Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands have contact US officials asking for their unspent contributions to USAID — a program Donald Trump has halted — to be refunded.

Summary

Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands are demanding refunds from Trump after $15 million in USAID contributions for the Water and Energy for Food (WE4F) project remained unspent.

The project aimed to help farmers grow more food without straining water resources, but USAID froze the funds following Trump’s cuts to foreign aid.

The countries expressed frustration over a lack of response from USAID and warned they might go public.

The funding freeze harms 6 million vulnerable farmers, and donor nations are seeking alternatives to continue WE4F.

  • someguy3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    8 days ago

    Water and Energy for Food (WE4F) is a joint international initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the European Union (EU), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of the Netherlands, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Announced at World Water Week in 2018 and launched at a signature event by Social Capital Markets in 2019 in San Francisco,

    WE4F aims to:

    Increase food production along the value chain through a more sustainable and efficient usage of water and/or energy. Increase income for base of the pyramid women and men in both rural and urban areas. Sustainably scale innovators’ solutions to meet the challenges in the WE4F nexus. Promote climate and environmental resilience and biodiversity through the sustainable, holistic management of natural resources and ecosystems.

    https://energypedia.info/wiki/Water_and_Energy_for_Food