World Relief Responds to Executive Order Temporarily Pausing Foreign Aid

Contact: wr@pinkston.co

(Baltimore, MD) January 23, 2025 – On Monday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order temporarily halting disbursement of foreign development assistance funds, allowing the new administration to conduct a review of all such funds. 

World Relief affirms the new administration’s authority and responsibility to review such funds and ensure that they align with American interests, but we are deeply concerned that the suspension of funds could exacerbate crises in some of the most fragile contexts in the world. 

“We are living in an age of crises, with unprecedented conflict, violence and natural disasters fueling hunger, disease and forced displacement in many different countries. The U.S. rightly leads the world in providing help, rooted in the faith convictions of many Americans and in our own national interests, building goodwill around the world as rival powers such as China seek influence for their own purposes,” said Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief. 

World Relief works directly in several countries facing the most severe crises in the world, including in Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine and Haiti, leveraging both governmental funds and private support from churches, individuals and foundations to respond to crises in partnership with local churches. 

“The United States has a proud history of providing humanitarian assistance and promoting stability abroad. This critical assistance saves lives and advances many American ideals,” said Lanre Williams-Ayedun, World Relief’s Senior Vice President of International Programs. “We urge that the review of foreign development assistance be conducted swiftly and result in continued prioritization of investments that save lives and mitigate humanitarian crises. While fiscal responsibility demands careful stewardship of taxpayer dollars, we hope that humanitarian and emergency disaster response assistance be exempted from this suspension.”

Under President Trump’s first administration, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a “New Partnerships Initiative” that wisely prioritized local, small- to medium-sized and nontraditional implementers such as faith-based organizations. As a Senator, Secretary of State Marco Rubio cosponsored legislation to codify such efforts. In his first term, President Trump also signed a five-year reauthorization of the life-saving President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), continuing a bipartisan tradition of American leadership in addressing a public health crisis, working in close partnership with faith-based implementers.

World Relief applauds such innovation and focus on partnership with faith-based organizations – and warns that even a three-month suspension in funding to such organizations could inhibit their ability to deliver lifesaving humanitarian assistance and exacerbate the global displacement crisis.

“President Trump has made it clear that addressing immigration issues will be a primary focus of his presidency. Global humanitarian crises are driving mass displacement and forced migration. We need public policy solutions that address the complex and interrelated challenges of mass displacement and migration. A blanket suspension of funding for humanitarian response and development assistance doesn’t move us closer to durable solutions to global and domestic crises,” added Greene.

World Relief urges the administration to reconsider this decision or at least to conduct their reviews as quickly as possible, to resume funding for the world’s most urgent crises in ways guided by U.S. interests as well as our national commitment to the dignity of all human beings, made in God’s image.