When the Trump administration slashed the budget and suspended most of the staff of the United States Agency for International Development last month, their representatives said the agency was using taxpayer dollars to fund a radical, “woke” agenda around the world. Criticism coming from the Left since the founding of USAID in 1961 has characterized USAID as an arm of American imperialism.

The reality, of course, is much more complicated. It’s heartbreaking to hear stories of children suddenly unable to attend school and receive essential vaccinations. But beyond the shockwaves of a sudden halt in the flow of assistance, there's a lot about US foreign aid that's up for debate. Questions like what does it accomplish? Does it really help? How does it help? Should it continue? Or, should foreign aid be scaled down over time?

Our host, Jamil Simon, has seen USAID projects succeed, and fall short – having worked for more than three decades as a USAID contractor, developing communication strategies to promote reform in more than 20 countries.

Our guest, Gregory Warner is a Peabody Award - winning journalist who has reported on USAID on the ground in places including Sub-Saharan Africa, Ukraine and Afghanistan. He was the creator and host of NPR's international podcast Rough Translation. Before that, he was an international correspondent for NPR, based in East Africa. Warner has reported on USAID on the ground in Africa, as well as in Ukraine and Afghanistan. He writes the Substack blog Rough Transition.

MORE FROM GREGORY WARNER

Subscribe to get Rough Transition in your inbox.

Read Warner’s recent reporting about the gutting of USAID and what it says about the perception of America in the world.

Listen to the Rough Translation episode about a woman who lied so she could receive aid designated for sexual violence survivors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Explore the Rough Translation podcast archive.

CONNECT WITH US

Do you have a story of your own about USAID? Keep the conversation going on LinkedIn, or drop us a line at info@makingpeacevisible.org.

Music in this episode is by Xylo-Ziko, Blue Dot Sessions, Gavin Luke, Feras Charestan, and Caro Luna.

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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Often the news covers crises without context. That's especially true when it comes to coverage of the Global South in international media.

Our guest this episode, journalist and documentary filmmaker Etant Dupain, gives us a behind-the-headlines look at events in Haiti, his home country. Dupain says that the gangs who control much of the country now are supported by powerful elites. Their aim, his says, is to suppress a grassroots protest movement that is calling for accountability for the embezzlement of billions of dollars in development funds.

Dupain's new documentary film, The Fight for Haiti, tells the story of the Haitian movement against corruption and impunity, which started with a tweet and at its height had hundreds of thousands in the street.

In this episode, you’ll learn about

• The problematic history of foreign aid in Haiti including the aftermath of the the 2010 earthquake
• The Petrocaribe agreement with Venezuela that was supposed to fund crucial infrastructure projects in Haiti
• Creative tactics activists used to demand accountability
• Who profits when gangs overtake a country

Watch a trailer and learn more about the film and the movement at thefightforhaiti.com.

Protest audio used in the episode is from the film The Fight for Haiti, used with permission.

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

Support our work

Connect on social:

Instagram @makingpeacevisible

LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible

X (formerly Twitter) @makingpeaceviz

We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!

Israel and Hamas are just over two weeks into a ceasefire agreement, after fifteen months of fighting.

This is a paradoxical moment to talk about long term peace. The horrific October 7th attacks and the near - destruction of Gaza that followed, served to amplify already high levels of distrust, hate, and trauma. At the same time, the war has demonstrated to Gazans that their government placed conflict with Israel above their own survival. And it has shown Israelis that an indefinite blockade of Gaza doesn’t ensure their security.

So while the ceasefire doesn’t mean the end of the conflict by any means, it does offer an opportunity to envision a way out.

Our guest for this episode is Ksenia Svetlova, an expert observer of politics and media in the Middle East and the executive director of the Regional Organization for Peace, Economics, and Security, or ROPES.

Svetlova is an immigrant to Israel from the Soviet Union, an Arabic speaker and a Middle East specialist. For fifteen years. Svetlova reported from Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and different countries in the region. She served four years in Israel’s parliament representing the center-left Zionist Union Coalition.

MORE FROM KSENIA SVETLOVA

Read: Netanyahu’s phase two dilemma: Political survival vs defying President Trump, for Chatham House

Listen: ROPESCAST, the podcast from ROPES

Watch: Webinars and more on

ROPES’ YouTube channel

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

Support our work

Connect on social:

Instagram @makingpeacevisible

LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible

X (formerly Twitter) @makingpeaceviz

We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!