This is the third and final post on lessons learned at USAID while managing the Europe & Eurasia Bureau’s media development funding portfolio. While most of the attention on the closing of USAID on July 1 has rightly focused on the humanitarian cost--14 million projected deaths by 2030--a quieter casualty was USAID’s mission to promote “resilient, democratic societies.”

In the wake of the closure of USAID earlier this month and the RIFs at the State Department, I'm posting the second of three posts on lessons learned while managing USAID's media development funding portfolio for the Europe & Eurasia Bureau.

July 1 marked the official end of USAID. Much attention, rightly so, has focused on the humanitarian cost—14 million projected deaths by 2030 due to cuts in global health and disaster relief, according to a recent Lancet article. A quieter casualty was USAID’s mission to promote “resilient, democratic societies”—a goal harder to measure than vaccine doses or trade growth, but just as vital.