Trump Aid Cuts: Aussie Charities’ Year of Crisis & Resilience

The Trump administration’s abrupt withdrawal of funding from an Australian project in Timor-Leste last year has significantly hampered efforts to feed and educate tens of thousands of schoolchildren, with global aid cuts leading to a rise in preventable deaths.

Impact on Timor-Leste

Almost half of children under five in Timor-Leste – a nation of approximately 1.4 million people, with 157,000 under the age of five – suffer from stunting due to malnutrition. The Care Australia project, known as Hatutan, which previously provided support to around 70,000 children, is now operating at a reduced capacity.

Care Australia received approximately US$26 million over five years for the Hatutan project. When funding was pulled, staff reductions were immediate. “It was just, OK, the funding has ended today and you need to stop,” said Bianca Collier, Care Australia’s director of international programs and operations. The sudden cessation of funding also damaged the organization’s reputation within the communities it served, as longer lead times are typically provided when programs are ending.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade intervened to help the Hatutan project, allowing for the rehiring of some staff and enabling assistance to 12,000 children.

Global Consequences of USAID Cuts

Globally, dozens of people – the majority of them children – are dying needlessly each hour as a result of cuts to US foreign aid, which removed tens of billions of dollars and altered aid delivery methods. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) was previously the world’s largest provider of foreign aid.

On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting USAID funding for foreign aid programs pending a 90-day review. This led to weeks of disruption, including legal challenges and a takeover of the agency by Doge staff. By March, the administration announced that 83% of USAID’s programs had been cancelled, with the remainder absorbed into the State Department.

Programs were evaluated based on whether their work aligned with American interests, seemingly disregarding the global implications of issues like climate change and pandemics. Health, reproductive health, gender rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and climate change programs were particularly affected.

Real-time modelling by a team at Boston University shows the withdrawal of USAID funding has caused almost 250,000 adult deaths and more than 500,000 child deaths. The data indicates approximately 88 people are dying each hour from preventable causes like malaria, pneumonia, HIV, and malnutrition.

Ripple Effects in the Indo-Pacific

In the Indo-Pacific region, approximately $400 million was cut from programs in the first six months following the USAID funding reductions, resulting in thousands of job losses and the closure of around 20 country offices. Many organizations are hesitant to speak publicly for fear of retribution from the US.

The Australian Council for International Development (Acfid) is calling for an increase in Australia’s foreign aid investment to 1% of the national budget, up from the current 0.65%. Acfid also advocates for expanding high-performing NGO programs and increasing investment in climate action, education, social inclusion, and health across the Asia Pacific.

Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, acknowledged that the reduction in USAID funding is “having consequences,” stating that development assistance is “an investment in stability, peace, it’s an investment in our security” and “an investment in the people whose region we share.” She added that Australia has redirected as much of its aid as possible to address the most critical gaps, with 75 cents of every dollar now allocated to the Indo-Pacific region.