What USAID’s withdrawal means for North Macedonia
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What USAID’s withdrawal means for North Macedonia
With USAID’s withdrawal, donors such as the European Union and Switzerland are becoming increasingly important in North Macedonia. But fears are growing that “fewer Western countries” will bridge the funding gap.
Nebojsa Mojsoski cruises to his Swissinfo appointment on an electric scooter. A hospital manager, he’s a busy man, and has to move quickly through Skopje’s traffic.
Only a year ago, his life was on the brink. Mojsoski tells us about people who fear for their apartments and cars. They bought them in the belief that their work contracts would end only in 2028. “I worked on USAID-funded projects in this country for 25 years,” he says.
But in 2025, the administration of President Donald Trump discontinued payments to the United States development agency.
Like around 100 other countries, North Macedonia was hit by USAID’s withdrawal. The NATO member state in southeastern Europe is home to some 1.5 million people.
EU, Switzerland and Norway gain signficance
According to an analysis by the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC), pledges worth $37 million (CHF29.7 million) – or between 10-20% of the annual income of civil society organisations in the country – never materialised.
The “remaining major donors” such as the European Union, Switzerland and Norway are becoming increasingly important, says MCIC.
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Kurt Wüthrich heads a Helvetas project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) in North Macedonia.
He feels the impact of USAID’s departure as the number of applications for job openings has tripled. Wüthrich’s main project supports the development of a training system in North Macedonia similar to Switzerland’s apprenticeship model.
The first set of students has already concluded their three-year training. Wüthrich says he is “very optimistic” about the future of the dual vocational education system in a country that’s grappling with emigration and youth unemployment.
He views USAID’s withdrawal as well as funding cuts to development cooperation critically. Foreign aid from Western countries, he says, is “small compared with the national budget” and primarily aims to lay “the groundwork for cooperation in business, education and research”.
Joint projects are key, Wüthrich says. Without them, he warns, “fewer Western countries” would step in to fill the gap. In North Macedonia, Turkey is already an important social and economic partner, while China’s New Silk Road runs through the country.
Foreign influence in a polarised country?
At the end of January 2025, the Hungary-based Chinese think tank China-CEE published a comprehensive analysis arguing that USAID’s withdrawal could create new opportunities for North MacedoniaExternal link. It suggests that the protests against former prime minister Nikola Gruevski, who was accused of corruption and later fled to Hungary, were presented as grassroots activism, although many believed that “foreign entities, including USAID” had orchestrated them. Russian officials have spread similar narratives.
Society in North Macedonia is sharply divided along political and ethnic lines, says Vesna Nikodinoska, head of the Macedonian Institute for Media (MIM).
MIM has trained over 8,000 teachers in media literacy, so they can instruct students on how to question content and verify information. The training was funded by USAID. “The funding was frozen overnight,” says Nikodinoska. MIM had to rethink its approach. It survived but the teacher training sessions did not.
“It now depends on the teachers,” says Nikodinoska. But media literacy, she adds, is a “moving target”. Fake news and disinformation evolve with the development of the media. Hence, Nikodinoska believes that media literacy must be constantly refreshed via training.
Strong trust in institutions
However, foreign influence is not the country’s main problem, Nikodinoska argues. Although official statements and analysis point to external influence, there are comparatively few concrete examples when set against the situation in other countries, she says.
Instead, she highlights corruption: “You need good connections to obtain birth or death certificates.” For “ordinary people”, every visit to a government office in North Macedonia is a challenge. “Whether at the post office counter, the police, the hospital or the courts, trust in institutions is very low. Only 2% trust the legal system.”
With trust at such low levels, she warns, there are consequences to right-wing politicians branding civil society organisations as “foreign mercenaries”. Hence, some celebrated the end of USAID on social media. “They ignore the fact that a large share of the funds was invested in infrastructure, institutional support, hospitals and schools,” says Nikodinoska.
North Macedonia has been waiting to join the EU for more than 20 years. After “hard compromises in the interest of a European future”, many are frustrated that no progress has been made so far. Nikodinoska hopes the EU will now support civil society organisations in North Macedonia, as it is in Europe’s interest. After all, “critical civil society is a Western democratic concept,” she says.
Does foreign aid inhibit local solidarity?
But could foreign aid also be holding back the development of Macedonian civil society? Aleksandar Krzalovski of MCIC can see some signs of this. In the Skopje of socialist Yugoslavia, which was declared “the City of International SolidarityExternal link” after the devastating earthquake of 1963, people donated what little they had left after their weekly shopping. “Weekend after weekend, they handed over small amounts to the Red Cross,” says Krzalovski.
This spirit was lost after the country gained independence in 1991, partly due to poverty and unemployment. “Now, it is difficult to rekindle that mindset,” he says.
Krzalovski was already at MCIC when the World Bank upgraded Macedonia from a “low middle income” to an “upper middle income” country in 2008. He is familiar with international donors’ project tenders. One of the side effects, he says, is the weak link between population and civil society organisations. “When in Sweden more than half a million households are members of the tenants’ association and pay their fees, they also identify with the association’s goals,” says Krzalovski. He hopes civil society in North Macedonia too will be primarily funded by local members.
‘Heavy blow, but not devastating’
MCIC is currently dependent on international donors, including the Swiss Agency for Development and CooperationExternal link. One of its key priorities is the fight against corruption. In this field it can be an advantage if funding comes from outside the country the organisation operates in. Unlike organisations that were forced to close, MCIC was not solely dependent on USAID.
“For us, the withdrawal of USAID was a heavy blow, but not devastating,” says Krzalovski. MCIC now employs 21 people, compared to 26 a year ago. “Back then, I told the team that we had funds for three or four months. But if an opportunity comes along, grab it.”
In the end, no staff member had to be made redundant, but some had already found new jobs as teachers, at the International Labour Organisation (ILO), or in an upmarket hotel.
How USAID started a cycle of change
USAID veteran Mojsoski shows photos of parents who rolled up their sleeves to help rebuild schools as an example of how international funding can trigger local engagement. North Macedonia is still fragile, he says, and will depend on international aid “for at least the next few years.”
He won’t tolerate a bad word about his former employer. When, at the age of 25, he joined USAID at the turn of the millennium, Mojsoski expected to stay for a couple of years. Instead, it was the beginning of his career from junior employee to chief of party, and the beginning of a passion: “USAID was the initiator of change and the catalyst for that change.”
Whether in road construction, water supply or school buildings, “we rebuilt more than 500 primary and secondary schools across the country,” he says.
Every dollar from USAID was matched by $1.50 from local communities and groups. USAID, he says, would support a community and the community would be obliged to contribute. “USAID was no charity,” says Mojsoski. “I am not giving you, let’s say, $500 to spend. I invest $500 in your training as a baker. In return, you commit to working in your profession and passing on your knowledge as a master baker.” That’s how a circle of change is created.
Before he departs, Mojsoski shows us another school he helped rebuild before slipping into Skopje’s traffic on his e scooter to head back to work.
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Edited by David Eugster. Adapted from German by Billi Bierling/gw.
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