The United States has long been the largest aid donor in the world, accounting for about 40 percent of humanitarian assistance globally last year, according to the United Nations. But that is quickly changing. 

Most U.S. foreign aid is currently on hold. Thousands of projects are at risk of elimination. And nearly all staff from the U.S. Agency for International Development are on administrative leave. 

How did we get to this moment? And what has been the impact of the foreign aid freeze so far, including on women and girls? 

In this episode from The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, hear a conversation taped at Foreign Policy magazine’s Emerging Threats Forum, an official side event of the Munich Security Conference, about the economic and security implications of halting overseas development assistance.

Foreign Policy editor in chief Ravi Agrawal spoke with Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, the president and CEO of the One Campaign, and Umulkher (Umi) Harun Mohamed, a member of Kenya’s National Assembly. 

The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is a podcast from Foreign Policy, supported in part by the Gates Foundation and Northwestern University’s Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs.

Follow and listen to more episodes: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hidden-economics-of-remarkable-women-hero/id1572532247 

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Mentioned in this episode:

Become An Important Member

You’ve never had a better opportunity to improve one person’s life than you do right now.

I would argue, in fact, that there’s never been a better time to improve one person’s life than there is today.

Sounds crazy, right, considering all the destructive nonsense?

• Donate to Matriarch to help progressive working women run for office and win.
• Volunteer with your local Surfrider chapter to protect your waterways and reduce plastic pollution.
• Get educated about how you can start working on climate solutions by finding a climate job with Climate People.
• 🌎️ Be heard about building climate resilience in your community and have your city council join the Global Covenant for Mayors for Climate and Energy pledge.
• Invest in the health of our soil, forests, and oceans by investing with ReGen.

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• Take a nap you deserve it

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Become An Important Member

What Can I Do?

One of the ways this Trump administration is different from the last is, relatively at least, how much more unconstitutional, how much more organized and comprehensive the attacks on our institutions, particularly the scaffolding we built for ourselves the most precious parts of of our societies: immigration, agriculture, the VA, NIH, the CDC, the NSF and humanitarian work around the globe.

Do some of these need reform? Of course, they do. Is this the way to do it? No, it is not.

These institutions, the ones we built over the last century that, again, however imperfect, baseline keep us fed and safe and on the other hand, help advance remarkable scientific progress.

They're at more risk than ever. Every single day. To combat this onslaught, we need groups who are actually prepared to fight back.

My guest today is Dr. Gretchen Goldman. 

Dr. Goldman is the President of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Previously, she served almost two years in the Biden-Harris White House as the Assistant Director for Environmental Science, Engineering, Policy, and Justice in the Climate and Environment Division of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and later as the Climate Change Research and Technology Director at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

She is a prolific writer and speaker on science policy and her words and her voice have appeared in Science, Nature, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NPR, and the BBC, among others.

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INI Book Club:

• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Donate, volunteer and be heard at ucs.org
• Protect yourself and stand up for science using these Resources for Federal Sciences
• Follow more of Gretchen's work

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• Produced by Willow Beck
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Mentioned in this episode:

What Can I Do?

Become An Important Member

We didn't always call our work science for people who give a shit.

But ever since we did, we've welcomed at least two types of people to our flock. The first is people who are deeply invested in science, but are unsure how to tie it into measurable action on the human level. And the second is people already fighting for a healthier, more equitable society, but who are curious about the evolving science behind our complex systems.

They all want to know a version of the most important question, what can I do?

It's a big question right now. And today, after almost 200 conversations and on this, our newly rebranded show, we're going to confront that question as some of our most vital human and humane systems are being put in the shredder.

My guest today is Dr. Ticora Jones. Dr. Jones has spent the last two years leading the efforts to expand the vision for science in the science office at the NRDC, to support the scientific and evidence based nucleus for organizational strategy and advocacy.

Before joining the NRDC, Dr. Jones served nearly 15 years at USAID, a little agency you may have heard about recently, in a number of roles, including most recently as Agency Chief Scientist, Executive Director for Innovation, Technology, and Research, and Managing Director for Research.

As the Agency Chief Scientist, which is really a hell of a title, Jones chaired the Research and Development Council, which was responsible for revising and instituting science policy.

She advocated for process changes to better support scientific integrity and research generation and use. And she led efforts to expand USAID's interagency role with international science and technology cooperation for deeper strategic partnerships with the U.S. government.

As of this month, that is all in serious trouble.

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INI Book Club:

• Atlas of AI by Kate Crawford
• The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by NK Jemisin
• Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Support the NRDC's work
• Follow Dr Jones
• Find out more about what you can do at WhatCanIDo.Earth

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• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

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Mentioned in this episode:

Become An Important Member

What can we do about land power?

It's the most important question and my guest today is Mike Albertus.

Mike is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago. He's the author of the new book, Land Power. Who has it? Who doesn't? And how that determines the fate of societies. 

In the book, Mike examines how land became power, how it shapes power today still, and how who holds that power determines the fundamental social problems that societies grapple with.

Mike studies how countries allocate opportunity and well-being among their citizens and the consequences this has for society, why some countries are democratic and others are not, and why some societies fall into civil conflict.

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INI Book Club:

• Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
• Caste and The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
• Get our booklist for essential Civil War and Reconstruction books
• Find all of our guest recommendations at the INI Book Club: https://bookshop.org/lists/important-not-important-book-club

Links:

• Read Mike's book Land Power
• Subscribe to The Good Society
• Follow Mike on Twitter and Bluesky
• Get more of Mike's work on his website
• Read about Bruce's Beach reparations in LA
• Donate to the World Wildlife Fund, Tompkins Conservation and the Stand For Her Land Campaign

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Mentioned in this episode:

Become An Important Member

Not. Right. Now.

I hope you enjoy our new show. It’s super, super informal, and fun, and full of profanity, and personal, and — I hope — something you or a parent in your life can identify with, and maybe get some relief from.

It’s intentionally and decidedly NOT an advice show. 

It is a once-a-week parasocial commiseration session about trying to raise kids and continue to be a human and maybe even a partner amid…all of this.

Listen to Not Right Now here https://www.notrightnow.show/

Read Claire's intro to Not Right Now in her Evil Witches newsletter here https://www.evilwitches.com/p/out-now-a-witchy-project-in-pod-form

• Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com
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• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
• Take a nap you deserve it

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Please enjoy the debut episode from our new show, Not Right Now.

Every week, Claire (Evil Witches) and Quinn (Important, Not Important) dive into the chaotic reality of raising tiny humans in these wild times.

From behavioral reflection forms and schoolyard diplomacy to the eternal question of "how many water bottles does one child need?", we explore the messy, hilarious, and occasionally terrifying truth about modern parenting.

Plus: why every parent should have friends who don't make you add "...but of course I love them!" to your rants, the special anxiety of raising boys who won't become supervillains, and the paradox of counting down to bedtime while simultaneously scrolling through baby photos.

A conversation for parents who know that both dreading dinner and cherishing every moment can be true at the same time.

A new show from Important, Not Important.

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Not Right Now is a podcast for parents navigating the impossible task of raising kids while *gestures wildly at everything*.

Join Quinn Emmett (Important, Not Important) and Claire Zulkey (Evil Witches) for honest conversations about parenting in an era of climate change, artificial intelligence, social media anxiety, all while trying to get your kid to just please put on their shoes.

From discussing how to talk to kids about the news without traumatizing them (or yourself), to debating the right age for a phone, to admitting that sometimes the best parenting happens when you're hiding in the pantry eating handfuls of trail mix for dinner- Quinn and Claire bring humor, empathy, and real talk to the wild adventure of raising tiny humans in these chaotic times.

Because being a good parent doesn't mean having all the answers - it means figuring it out together, one "not right now" at a time.

Join us every week, wherever you get your podcasts.

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Links:



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• Email Not Right Now at [email protected]

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I’m not religious. But I did (barely) successfully major in religious studies.

For better and often for worse, the history of faith and organized religion has been the backbone of human history, political science, culture, wars, sexual ethics, and more.

Subtle or not, religion and faith are most often the answer to why people do what they do, and to how we got here, even now as the west barrels towards majority secularism.

• Donate to the Climate Justice Alliance to amplify grassroots leadership working towards a Just Transition.
• 🌏️ Volunteer with the Green Faith Alliance and get your faith group involved in climate action.
• 🌏️ Learn about how colonialism is a historical and ongoing driver of climate change and its impacts.
• Be heard about science-based health care and tell your Senator to vote “No” on RFK Jr’s nomination.
• Invest in a more equitable world by investing in the Black Farmer Fund to increase the representation and success of Black agricultural and food businesses.

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• Take a nap you deserve it

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You're wasting your talent on bullshit while the world burns.

You — yes, you — can actually use your very unique set of skills for good. Even and especially at scale, even — yes — right now.

• Donate to the Electronic Frontier Foundation to help get Zuckerberg’s grubby little paws off of your data.
• Volunteer with Tech Shift and start creating technology that actually contributes to the betterment of humanity.
• 🌎️ Get educated about social media, deepfakes, misinformation, and all the other internet foes by taking this Media Literacy Crash Course.
• Be heard about creating the appropriate safeguards for AI by urging your representatives to support the Algorithmic Accountability Act.
• 🌏️ Invest in tech that reduces emissions instead of dismantling democracy using Carbon Equity.

• Get more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.com
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• Follow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmett
• Produced by Willow Beck
• Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com
• Take a nap you deserve it

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