By Abigail Oduol, a CCF Global Council Member, and Bernadette (alias), a youth leader in Kenya
One day, Bernadette and others were working in the office, when they received the news that everything was being put on hold indefinitely due to the order made by the US president to stop funding the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
United States news is once again world news as executive orders effectively stopping the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—the agency tasked with providing assistance to countries experiencing conflict, poverty, or disaster—have not just affected its American staff members worldwide but thousands of nonprofits whose work is funded by USAID grants and who employ tens of thousands of workers and part-time volunteers around the world.
Is USAID the best, most effective way to create change in the world? No. USAID’s main goal is the creation of US soft power—like when gangs do food and backpack giveaways. But that motivation doesn’t mean the kids don’t need and deserve the backpacks or that the food doesn’t help the community. The program just doesn’t completely pass the “for the love of humanity” nonprofit purity test.
Despite the cross purposes, USAID has done a lot of good. This includes tuberculosis testing, food for malnourished children, clean drinking water for displaced people, and more; programs that have a gender focus, protect victims of domestic violence, and prevent HIV infection.
The following is a story from someone close to me in Kenya who has been affected by USAID cuts to a program they are a part of. Her story is shared with permission and the following is co-written.
Bernadette (name changed to protect privacy) volunteers for an HIV prevention program that works with adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) who are 10-24 years old. The program uses evidence-based interventions to address structural factors like gender inequality, poverty, and lack of education. Bernadette and her colleagues do so by providing services like youth-friendly reproductive healthcare, social asset building, HIV testing, education subsidies, vocational training, entrepreneurship, and programs for parents and caregivers. Their programs are implemented throughout Kenya with thousands of adolescent girls and young women participating.
Bernadette began volunteering for the organization after hearing about it from one of the nonprofit staff. She was going through a rough patch in her life and was looking for additional meaning and the ability to pour into others. Volunteering gave her a reason to get out of bed every day.
As a volunteer, she traveled across Kenya to deliver supplies and get to know and mentor younger women. So many of the young women were orphaned, had an abusive or missing parent, and were experiencing other versions of being socially unprotected. She saw how much they had in common, and had a sense of how lucky they were to be spending time with each other.
“Having interacted with the adolescent girls and young women through mentoring them gave me purpose to serve the community to connect with them and just be someone they could be vulnerable with and look up to for answers,” she said. Volunteering helped Bernadette realize a deeper passion to serve others and make a difference in people’s lives.
It was in her fourth year working with the program that she decided to switch from working in marketing and sales to nonprofit work as a result of this passion, which unfortunately came at the same time as the cut to USAID. The transition during the cuts has been jarring.
One day, Bernadette and others were working in the office, when they received the news that everything was being put on hold indefinitely due to the order made by the US president to stop funding the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
She described to me the effect that it has had: “People lost their source of livelihood and as well our adolescent girls and young women[‘s]…jobs have also been affected since they cannot get services anymore.”
They are still waiting to hear more information on if PEPFAR will resume, and if not, if the government will find the money to continue the program, and how many people will suffer as a result of the gap in service and care.
Service for thousands of adolescent girls and women suddenly stopped.
Reproductive health services stopped.
Youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health information and services, including contraception and sanitary pads, stopped.
HIV prevention education stopped.
Gender-based violence prevention stopped.
As for economic empowerment, community engagement, and psychosocial support? On hold indefinitely.
“The program provided a space for these women to discover their own self-worth, to have hope, dreams, and light in their lives. The program ending suddenly has been light and a source of hope disappearing from these women’s lives.”
As fundraisers and nonprofit workers in the US, it’s easy to be trapped in the ongoing daily crisis that we have been experiencing and feel powerless. It’s important to remember that work like ours is global, that we have counterparts across the world suffering because of choices that the US government has made. If you do not have ties to or are not a part of a Global South immigrant community already, I encourage you to have curiosity about local organizations like this one that have been impacted and assist them directly.
Some additional resources I’d recommend are as follows.:
Abigail Oduol
Abigail Oduol’s (she/hers) surname is not Irish or Pennsylvania Dutch. It’s Kenyan. Abigail serves on the CCF Global Council and is a member of too many committees. She invests time thinking about how popular culture informs fundraising and how people connect to each other. Follow Abigail on LinkedIn.
Bernadette
Bernadette is a youth leader in Kenya who empowers young people through mentorship and community facilitation.
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