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Trump’s aid cuts will lead to a surge in propaganda and misinformation, say press freedom groups

Harriet Barber, Rebecca Ratcliffe, Deepa Parent

The Guardian, February 11 (2025)

"Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze will lead to a decline in the number ofindependent media outlets across the world, causing a surge in misinformation andplaying into the hands of state propagandists, media organisations have warned. The US president has suspended billions of dollars in projects ... more

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As USAID dies, many of Georgia's "vibrant" CSOs face extinction

Jaba Devdariani

GEOpolitics, issue 16 (2025), 6 pp.

"For decades, Georgia has been one of the largest per capita recipients of U.S. assistance. In 2012-2023, the years in which the Georgian Dream has been in power, total U.S. overseas development assistance (ODA) stands at USD 1 billion 920 mil lion, according to official data. Of course, the lion’ ... more

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‘We have nothing now’: Myanmar’s exiled media face existential crisis after Trump severs aid

Kate Lamb, Rebecca Ratcliffe

The Guardian, 23 February (2025)

"Organisations that take extreme risks to document atrocities, corruption and war crimes fear for their future after USAid cuts." (Introduction)

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AI in Global Development Playbook

USAID (2024), 46 pp.

"When used effectively and responsibly, artificial intelligence (AI) holds the potential to accelerate progress on sustainable development and close digital divides, but it also poses risks that could further impede progress toward these goals. With the right enabling environment and ecosystem of ac ... more

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Press freedom under threat: Learn three ways USAID is ensuring free and independent media

Shannon Maguire

Medium;USAID (2024), 8 pp.

[...] Based on decades of evolving research, testing, and learning, USAID has expanded its understanding of the multiple intersecting threats media practitioners face - legal, physical, economic, and digital - and how necessary it is to work from many sides to build and reinforce media sectors that ... are as resilient as possible against the forces that would seek to shut them down. A major demonstration of this approach comes through USAID's Summit for Democracy commitments, a series of initiatives to address these threats and advance free and independent media. The first one is the Media Viability Accelerator (MVA), which was announced at the first Summit for Democracy in December 2021. The goal of the MVA is to preserve fact-based news and information media by providing access to the data they need to build strategies to survive, thrive, adapt, and grow as businesses. Through a public-private partnership with USAID, Microsoft, and Internews, MVA is a unique data platform using artificial intelligence and other digital tools to enable media outlets to better understand markets, audiences, and strategies that will maximize their odds of profitability. Second, USAID's $20 million contribution to the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM) is helping to boost global support through grants to develop and sustain a wide range of independent news organizations. To date, IFPIM has committed nearly $9 million through 32 grants across 16 countries to media outlets in urgent need of financial assistance and to strengthen their long-term sustainability. USAID's initial seed funding has leveraged an additional $30 million from 15 governments, philanthropies, and corporate entities. The third initiative is Reporters Shield, an innovative program that helps protect investigative media outlets and civil society organizations from strategic litigation against public participation lawsuits, or other legal threats meant to silence their reporting. Prior to the launch of Reporters Shield, such help was inconsistent, ad hoc, reactive, and, often, expensive. USAID Administrator Samantha Power launched the next phase of USAID's Reporters Shield, at the United Nations Headquarters last World Press Freedom Day on May 3. Reporters Shield is now providing legal support services and capacity development for 12 media outlets and civil society organizations doing investigative reporting, with more than 100 applications still under review during the launch phase alone." (Pages 4-6) more

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Digital Ecosystem Country Assessment (DECA) Toolkit: A How-To Guide for USAID Missions

USAID;Digital Frontiers;DAI (2022), 107 pp.

"The Digital Ecosystem Country Assessment (DECA) Toolkit is a step-by-step guide designed to help USAID Missions conduct high-quality research that will directly inform Mission strategic and programmatic decisions for digital development interventions. The DECA is the flagship initiative of the USAI ... more

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Digital Literacy Primer: How to Build Digital Literacy Into USAID Programming

Kanchana Sthanumurthy, Kelly Church, Araba Sapara-Grant

USAID (2022), 82 pp.

"This Primer aims to: improve USAID staff's understanding of digital literacy; demonstrate how digital literacy contributes to broader global development goals; describe how digital literacy can be incorporated into various stages of the USAID program cycle; and detail ways in which different sector ... more

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Digital Ecosystem Framework

USAID;Digital Frontiers Project (2021), 13 pp.

"The Digital Ecosystem Framework is organized around three separate, overlapping pillars: Digital Infrastructure and Adoption: the resources that make digital systems possible and how individuals and organizations access and use these resources; Digital Society, Rights, and Governance: how digital t ... more

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USAID/Iraq: Perception and Opinion Study

Management Systems International (MSI);USAID (2021), iv, 57 pp.

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Digital Strategy 2020-2024

Washington, DC: USAID (2020), 58 pp.

"The digital strategy centers around two core, mutually reinforcing objectives: improve measurable development and humanitarian assistance outcomes through the responsible use of digital technology in USAID’s programming; and strengthen the openness, inclusiveness, and security of country-level di ... more

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Understanding Public Engagement with Global Aid Agencies on Twitter: A Technosocial Framework

Saif Shahin, Zehui Dai

American Behavioral Scientist, volume 63, issue 12 (2019), pp. 1684-1707

"This study develops a technosocial framework for assessing the efficacy of global aid agencies’ use of Twitter’s algorithmic affordances for participatory social change. We combine computational and interpretive methods to examine tweets posted by three global aid agencies—U.S. Agency for Int ... more

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Representing ‘development’ on Instagram: Questioning ‘what’, ‘who’, and ‘how’ of development in digital space

Michael Dokyum Kim, Karin Gwinn Wilkins

Journal of International Communication, volume 27, issue 2 (2017), pp. 192-214

"Development institutions communicate about development through mediated communication strategies. The advent of image-intensive digital spaces such as Instagram has facilitated communication for these institutions, making ‘development’ more accessible to the public. However, the representation ... more

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The Other Air Force: U.S. Efforts to Reshape Middle Eastern Media Since 9/11

Matt Sienkiewicz

New Brunswick, New Jersey, London: Rutgers University Press (2016), ix, 216 pp.

"As it seeks to win the hearts and minds of citizens in the Muslim world, the United States has poured millions of dollars into local television and radio programming, hoping to generate pro-American currents on Middle Eastern airwaves. However, as this fascinating new book shows, the Middle Eastern ... more

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Media Assistance M&E and Democratization Measurement Characteristics in USAID Program Reporting Documents

Kristopher R. Passey

Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri–Columbia, Master Thesis (2012), vi, 139 pp.

"This case study of USAID media assistance program reporting documents (n=68) looks at specific monitoring and evaluation characteristics as reported over a 20-year period and how reporting documents make the link to democratization. The analysis found that although M&E activity has improved as repo ... more

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Improving Democracy Assisstance: Building Knowledge Through Evaluations and Research

Committee on Evaluation of USAID Democracy Assisstance Programs, National Research Council

Washington, DC: National Academies Press (2008), xiii, 277 pp.

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Deepening Our Understanding of the Effects of US Foreign Assistance on Democracy Building: Final Report

Steve Finkel et al.

Nashville, Tenn.; Pittsburgh: Vanderbilt University;University of Pittsburgh (2008), 102 pp.

"Does USAID’s democracy promotion program work? Although some prior studies have examined specific projects in individual countries, no prior effort has studied the question on a world-wide basis, and no prior study has encompassed the entire post Cold-War period. [...] In the first phase of that ... more

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Effects of U.S. Foreign Assistance on Democracy Building: Results of a Cross-National Quantitative Study

Steven E. Finkel, Aníbal Pérez-Linán, Mitchell A. Seligson

Dinorah Azpuru (assist.)

Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University (2006), 111 pp.

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Promoting Independent Media: Strategies for Democracy Assistance
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Krishna Kumar

Boulder, Colo.; London: Rienner (2006), 189 pp.

"This book represents one step in explaining international efforts to promote independent media. It attempts to examine the nature and significance of media assistance, discussing the evolution of the field, the focus of various programming approaches, and the possible impact of such efforts. It pre ... sents case studies of media assistance programs in different countries. The book concludes with a set of recommendations for expanding and deepening media assistance for the international community. This book project grew out of a multi-country study that I directed in 2002–2004 to examine media assistance programs funded by the US Agency for International Development. The overall purpose of the study was to assess the nature and effectiveness of USAID programs and make policy and programmatic recommendations for the future. In writing this book I have mostly drawn from the massive information collected during two years of research and analysis. The book is based primarily on three sources of information. First are reviews of literature covering scholarly writings, project and program documents, and articles in popular magazines and newspapers on media assistance. Such reviews were country specific as well as global in nature. Because the academic literature is extremely limited and media assistance is hardly covered in magazines and newspapers except in high-profile cases such as Bosnia and Serbia, reviews largely relied on program documentation. I had the unique advantage of perusing thousands of documents that are not available to the public. Although mostly descriptive and often self-serving, they identified critical gaps in our knowledge and illuminated the challenges and achievements of international media endeavors. Second, my colleagues and I undertook extensive fieldwork in seven countries/regions—Afghanistan, Bosnia, Central America, Indonesia, Russia, Serbia, and Sierra Leone. In each of these cases, research teams conducted extensive discussions with international donor agencies, officials of host countries, project staff and contractors, and local media experts and journalists. Every possible effort was made to interview all those experts and managers who had intimate knowledge of the ongoing media assistance programs. Teams also examined locally available documents and reports and used translators to translate documents into English when necessary. In the absence of hard quantitative data, they largely relied on available documentation, indepth interviews, and their own knowledge of the media scene for their findings and conclusions. Finally, I organized a series of meetings in Washington, D.C., to discuss the findings of the country studies and explore new directions for media assistance programs. Such meetings helped to identify many problems and challenges facing media assistance programs and helped in formulating a set of recommendation for policymakers." (Chapter 1, page 10-11) more

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Trafficking in Persons: USAID’s Response

Washington, DC: USAID (2006), 26 pp.

"Over the past five years USAID has supported anti-trafficking activities in more than 70 countries tailored to the conditions of the country. Most prevention programs combine awareness raising and education, employment, and income generation. Protection programs include training and other support f ... more

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Radio: A Post Nine-Eleven Strategy for Reaching the World's Poor

Stephen Sposato, W. M. Smith

Lanham; Oxford: United Press of America (UPA) (2005), xxvii, 243 pp.

Promoting Independent Media: Strategies for Democracy Assistance Top Insights

Promoting Independent Media: Strategies for Democracy Assistance
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