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How African Governments Responded to the 2025 Aid Shock
It has been just over a year since the world of international development as we knew it began to unravel. The abrupt suspension and restructuring of US assistance—including the dismantling of USAID—was followed by a wider wave of announced reductions across several major donors, reflecting tighter fiscal space and shifting geopolitical priorities. As the region receiving the most official development assistance relative to national income, Africa has been hit hardest by these cuts. The question for African governments, therefore, is not just how large the cuts are, but whether and how they can respond in ways that protect essential services and enable a longer-run shift toward self-reliance.