WASHINGTON—The Trump administration announced a new strategy
to channel international aid resources through faith-based and community-based
organizations, allocating nearly $2 billion for global health and humanitarian
assistance programs.
The State Department reported on August 6 that the funds
will be directed to partnerships with faith-based and community-based
organizations, in what it described as one of the largest allocations of
international health aid to such organizations in more than two decades.
Among the organizations linked to this new strategy are
major Christian humanitarian aid groups, including World Vision, Samaritan's
Purse, and Compassion International. A consortium of U.S. Christian
organizations will administer approximately $1.4 billion of the announced
funds.
The move comes after the sweeping restructuring of U.S.
foreign aid spearheaded by Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which
included the cancellation of thousands of USAID programs and the transfer of
remaining programs to the State Department.
The new policy represents a significant shift in how
Washington intends to distribute some of its international aid: instead of
relying primarily on USAID's traditional structure, the administration seeks to
work through organizations deemed capable of providing health and humanitarian
assistance directly to vulnerable communities.
Rather than the disappearance of international aid, what is
occurring is a profound transformation in who administers it and how it is
distributed.