DR Congo’s women suffer most after Trump’s USAID halt

When the rebels seized Sake in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Francis ran. She had heard what happened to the women who stayed behind. She didn’t yet know that the aid she would soon rely on—food assistance and medical care—will vanish after the Trump administration froze USAID funding. 

She was barefoot, carrying her four-year-old daughter and whatever was left of her belongings after years of displacement, when she reached Goma. The makeshift shelters offered little safety, but it was better than the alternative.  

Days later, the rebels seized Goma too. Sheltering at a church, where many had flocked, she heard the news: Munzenze prison, just miles away, had been set on fire. Hundreds of women inside were raped and burned alive.  

“We are trapped. And now, we are being abandoned”, says the woman who has known nothing but displacement since 2012 in a country rattled by war over power and resources.  

For years, the United States was the backbone of humanitarian aid in DR Congo, funding emergency shelters, food assistance, and programs to protect women—who face the highest risk of sexual violence in war. Then, with a single social media post, it was all gone. 

“CLOSE IT DOWN!” President Donald Trump wrote last month on X.  

The newly inaugurated Trump decided to freeze foreign aid programs, abruptly cutting off USAID funding.  

The shutdown has forced several emergency medical programs to halt, and gender-protection initiatives to disappear overnight.  

“We don’t know the full damage yet, but most women-focused programs—many 100% funded by USAID—are already shut down”, Priscille Kadima, a gender consultant with UNICEF in the DR Congo, told the New Arab.

“Even we at UNICEF, with 30% of our funding from USAID, are being forced to reconsider key programs.”  

The cuts have landed at the worst possible time.  

The M23 rebel group, reportedly backed by Rwanda, has launched one of its deadliest offensives in years. In February, fighters seized the city of Goma in North Kivu province in DR Congo and pushed south.  

Entire villages were emptied overnight. In displacement camps surrounding the city, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is treating up to 119 cases of sexual violence each day.  

Before the aid halt, the US was the biggest donor to DR Congo’s relief efforts, funding nearly 70 percent of the country’s humanitarian response.

In the 2023 fiscal year alone, USAID provided nearly $936 million in development aid, making the DRC its fourth-largest recipient. Just last August, Washington pledged an additional $424 million.  

The collapse of USAID-funded programs has also left thousands of local aid workers without jobs, further crippling women’s services. 

“Gender and women-focused sectors are fragile and underfunded”, said a Congolese worker in a women’s empowerment project who was laid off after Trump’s decision.

“After the USAID halt, we were the first to be let go.”  

Now, many Congolese aid groups are scrambling to find alternative funding, but under a system Kadima describes as “gender-blind,” she doubts women’s programs will be a priority.  

Dependency on USAID in Africa

For decades, sub-Saharan Africa was a priority for US foreign assistance, receiving over $8 billion annually for health care, food security, and wartime humanitarian aid. However, under Trump, that era may be over.  

Trump decided to shut USAID down after he and his billionaire protégé Elon Musk accused USAID of corruption and waste.  

A federal judge has temporarily blocked parts of Trump’s plan, but the damage is already being felt around the African continent.  

In Kenya, 40,000 health workers are expected to lose their jobs. Ethiopia’s health ministry has already fired 5,000 professionals who relied on USAID funding.  

Of USAID’s 10,000 employees worldwide, fewer than 300 will remain. Only 12 will be stationed in Africa, according to The New York Times. 

However, some argue the USAID retreat could force Africa to move beyond donor dependency.  

“As the US steps back, other players like China may step in, offering development models tied to infrastructure, trade, and geopolitical influence rather than traditional aid,” expects Anurika Joshua, a healthcare innovator in Kenya.  

“This could be a turning point—a chance to invest in local capacity and build systems that don’t depend on a single donor.”  

However, for now, in the streets of DR Congo, hope is scarce. M23 rebels ordered this week some 110,000 people in displacement camps to go back to their villages. Goma was hosting close to a million displaced people before the escalation of fighting on 26 January.

They say the return is voluntary, but no one is sure how much choice they have under a group that left the streets littered with corpses to gain control.

Even if they have no choice, many women are worried about making the way back to their villages. Many of those who tried to return were raped and killed amid widespread violence and chaos, according to the Associated Press.