An immediate aid freeze of US funding on many programmes aiming for diversity and inclusiveness is likely to hit funding for many local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Sri Lanka, sources who are aware of the impacts of the new US President Donald Trump’s decision have said.
The US State Department has issued a halt to nearly all existing foreign assistance and paused new aid, the BBC has reported, citing an internal memo sent to officials and US embassies abroad.
“This means there won’t be funding for diversity and inclusive programmes which also have been promoting LGBTQ,” one source, who has the knowledge on the impacts of the US funding freeze, told EconomyNext.
Officials in NGOs said some of their key projects including media training, inclusive democracy, rights, and diversity programmes are funded by the US.
“All the programmes are frozen with immediate effect. They have to file a report within 90 days from Trump’s declaration and justify their programmes focusing on diversity, inclusivity, and promoting LGBTQ,” the source said.
Soon after his taking oath, Trump under his executive orders said: “There are only two genders: male and female.”
His order will deprive large amounts of US funding for inclusivity and diversity projects around the world, sources said.
The 90-day pause in foreign development assistance pending a review of efficiencies and consistency with Trump’s foreign policy is already in effect.
The United States is the world’s biggest international aid donor spending $68 billion in 2023 according to the US government figures. The State Department notice appears to affect everything from development assistance to military aid, the BBC reported.
It makes exceptions only for emergency food aid and for military funding for Israel and Egypt.
It also orders a wide scale review of all foreign assistance to be completed within 85 days to ensure the aid adheres to President Trump’s foreign policy goals.