USAID freeze ‘earthquake’: Swiss development agency head

"A real earthquake" in the humanitarian sector, according to the head of the SDC Keystone-SDA

The world of development and multilateralism will never be the same following the 90-day suspension of US humanitarian aid, says the head of Switzerland's development agency.

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The overnight American freeze is a real earthquake, Patricia Danzi, head of the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development (SDC) in an interview with ArcInfo, Le Nouvelliste, Le Courrier and La Liberté.

+ Foreign aid cuts: where does Switzerland stand?

“Many partners have already come to us to ask if we could give more, to make up a little for the American withdrawal,” she said.

“We ourselves are facing considerable budgetary pressure, which makes [an increase in Swiss aid] difficult to envisage,” she added. With a budget of $42.8 billion, USAID accounts for 42% of global aid. “The amounts involved are just enormous. Neither Switzerland nor other players will be able to compensate for all the funds called into question”, notes the manager.

“In-depth reform

An analysis has been launched of projects co-financed by the SDC and US funds, to see what follow-up action can be taken, said Danzi. “We’re making progress on a day-to-day basis, but it’s possible that some of them will be discontinued”.

While there is still a period of great uncertainty, “because many things remain unresolved on the US side”, “the reform” of the humanitarian world will be “profound”, notes the SDC Director.

According to her, “this is likely to have an impact on the UN’s sustainable development goals, on many development projects that aim for long-term systemic improvement, but also on international Geneva and Swiss NGOs”.

Danzi fears that such an abrupt halt to aid could lead to deaths. “When food is not distributed, medicines are not delivered or medical treatment cannot be carried out in times of crisis, there are bound to be deaths”, she explains, pointing out that in some countries, 60% of humanitarian programs were financed by the United States.

Translated from French by DeepL/mga

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