USD 845 million in Pakistan<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nShah says the abrupt funding cut will badly harm the small landowners who looked towards the USAID but now we are immensely concerned about how to go ahead with our annual plan of going crops without financial assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our farming has been worst hit as farmers banked on the financial and technical assistance provided by the U.S. to enhance agricultural productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMost farmers in rural areas have been benefitting from the USAID for a long time, as we got high-quality seeds, tools, fertilizers, etc., which helped us to grow more crops and earn for our sustenance,\u201d Muhammad Shah, a farmer, says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The health sector is also badly hit, as USAID\u2019s money kept running the Integrated Health Systems Strengthening and Service Delivery Integrated Health System Program, says Dr. Raees Ahmed at the Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The promised funds of USD 86 million aimed at strengthening Pakistan\u2019s healthcare infrastructure would leave the program half finished, he says. Additionally, Pakistan was supposed to receive USD 52 million under the Global Health Supply Chain Program to ensure the availability of essential medical supplies, but it will be closed down for want of funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Education officer Akbar Ali says they had pinned hopes on USAID\u2019s assistance of USD 30.7 million for the Merit and Needs-Based Scholarship Program for the poor students to continue their studies but it has become a dream now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ali says the inclusive democratic processes and governance projects, of which USD 15 million was promised, have been halted. The program, in which teachers were also included, was intended to enhance democratic governance and transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Funds for improving governance and the administrative system in the violence-stricken tribal areas along Afghanistan\u2019s border will also stop. The USAID had pledged USD 40.7 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Muhammad Wakil, a social activist, says his organization, which is working for a U.S.-funded Building Peace in Pakistan, is also suffering. The program, worth USD 9 million, aimed at fostering religious, ethnic, and political harmony, has had to close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have asked our workers to stay home and have suspended at least 20 workshops scheduled this year,\u201d Wakil says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He wondered why the United States, a staunch supporter of peace and religious harmony, has stopped funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mangla Dam Rehabilitation Project, a USD 150 million initiative essential for Pakistan\u2019s energy and water security, has also suffered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision to suspend these aid programs comes as part of a broader restructuring of US foreign assistance under Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
USAID, established in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy, has long been a cornerstone of US foreign policy, administering approximately 60 percent of the country\u2019s aid budget. In the 2023 fiscal year alone, USAID disbursed USD 43.79 billion in global assistance, supporting development efforts in over 130 countries, media reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
INPS Japan\/ IPS UN Bureau Report<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Ashfaq Yusufzai PESHAWAR, Pakistan (IPS)\u00a0– \u201cI was shocked when told by a security guard that the clinic has been closed down. I, along with my relatives, used to visit the clinic for free checkups,\u201d Jamila Begum, 22, an Afghan woman, told IPS. The clinic has been established by an NGO with the financial assistance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8629","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-development-aid","8":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8631,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8629\/revisions\/8631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}