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Gibson Nyikadzino
Herald Correspondent
The impact of President Donald Trump’s Executive Order to pause all US foreign assistance programmes for 90 days to review if they are consistent with his policy goals was yesterday felt by local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), who were receiving funding from Washington.
The Executive Order on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid signed on Monday when President Trump assumed office for the second time states that the “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values”.
President Trump, through the order, said he does not want foreign aid to “serve to destabilise world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”
The State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are the two entities that oversee foreign aid, which they disburse through other subsidiaries.
Yesterday morning, officials from local NGOs that receive grants from the USAID through the International Republican Institute (IRI) Zimbabwe Office were served with a communication to stop all activities.
In an email seen by The Herald written by IRI country programme manager Mr Delta Sivalo to local NGOs implementing US funded programmes, he indicated that “effective immediately, IRI is temporarily suspending all programme activities for “programmatic efficiency and consistency with United States foreign policy”.
“This includes the payment of subawards and contracts, field-based activities until clarity is reached from our funders regarding the scope and timing of the Executive Order. As such, kindly cease all IRI supported project/programme activities immediately,” the communication reads.
NGOs that receive grants from IRI and whose projects have been stopped had operations in Bulawayo, Checheche, Harare, Masvingo, Mutoko and Tsholotsho.
Mr Sivalo further told the grant recipients that his organisation “understand this is difficult and unsettling, however the Institute is confident the issue(s) will be resolved in due time”.
Officials from two NGOs who requested anonymity yesterday separately said the ban was going to affect their “livelihoods” as it has a direct impact on their pockets.
“It seems this is not only going to affect Ukraine, for example, but in the interim, I will be affected financially,” said the official.
Zimbabwe is currently consolidating some clauses to the Private Voluntary Organisation Amendment Bill, which seeks to improve the administration, accountability and transparency of charity NGOs in the country.
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