ICTworks

USAID is dying a slow death. Not everyone has fully realized this yet, but its the sad truth. When USA foreign assistance returns – and I believe it will – it will be 20% of its size on January 19th, and every dollar will be micro-managed.

Until that day, there is a global freeze on USAID funding that is crippling everyone – from community groups and local organizations to large contractors and bigger iNGOs. The pain is widespread and people are in trauma. Unemployment is world wide.

I am doing my part to support you (and me!) to pivot into new careers.

3 Actions to Take Today

You can also do a few things to support your organizational survival. Still, there will be many initiatives that end in 2025. This is an extinction level event for international development. Like when the asteroid hit the dinosaurs, small mammals and birds will survive, but the rest of us will need to get new jobs and build new organizations.

1. Document Impact

Be sure to document everything. Calculate all your costs. Note all your communications. Backup all your data. There is an off chance that as USAID terminates programs, you can get paid for any costs incurred before the stop work orders and all the costs in closing down the project.

USAID isn’t paying anyone anything that I can find. However, the US Government is contractually obligated to make contractors whole for any costs they incur when the USG ends a project early. Now will they pay? Or pay in a timely manner? Who knows. Still document everything or you will have nothing to bill.

2. Get Other Funding

In the obvious category, be quick to pivot your funding streams to other sources. Here are three opportunities in the digital space where you could get funding this year:

• The Snowflake Startup Challenge is a contest for early-stage startups that are building innovative applications and products powered by Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud. The winner and finalists may receive up to $1 million in investments from Snowflake and mentorship from industry leaders.
• The GSMA Innovation Fund for Impactful AI will provide grants and venture building support to small and growing enterprises that leverage AI and other emerging technologies, in conjunction with mobile technology, to have a positive impact on the lives of people in LMICs.
• NextBillion Grant Opportunities List is a compilation of dozens of funding opportunities for all types of organizations across multiple sectors, with many grants due in the coming days and therefore should pay out to winners in the next few months.

3. Merge with Your Peers

No organizational leader wants to merge with their blood-sport competitors, but these are not normal times. Many organizations are furloughing staff and looking at shutting down due to the current chaos. This is especially hard if an organization has other funding, but its not enough to continue projects without USG funds.

I know of firms holding onto their non-USG business as their only option to survive. However two sickly organizations cannot be effective alone. A mini merger or acquisition can be a route to survive and even thrive.

There are efforts to have organizations transfer assets including projects and some staff to stronger entities to allow projects and services to continue. Please consider this option. Some services continuing is better than none.