The Drum Beat 845: Stories from the Field - How the Global Funding Shocks Have Impacted You and The CI

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845

Stories from the Field: How the Global Funding Shocks Have Impacted You and The CI - The Drum Beat 845
February 28, 2025

In this issue:
* WHAT HAS HAPPENED?!
* YOUR VOICES: HOW THE FOREIGN AID FREEZE HAS TEMPORARILY FROZEN US
* WHERE THE CI GOES FROM HERE
* STIRRINGS: GRASSROOTS RESPONSES
* A GRATEFUL FAREWELL

The Communication Initiative (The CI)'s late founder, Warren Feek, wrote in the very first Drum Beat edition on September 1 1998: "Welcome to the COMMUNICATION INITIATIVE NETWORK [-] Information, ideas and dialogue related to communication and change, for people and organisations communicating to make a difference." Still inspired by Warren, nearly 850 Drum Beat editions later, we are writing today to you, those who are communicating to make a difference.

Recent, very-well-documented political developments have led to: the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the announcement of the withdrawal (in January 2026) of the US from the World Health Organization (WHO), and the cancellation of some contracts with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), all with large knock-on effects for many other organisations - resulting in a stunning impact in all corners of the globe and, very likely, on many of you. As you may have heard, The CI was also affected (further details are below).

In this final Drum Beat, we want to bear witness to and honour the work that has happened in our field and to bring forth the voices of those who have been most affected by funding changes that may have halted or impacted that work. We want to share examples of social action, social change, social movement that are rumbling beneath the surface of shock, grief, and loss. We want to spark further action, dialogue, and connection, as has always been the very heart of The CI's mission, even though we will not be here to facilitate those conversations. Above all else, we want to thank you all for being such incredible members of this, our CI community, and we want to urge (plead with) you to keep on going. The reality is that your work fostering debate, discussion, mobilisation, and advocacy is needed now more than ever.

"The only constant in life is change" is a saying attributed to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus (535-475 BCE). Though the change we are witnessing today is unexpected and profoundly harmful, it is not the end of the struggle or the ideals that have propelled our work. Warren and his partner Victoria Martin planted a seed by starting The CI 28 years ago to build a network and knowledge base to support and strengthen social change and behaviour change communication planning and practice. We hope that it has contributed to our collective ability to come through these difficult times and continue the hard work of effecting positive social change - social change that recognises that diversity is a reality, not an ideology, and that a more equitable and inclusive world is a better world.

~ The CI Team

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From The Communication Initiative Network - where communication and media are central to social and economic development. VIEW this issue online and READ PAST ISSUES of The Drum Beat.

YOUR VOICES: HOW THE FOREIGN AID FREEZE HAS TEMPORARILY FROZEN US

1.From: Sara Jewett (Nieuwoudt)
"The impact of stop work orders on the African continent has not only impacted direct service providers and users. Local implementers and researchers in the technical field of Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) also are being impacted. This includes the traumas of job loss, closure of organisations, and directly witnessing services being cut to the vulnerable populations alongside the challenges of cancelled professional trainings, work that has already been done going uncompensated and more existential questions about the field as a whole. I have observed many of us on the African continent seeking communities of immediate support, reflection and regrouping, be that through WhatsApp, webinars or physical gatherings. There can be no doubt that while many of us are taking a much closer look at how to approach partnerships with US agencies in the future, particularly with those who have been quick to abandon language of equity in favour of soft power, we also understand the suffering of all people caught up in the upheaval caused by the stop work order."
See also this small sample of external links for more context:
* An Obituary for USAID: an Icon of Global Development by Wayan Vota
* "Freeze, Freeze, Freeze - A Regressive Creed!" by Subhi Quraishi
* USAID: Can the world live without it?
* The USAID Crisis and Funding the Future of Independent Media
* Healthcare in Africa on brink of crisis as US exits WHO and USAid freezes funds: health scholar explains why
* Potential Clinical and Economic Impacts of Cutbacks in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief Program in South Africa: A Modeling Analysis
* Shutting Down USAID Threatens to Endanger World's Poorer Nations
* Nearly $500m of food aid at risk of spoilage after Trump USAid cuts
2.From: Chol Michael Mayom, Station Manager, Community Engagement Network (CEN), South Sudan
"...CEN major operations have been entirely...supported by US Government funding since its inception. Until 24th January 2025, CEN was implementing two projects, the 'Voices on the Move & Peacebuilding through Sustainable Independent Media Activities' in refugee's camps and returnees in areas inhabited by host communities in Jamjang, Maban, Renk, Bentiu and Malakal which are all located in the Upper Nile region of South Sudan. This was to disseminate critical information service to Sudanese fleeing conflict in Sudan at point of entry (reception centres) for new arrivals and old refugees in the camps through radio programs and mobile speakers. The main objective was to deliver safe, accessible, and relevant information services to communities to empower informed decision making, mitigate protection and health risks, and enhance equitable access to essential services and alleviate community tensions and protection risks through increased community engagement, participation, and understanding of refugees and host communities' information needs. With USAID dismantling, all staff from these locations have been laid off duties due to funding gap created by this abrupt closure which have affected over 600,000 beneficiaries (being refugees, returnees, and the host communities) of our Humanitarian Information Service."
3.From: Stella Suge, Executive Director, FilmAid Kenya
"FilmAid Kenya (FAK) does not receive direct funding from the U.S. Government, however, its operations will be significantly affected by funding reductions for key UN agencies such as UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees], WFP [UN World Food Programme], ILO [International Labour Organization], and UNICEF [United Nations Children's Fund], which provide financial support for FAK's programs. These agencies play a crucial role in implementing refugee assistance programs in Kenya, and cuts to their budgets directly impact FAK's ability to sustain media training, community engagement, and advocacy initiatives. We expect to lose about 40% - 70% of our funding. As funding constraints continue to limit essential services in Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps, FAK faces increasing challenges in countering misinformation, addressing gaps in refugee protection, and fostering social cohesion."
4.From: Roma Solomon, Retired Development Leader, India
"USAID's abrupt closure has led to a significant breach of trust between the Indian government and NGOs [non-governmental organisations], the latter having served as crucial links with communities on vaccines and other health issues. The twenty five year old CORE Group Polio Project, a key partner in polio eradication across Asia and Africa, exemplified this strategy of community engagement and also contributed to the recent COVID-19 pandemic response. Instead of maintaining and strengthening these links, they have been cut off abruptly and ultimately it's the poor and vulnerable, especially children who will suffer."
5.From: Rina Dey, Communication Consultant, India
"NGOs have built crucial community trust, reaching marginalized populations with vaccination campaigns, education, and logistical support, including cold chain maintenance. The abrupt USAID funding closure severely damages these efforts, eroding trust, causing job losses and loss of expertise, and risking a polio resurgence."
6.From: Sue Goldstein, Public Health Specialist, South Africa
"The effect of Trump and MUSK USAID executive orders on the ground in South Africa: A clinic for men's health has closed down, hundreds of health workers are being retrenched - the waivers have had no effect as there is no money transfer. Teams that have been working with HIV prevention and special populations - gaining trust and building expertise are being dismantled. In South Africa which has an already very high unemployment rate the extra laying off of health workers will be catastrophic for many families. The loss of life and hope is devastating! History will record the blood on their hands, as it did Thabo Mbeki."
7.From: Garth Japhet, Executive Director, Heartlines, South Africa
"Heartlines like many other organisations, been impacted by the unethical behaviour of the US government. We have three employees for whom overnight we had no funding to pay their salaries even though we have a contract with CDC [the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] until September. As a country we are grateful for the amazing support the US government has afforded us over the last 30 years. Their contribution towards HIV treatment amongst other things has saved tens of thousands of lives. While I support the US or any other donors right to review their giving, the way this is undertaken is crucial. The ethical approach would have been to give notice that a review would take place that may result in no further contracts. We would have then had the space to, if possible, make contingency plans. This brutal hard stop is the opposite of that. It not only endangers hundreds of thousands of lives and livelihoods. It also paints the US in the worst possible light undoing the good will of the last 30 years and playing into the hands of politicians who would rather see us aligned with Russia and China."
8.From: Sebastian Taylor, author of Health in a Post-COVID World: Lessons from the Crisis of Western Liberalism
"Communication - how families discuss their needs and aspirations; how households engage with their community leaders; how, ultimately, communities and governments interact with one another - is the source code of democratic strength. Health communication - how individuals understand their needs and seek care; how trusted local intermediaries support them; how clinicians from primary to advanced tertiary levels offer an account of the options for intervention; and, on the other side, how government and partners engage with people on preventive strategies - are the foundations on which strong and healthy social and economic societies are built. I have been a critic of 'communication' where it has been poorly done or its impact poorly evidenced. But I never had any doubt about the critical necessity of the communication premise or the extraordinary human value created through thousands of colleagues worldwide who have worked - and continue to work - to strengthen communication, to realise its extraordinary potential. Like many others, I cannot fathom the inexpressibly crass, inhumane and already lethal effects of the current US administration's wrecking ball policies and their impact on the continuing work of so many. The force of their collective economic, social and cultural illiteracy puts at risk decades of progress and individual lives. A point of light, though, is the resilience of the global communication community. That this community - as strong communities do - will, one way and another, sustain and continue to grow the vital space for people to communicate with each other - the indispensable medium of good societal growth."
9.From: Anonymous
[Editor's note: The cascading effects due to US funding changes are not yet known, and some people are afraid of reprisal for speaking out. We agreed to publish this comment anonymously.]
"For more than four weeks, thousands of dedicated healthcare workers across South Africa have been prohibited from providing services to communities. Massive retrenchments are underway in my organization and many others. I am especially concerned for the community health workers and data capturers, who are financially vulnerable and won't be easily absorbed into the health system. For patients and communities, this means longer waiting times, poorer quality of care, and limited services. We are already hearing of clinics unable to handle the load providing substandard care. There are no resources to follow up lists of positive PCR [polymerase chain reaction] tests in babies, leading to delays in starting ART [antiretroviral therapy], or positive CrAg [cryptococcal antigen] results signaling meningitis risk in adults, both of which could substantially impact morbidity and mortality. Prevention services have been even more seriously affected. Rebuilding these systems and processes will be a Herculean task that worsens the longer the destruction continues."
10.From: Caroline Francis, Technical Director, FHI 360, Thailand [via LinkedIn]
"For many of us, this was never just a job. It was a way of seeing the world - of understanding how interconnected we all are, how fragile and resilient people can be, how systems fail and how communities survive despite them. The institutions that funded our work may be crumbling, but the lessons we learned in the field, in quiet conversations, in moments of shared struggle, will not disappear with them....We carry forward the knowledge that change does not belong to us. We were part of something bigger, and just because we are leaving does not mean that change will not continue without us. Some of us will rebuild. Some of us will walk away from this sector forever, exhausted and disillusioned. Some of us will carry the work forward in new ways, finding different paths to make an impact. But what we know, what we lived, what we became through this work - that does not fade. It is in us. And we take it with us, wherever we go next."
Editor's notes:
* Please see an upcoming Son de Tambora, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA)'s e-magazine, to be published in the next two weeks, which will feature additional voices illuminating how the funding cuts have impacted work on the ground in the Latin American and Caribbean region.
* In response to our February 13 2025 note requesting stories about how funding changes have impacted you on the ground, some of you were generous enough with your time to send us messages sharing reactions to the news of CI Global ceasing operations. We have collected your contributions and have decided to share some of them. We do so not as a means of tooting our own horns but, rather, as a testament to how much The CI network - a network you have kept flourishing through your own inspiring work and engagement - has had an impact. Click here to read some of your contributions, with our thanks. Notably, several of you also reached out to individual CI staff members in personal messages, which we treasure.

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WHERE THE CI GOES FROM HERE

The CI Global is ceasing normal operations on March 15 and will no longer have staff to write summaries, upload content, prepare and distribute newsletters, or provide technical support to social change and behaviour change communication programming. However, La Iniciativa de Comunicación, or CILA, will continue to operate as normal beyond March 15. To facilitate this continuity and to allow you to access communication for social change knowledge during a time of great urgency, we are finishing a major task Warren started by launching an updated version of The CI website in the next few weeks. This site will be publicly accessible and searchable until December 31 2025, although some interactive functions that require moderation will no longer be available. Rest assured, we will make full use of the time we have to seek a new home for The CI and CILA. We hope that, in time, The CI will reemerge and will continue to be a space for connection, knowledge sharing, and action. We can't promise anything other than our commitment to working hard to make this happen.

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STIRRINGS: GRASSROOTS RESPONSES

11.Before It Fades: A Space to Hold What Mattered
"We are a community of individuals who work in foreign aid, development, global health, and humanitarian response. We have spent years - sometimes decades - building programs, mentoring teams, responding to crises, and working toward a better world....In this moment of profound change, many of the institutions and programs we worked within are shutting down....Before It Fades is a space to honour that work and those who gave so much to it. This is not a campaign. It is not an advocacy effort. It is not an argument for or against aid. It is simply a space to capture the human side of this work - the stories that shaped us, the lessons that stayed with us, and the moments that should not be forgotten."
12.CHANGE - Community Health & HIV Advocate Navigating Global Emergencies
In response to the unfolding crisis, more than 1,300 people from civil society organisations around the world have launched this coalition formed to support urgent action. Activities include bi-weekly update calls, active working groups, and a WhatsApp community.
13.From: Laura Itzkowitz [via LinkedIn]
"USAID staff (former and current) and implementing partners - we need your stories! We need stories from anyone impacted by USAID's dismantling. Please, please, please share them with us on this Google Form. This form is linked on www.usaidstopwork.com....On this form, it asks whether you'd be willing to talk to reporters either on the record or on background (they don't quote you). This is so, so, so important right now! While the media is interested, we need to tell our stories! We will only link you with reputable reporters who will ensure that your identity is kept secret if that's what you prefer." [Editor's note: See also this additional LinkedIn post from Laura indicating that USAIDStopWork is looking for people to be part of an upcoming social media campaign called Faces of the Foreign Aid Freeze.]
14.The Career Pivot
created by Wayan Vota"Working in the humanitarian aid sector is a calling. Our jobs are more than employment. They come with a mission to change society for the better. Treasure your humanitarian ethos!....I've compiled a list of social impact job boards that list employers and job opportunities that can provide you with a mission and a paycheck..."
15.SBC Impact Data at Your Fingertips
In this new world we find ourselves in, there is a lot of misinformation about social change and behaviour change communication. Developed by The CI and UNICEF, this resource is designed to help you identify high-quality impact evidence in a quick and easily expressed format. Using playing cards, this resource presents highly credible data to help you dispel concerns and refute misinformation that questions the impact of our work.
16.DRIVING FORCES FOR MAJOR DEVELOPMENT CHANGES - Social Shakes
by Warren Feek"...[S]ocial changes - some emerging from often unexplained or little-understood shifts in wider social belief systems, others the result of initiatives designed to encourage and support that change, often a mix of the two - provide us with the strategic insights required for future, effective communication policies, strategies, action and funding priorities." [Nov 2018]

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A GRATEFUL FAREWELL

Do you realise how your engagement with The CI network has made us who we are? Are you aware how grateful we are to every one of you who has read a summary on our website, sent us information to be included there, helped us edit or update your information, shared your work with us directly, or reached out to other members of the network to share ideas, seek or offer support, and strengthen each other's work? We are what you have given to us. Your incredible work has enriched the lives of those who visit our website and take any lessons learned there back to their own contexts - inspiration that has undoubtedly changed many lives.
You, The CI network, are an indispensable part of the legacy. With our full hearts, we thank you.
Warren would urge us to carry forth without tiring. We conclude with his voice, a most fitting tribute to the person who started it all, with the help and commitment of his partner, Victoria, and his children (Braden, Kaitlin, and Logan), as well as staff members who have been there since the first days of The CI and hence have become a family:
17.Over the Edge!
by Warren Feek"Maybe this conundrum - the apparent conflict between the very legitimate organisational and accountability demands of development agencies and the reality of people's lives, including the strongly threaded links between all priority issues in those communities - suggests a very important role for the development communication community. Perhaps we should be the kids going over the bank, through the undergrowth and down to the river chasing the really important development priorities. We should not be the cranky Dad enforcing and following the accepted rules. There are enough 'cranky Dads' in development enforcing rules and procedures. A vital element of our contribution is to see the possibilities for a better match between the real nature of the issues on the ground and the ways that development organisations organise. Let's be the whooping and hollering kids getting excited over the new and creative ideas and brokering the possibility for those to be put into action." [Oct 2005]

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This issue of The Drum Beat was written by The CI Team.

The Drum Beat is the email and web network of The Communication Initiative Partnership.

Full list of the CI Partners:
ANDI, BBC Media Action, Breakthrough, Breakthrough ACTION, Citurna TV, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Fundación Gabo, Fundación Imaginario, Heartlines, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, Open Society Foundations, PAHO, Panos Network, Puntos de Encuentro, Social Norms Learning Collaborative, Soul City, UNESCO, UNICEF, USAID, World Food Programme, World Health Organization (WHO)

The Drum Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.

Chair of the Partners Group: Garth Japhet, Founder, Soul City garth@heartlines.org.za

The Editor of The Drum Beat is Kier Olsen DeVries.

To reproduce any portion of The Drum Beat, click here for our policy.

The Drum Beat 845: Stories from the Field - How the Global Funding Shocks Have Impacted You and The CI

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