One of the first things Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) did was push for extreme cuts to the United States’ primary international aid agency, the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Musk insisted that USAID was too wasteful and corrupt to exist, but by effectively dismantling the agency, DOGE ended projects like the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net), a long-running, broadly successful data analysis initiative that provides guidance to ensure that food aid is delivered in the least-wasteful way possible.
Deprived of USAID funding, the Fews Net program is currently offline. The international development firm Chemonics, which staffs a large portion of the project, says
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