(RNS) — There is an unfolding tragedy of epic human proportions happening at the start of 2025 that has been entirely preventable and remains, this very moment, something that can be reversed.
Imagine this:
Children waiting in the hot summer sun in southern parts of Africa with their moms and dads for a lifesaving medicine at a regular monthly appointment one by one, with one sibling receiving it and the next turned away.
An orphan in Latin America being told halfway through the school day to shut her books, go home, with no plan to ever return.
An entrepreneurial young woman in southeast Asia, who after surviving years of human trafficking received a course in business skills and a little bit of financial investment, now told her only source of income is under threat because the market in which she sold her goods would be closed.
Stories like these are unfolding one by one, across communities in around 130 countries, because of the decision this past week by the Trump administration to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development.
For more than 60 years, Republican and Democratic presidents have invested in USAID’s mission as “the lead international humanitarian arm of the U.S. government … to alleviate poverty, disease and humanitarian need.” It has done this through direct partnerships with faith-based and other groups to address immediate needs such as hunger, clean water, health crises and human trafficking, as well as helping poor nations and communities get up on their feet with development projects. It’s often described as America’s soft-power tool in foreign policy to combat terrorism and autocracy and has been promoted by everyone from U.S. army generals to fiscally conservative hawks on capitol hill — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who, before joining the new administration, argued its budget should be increased and its workforce expanded.
My old boss, administrator Samantha Power, described USAID as “the ground game of American foreign policy and the face of American values.”
I was the lead Biden administration official at USAID working on faith-based partnerships, which meant a global portfolio that ranged from large, battle-tested NGOs like Catholic Relief Services and World Vision (two of the U.S. government’s largest partners) to whip-smart, community-based organizations on the front lines of COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, the aftermath of genocidal-level killings by ISIS in Iraq, and those recovering from tsunamis, earthquakes and famine.
While I was at USAID, administrator Power and I, along with our incredible career colleagues in the 10,000-strong USAID workforce, prioritized these faith-based partnerships by launching the first-of-its-kind U.S. government policy on religious engagement. No matter if the faith-based organization or community was evangelical, Catholic, Jewish, Baha’i, Buddhist, Muslim, Latter-day Saint, Hindu or other, we prioritized working with faith-based groups because they were on the front lines of saving lives, protecting children and making the world a safer, better place.
This wasn’t new. This was something even the first Trump administration was kicking off in its Evidence Summit on faith-based partnerships. Every administration since the Kennedy era has worked with faith-based partners. That’s why the news of the past two weeks is utterly shocking and truly, deathly concerning.
This week at the International Religious Freedom Summit, Vice President JD Vance declared that he and the president were committed to promoting religious freedom worldwide as both an American and Christian value. I support that effort — both as a person of faith and as an American citizen and taxpayer — and sitting there at the breakfast I thought about how I could do my part to partner with those who don’t vote like I do. Again, this is what presidential administrations, no matter what party, have been doing for decades. So, because of that commitment, I did find it a little confusing when Vance characterized efforts like USAID as shoveling money to NGOs dedicated to spreading atheism. It’s misinformed at best and disingenuous at worst.
The vice president told one story I found deeply and personally resonant when he championed the first Trump administration for “bringing relief to Yazidis, Christians and other faith communities facing genocidal terror from ISIS.” It’s true. This was, in large part, because of the tireless efforts of officials like Max Primorac (author of the Project 2025 chapter on USAID, which, while I disagree with much of its policy pronouncements, did not argue for the destruction of the agency).
In early 2021, I was fully briefed on the first Trump administration’s efforts in Iraq with faith-based groups and found so much of it to be inspired and rooted in the best of American foreign policy and development work. So, in 2022, I went. While in Baghdad we repeatedly found ourselves in bunkers, duck-and-covering from flying shells in the Green Zone, and while up north in Irbil, constantly watchful of further violence. But that was absolutely nothing compared to what Yazidi survivors and other Iraqis had experienced for years. I met with many of these women, broke bread with them and am forever marked by their stories of trauma and resilience. I was proud that we continued to support communities like these with taxpayer-funded programs.
So it was perplexing to hear the vice president champion these initiatives while, at the same time, funds for efforts like these are literally being turned off.
Maybe the attacks on USAID are just misinformed and will be righted. Maybe there is a bold plan to invest in foreign assistance. I take administration officials at their word and I’m praying these decisions are reversed with haste.
(Adam Nicholas Phillips is a former Biden administration USAID official, ordained pastor and interfaith bridge builder. The views in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of RNS.)
