US Aid Cuts and Travel Ban Will Impact Laos

A family in a village in Luang Prabang, Laos. An initial scan of the list of USAID projects to either be kept or terminated suggests only one, pertaining to maternal child health and nutrition, will survive the cuts | Photo by Gerard SIOEN / ONLY WORLD / Only France via AFP

In an article by Fulcrum, Nick J. Freeman asserts how the Laos will struggle to find alternative financial assistance in light of the United States significantly reducing its overseas assistance to Laos.

With regard to Laos, the Center for Global Development calculates that 72 per cent of USAID’s total portfolio of projects in the country, with a combined value of US$20.5 million, are being terminated. An initial scan of the list of USAID projects to either be kept or terminated suggests only one, pertaining to maternal child health and nutrition, will survive the cuts. Other projects focused on disability sector support, tackling human trafficking, capacity strengthening of people’s assemblies, energy security, and private sector development have been shut down.

Laos will be affected on other fronts as well. As a less developed country, Laos is heavily dependent on overseas development assistance. Within Southeast Asia, the country is the largest recipient of official development finance on a per capita basis. If this support is reduced, the impact on Laos and its poorer citizens will be felt across a number of areas. For example, the US has also been the single largest funder of unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance in Laos (as well as Cambodia and Vietnam).  Since 1995, the US has invested over US$390 million in UXO work, spanning de-mining teams, public safety education, and financial support for victims and survivors. This is conducted through the State Department rather than USAID. But this, too, was suspended in January. It is currently unclear whether this funding will resume.

In Laos, the hope is that funding for UXO clearance will continue, as will efforts to support those affected by dioxin-contaminated herbicides that were used in southern Laos during the Vietnam War.  Between 1964 and 1973, the US dropped over 2 million tonnes of ordnance on Laos — the most concentrated bombing of a country in history, as measured on a per capita basis. The US State Department is also terminating a number of its development projects. For Laos, this includes supporting women entrepreneurs, drug treatment, strengthening court procedures, and preventing high-consequence pathogens.