By: Elissa Miolene

Featuring: Jessica Stern

Organizations are scrambling to understand the Trump administration’s Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance Policy, a sweeping rule that bars U.S. foreign aid from those touching abortion, diversity, or “gender ideology” across the world.

“For those that still want U.S. money, they will have to tie themselves into pretzels to comply with the kind of surveillance apparatus that will be a prerequisite for receiving those funds,” Jessica Stern, who served as the U.S. special envoy to advance the human rights of LGBTQ+ persons during the Biden administration, told Devex.

The policy went into effect on Feb. 26, and going forward, any new U.S. aid will be subject to its terms. Nonprofits, United Nations agencies, and foreign governments are bracing for a tangle of restrictions that will make accessing U.S. aid even more challenging than it is today — particularly because, in some cases, how the rules apply is up to the State Department’s discretion.

Full article available at Devex (subscription required).