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  ----------- Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth ----------- Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comSupport our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgradeGet our merchFollow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImpFollow us on Threads: www.threads.net/@importantnotimportantSubscribe to our YouTube channelFollow Quinn: on Twitter - twitter.com/quinnemmett; Bluesky - bsky.app/profile/quinnemmett.bsky.social; Threads - www.threads.net/@quinnemmettProduced by a...

This week: 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? Here's What You Can Do: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. Get more:Take action at www.whatcanido.earthGet more news, analysis, and Action Steps at importantnotimportant.comSupport our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgradeGet our merchGot feedback? Email us at a...

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. ----------- Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com New here? Get started with our fan favorite episodes at podcast.importantnotimportant.com. Take Action at www.whatcanido.earth ----------- INI Book Club: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall KimmererFind 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 SciencesFollow more of Gretchen's work Follow us: Subscribe to our newsletter at importantnotimportant.comSupport our work and become a Member at importantnotimportant.com/upgradeGet our merchFollow us on Twitter: a href="http://twitter.com/ImportantNotImp" rel="noopener noreferrer"...