows government responsibility. Governments abdicate on their responsibilities, spending money on expensive luxury lifestyles while essential infrastructure and services are left to the donor community who year in year out continue to pump in millions of dollars.

Citizens fall into the same trap and stop demanding accountability from their governments, and even ask, “What are the donors doing?” before they ask, “What are our leaders doing?”

As civic leaders, we must confront this tough conversation and provide thought leadership and practical solutions. Civil society plays an important role in social and economic development, especially in combating corruption and ensuring inclusion. However, civil society must not replace the government. The government of the day is the primary duty bearer in ensuring that the rights guaranteed in the constitution are realized. Support from the donor community must simply complement government efforts.

Building local philanthropy

Philanthropy still has space in our society, but the march is not ended if we all focus on those coming from outside, be they big or small. We must begin to look inside ourselves and among us and design ways of unlocking and building local philanthropy in our image.

Delivering a keynote address on Philanthro-Transformation: Reimagining Africa’s Global Leadership of Giving Revolutions at the Africa Philanthropy Conference in Victoria Falls on 2 August 2024, Brian Kagoro emphasized; “The struggle that is facing us is much more than natives being accepted as equal human beings. It is building the future based on our image.”

We find this image in our members as small communities, in the local business community, local activists sacrificing their precious time and resources to drive change.

We find this image in online communities pooling their little resources to build a foot bridge. We find this in the local builders volunteering to build a clinic along Nyamatsanga River in my local village. We find this in vibrant online communities that raise funds for clean water. Though it may look dry now, the charge is to look closely long enough and we will see that our communities are ready to get the work done. Let’s begin the journey today.

The Manifesto for Change adopted and popularized by the #ShiftThePower movement invites us to expand our horizons beyond money as the central driver of change, and place greater value on other kinds of infinite non-financial assets and resources (knowledge, trust, networks etc.). If we do this, we will see that there is so much more in our communities.

Building responsible and respectful partnerships

President Trump’s executive orders have exposed the illusion that we are equal in development partnerships. It is important that we use this opportunity to reflect as partners for development and commit to responsible partnerships.

This is a call to dialogue deliberately on the nature of our partnership. We must examine our existing partnership agreements. We must think about responsible and sustainable project termination.

Think of the morning after, when the time comes for our funding partners to pack their bags and catch the next flight. What will that look like? What do we want it to look like? What measures can we take today to close the gaps?

When thinking about this, do not only think of your own funding partnerships. Think of the areas where you are working as well and how you will plan to step back when the time comes. As we all go through the crisis of USAID withdrawal, the manner of the withdrawal and its repercussions, we learn and commit to build responsible and respectful partnerships.

Finally, in solidarity

These are just some of the ideas that I believe will help us as we navigate this shift as leaders.

But I cannot check out without this message of solidarity. For many years. We have benefited from the support and solidarity of the American people. Before the current developments, many have told me that their support for our democratic struggle does not in any way mean that their democracy is superior to ours. It has its own flaws. It is a shared struggle.

As I write this article, I know that it is easy to get bogged down in institutional dynamics, foreign policy debates, and forget the wonderful human beings who served us for many years.

It is also easy for us as partners to fixate with how the institutional decisions are affecting us, forgetting that there are real human beings who sat in these spaces and walked the path with us, both Americans and our fellow Zimbabweans.

While we may differ with the policy direction adopted by the US government, we know the solidarity of the American people and their Zimbabwean counterparts remains true and authentic to those values that bring us together as a people, believing in the good work that we have done together. No matter where you are now, please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers as you navigate this tough unprecedented transition.

By: Dzikamai Bere, National Director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights)