Village by village, farmers in different parts of have become more resilient to droughts and floods and are able to build a more prosperous country – thanks to the U.S. foreign aid.
By Megan Doherty and Bill O’Keefe (The Hill)
Fourteen years ago, Mustefa Hafiz and 1,300 farmers in his village in Ethiopia could barely grow enough food to feed their families. Today, Mustefa harvests over 30,000 pounds of potatoes and other crops each year. He also earns $9,700 in annual profit, enough to enroll his daughters in school and build a house equipped with a water pump and modern outhouse.
Thanks to the generosity of the American people, U.S. foreign aid has helped Mustefa and millions of Ethiopians work their way out of poverty. Village by village, farmers have become more resilient to droughts and floods and are able to build a more prosperous country. Twenty years ago, Ethiopia’s GDP was hardly over $8 billion and more than 50 percent of the population lived below the global poverty line. By 2016, largely as a result of U.S. development assistance, the poverty rate had been halved. Ethiopia’s GDP skyrocketed to $80 billion, giving the country sufficient economic strength to launch its own major anti-poverty programs.
Self-reliance is the ultimate goal of American foreign aid. Such aid helped transform Germany, Japan, and Korea into stable democracies with vibrant economies. It is working in Ethiopia and dozens of other countries ravaged by man-made and natural disasters.
◌ Also read: The story of Meskerem Solomon (Azu Dairy Farm): Witnessing the support from USAID agribusiness program
Despite this, the Donald Trump Administration has three times proposed dramatic cuts to U.S. foreign aid. Most recently, the President’s Budget Request for 2020 called for a 24 percent reduction.
Congress has twice rejected similar proposals from the Administration. Republican and Democratic leaders alike understood the practical benefits of foreign assistance as both an expression of American values abroad and a vehicle to support global peace and security.
We urge the new Congress to stand firm. Helping others is both part of our heritage and in our national interest. Success in post-WWII Europe was the direct result of sustained U.S. humanitarian leadership and generosity after war devastated the continent. That investment was worth it. Today, eleven of America’s top fifteen trading partners are former recipients of foreign aid.
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