About Global Development Interrupted
Global Development Interrupted documents the human stories and institutional memory of global development during a period of unprecedented disruption across the U.S. foreign assistance system.
U.S. foreign assistance was first frozen across the system. Following that system-wide freeze, foreign assistance programs were subsequently reduced or dismantled, resulting in the loss of capacity, staff, and institutional memory across the global development ecosystem. As offices closed, organizations laid off staff, research grants disappeared, and field operations were shuttered, decades of experience and hard-won learning risk being lost.
The consequences extended far beyond Washington. Families lost livelihoods overnight. Farmers lost contracts to supply food aid. Universities saw critical research halted. Communities around the world lost access to essential services they depended on, including health care, food assistance, education, and governance and economic development programs.
Global Development Interrupted exists to preserve the institutional memory behind this work by telling the stories of the people behind it — what they did, why it mattered, and how those lessons can inform what comes next.
The goal is not to defend institutions, but to ensure that the lessons, values, and human experience behind global development work are not erased — and can help inform what comes next, both globally and here in the United States.
Never miss a story. Subscribe now and get new episodes delivered straight to your inbox.
Support This Work
Global Development Interrupted is an independent project documenting the people, lessons, and institutional memory behind global development — and connecting why this work matters to Americans.
If these stories matter to you, please consider supporting this work through our GoFundMe. Your contribution helps cover production, accessibility, and the time required to document these stories carefully and responsibly.
