Inside the US foreign aid breakthrough and $2B commitment to the UN

This week, U.S. lawmakers reached a deal on a $50 billion compromise foreign assistance bill. Even though the agreement implements a 16% reduction from what was approved by Congress last year, it defies President Donald Trump’s requested 47.7% gutting of the budget. Beyond the numbers, the bill signals a fundamental overhaul of how foreign assistance accounts are managed and structured.

From its ripple effects across the global health sector to the critical implications for the African Growth and Opportunity Act extension, we analyze the bill’s core priorities and its long-term impact on the global development landscape.

Beyond the U.S. budget, we also dive into a deal between Washington and the United Nations. A confidential memorandum of understanding secures $2 billion in U.S. commitment for U.N. humanitarian funding through 2026. We explore where that money is going and what it tells us about U.N. priorities.

To dig into these stories, and others, Business Editor David Ainsworth sits down with reporters Adva Saldinger and Colum Lynch for the latest episode of our weekly podcast series.

During the sponsored segment of This Week in Global Development, brought to you by Pivotal, Kate Warren sits down with Action for Women’s Health grantee Tonya Adair, President & CEO at Alternative for Girls, whose leadership addresses the basic needs of women and girls so they can lead healthy lives. Learn more about the awardees and explore the content series:

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Episoder(235)

The fight over $7.5B in expiring aid and a rejected State Department grant

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3 Sep 26min

The water sector’s funding challenge and Asia’s philanthropy push

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27 Aug 30min

Special edition: Rethinking the housing crisis

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25 Aug 27min

Famine reporting goes dark in 3 crisis zones, and COP31’s critical test

Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen, three of the world’s most hunger-prone nations, were removed from the latest reporting by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network — a U.S.-based data and monitoring s...

20 Aug 28min

Inside the State Department’s historic pivot to faith-based organizations

In this episode of This Week in Global Development, Business Editor David Ainsworth sits down with Senior Reporters Michael Igoe and Sara Jerving to discuss the U.S. State Department’s announcement to...

13 Aug 29min

Special edition: Are jobs for youth development's silver bullet?

In this week’s special edition episode of the This Week in Global Development podcast, sponsored by the International Youth Foundation and the Caterpillar Foundation, we examine how shifting labor mar...

12 Aug 41min

Tracking the real-world impacts of US foreign aid cuts

This week, we discuss The Aid Report, a project supported by a media grant from the Gates Foundation to track the real-world impacts of U.S. foreign aid cuts. Over the past couple of months, the initi...

29 Jul 36min

The new era of US and European foreign assistance

This week we look back at the last 18 months of U.S. foreign assistance — a period defined by the dismantling of USAID and the absorption of foreign aid strategy into the State Department. We break do...

22 Jul 30min