Navigating the Void: NGO Resilience and Institutional Adaptation Following USAID Funding Withdrawals in Ghana and Egypt

• In Event: Global perspectives on technology, political economy, and (de)funding of international development

Proposal

International aid has a pivotal influence on development across Africa, with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) acting as a pivotal force in strengthening health, education, and economic systems. While its interventions have yielded significant benefits, recent freezes in USAID funding have created unimaginable disruptions, exposing the vulnerabilities of recipient nations and the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that implement projects. The scale of this impact, however, is not uniform; it is critically mediated by national governance structures, local institutional capacity and interventions from other aid organizations. This comparative case study investigates the consequences of these funding withdrawals for two NGOs in Ghana and Egypt. This study moves beyond a simple account of project closures; it offers a nuanced analysis of the strategic adaptations and institutional recalibrations undertaken by development organizations, providing critical insights into the future of sustainable development partnerships in an era of increasing aid volatility. Sub-Saharan Africa was a major recipient of USAID funds (almost 40%), and the majority of those funds were directed towards health and humanitarian programs (Tarnoff, 2015). USAID operated in a unique way through having extensive presence in aid recipient countries. The agency was split between field missions (which design and manage programs) and Washington-based bureaus (which provide policy, technical, and administrative support) (Tarnoff, 2015). USAID has played a pivotal role in both Egypt and Ghana for decades: in Egypt, its presence dates back to the mid-1970s; initially supporting infrastructure and economic
stabilization before expanding into health, education, and civil society, making Egypt a top recipient of U.S. aid globally (Elagati, 2013). In Ghana, USAID has been active since 1957, providing early assistance for agriculture and major infrastructure projects, and later intensifying its focus on health, education, and rural development to boost the country’s economic reforms and poverty reduction efforts (Kates, 2025). Due to the elimination of the USAID website, it is hard to locate a comprehensive list of the projects that got cancelled in Ghana and Egypt. From news reports, it is obvious that there are some major projects in Ghana that are affected; such as: the marine protected area project (Schneider, 2025) and family planning and health programs (Kates & Rouw, 2025). In Egypt, mostly education and business projects are impacted; such as: Teach for tomorrow initiative and Business Egypt program (Hafez, 2025). While many news reports and international aid websites discussed the short-term and long-term damaging impact of the USAID fund withdrawal from Africa; others seemed to see this as a catalyst for change or a wake up call “a chance to reimagine how we finance community health across Africa” (Africa Frontline First, 2025). An argument for sustainability has emerged that is calling upon African organizations and leaders to explore diverse strategies for diversifying their funds and looking for local/ regional assets and solutions to fill the void left by USAID interventions. This study is framed through the convergent lenses of Resource Dependency Theory (Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978), Institutional Theory (DiMaggio &Powell,1983), and Theory of Change (Weiss, 1972/1995) to dissect the multifaceted ripple effects of USAID fund withdrawal. Resource Dependency Theory provides the essential framework for analyzing the immediate strategic scrambles NGOs face, examining how they seek alternative funding, reduce services, or restructure to mitigate the loss of a vital resource and maintain operational autonomy. Institutional Theory allows us to probe the deeper, long-term implications for organizational
legitimacy and practice. It questions how the sudden absence of a major institutional actor like USAID—a source of not just funding but also norms, standards, and accountability mechanisms—forces NGOs to decouple from established practices, engage in mimetic isomorphism by copying surviving peers, or navigate conflicting pressures from host governments and other donors. Finally, the Theory of Change provides a future-oriented framework to map adaptive strategies to sustainable, locally grounded outcomes, to help NGOs reframe aid dependency into an adaptive and resilient program. This research adopts the case study method as its primary approach, given its strength in examining complex phenomena within their real-world context. Case studies are widely employed in qualitative inquiry because they provide rich, in-depth, and context-sensitive insights into processes, meanings, and practices (Gerring, 2004; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This is an appropriate method to understand the why and how NGO that were affected by the USAID fund withdrawal in Ghana and Egypt. It provides an approach for an in-depth exploration of the adaptation process of these NGOs and the process for future change. Knowing the impact could be different in different countries, different types of organizations, and other conditionalities that may influence the impact, a case study is essential for this inquiry by providing context-dependent knowledge and experiences (Flyvbjerg, 2006). Using this approach to explore the impact of USAID withdrawal from these two countries provides a broader debate on aid dependency and neo-colonial influence, the transition process, and adaptation strategies adopted, which could provide a rich understanding of how NGO can be restructured. Two organizations will be purposely selected based on their long-standing engagement with USAID and their central role in community development: an International NGO in Ghana and a local NGO in Egypt. This comparative design enables cross-case analysis of similarities and differences in
institutional responses across distinct socio-political contexts. Data will be collected through semi-structured, open-ended interviews. This allows participants to narrate experiences of project disruption, institutional challenges, and adaptive responses in their own terms. Interviews will be audio-recorded with informed consent. Also, we plan to review secondary sources, such as project evaluations and reports. Data will be analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021), following an iterative, multi-stage process. Our findings, drawn from in-depth case studies of both countries, will be presented at the conference upon completion of data collection. This study is timely and offers significant insights on the aftermath of USAID fund withdrawals from Africa. The study addresses the rising debate on the mechanisms and possibilities of how African governments, businesses, and philanthropists can rise up to the challenge to address the void left by USAID funding.

Authors

• Comfort Ninson, University of Georgia

• Shereen Aly Mohamed Sayed, University of Georgia - Athens, GA

• Giovanni Dazzo, University of Georgia