The Center for African Studies invites you to hear Mershon Postdoc William Favell, PhD, present Ghanaian Perspectives on Changes in Foreign Development Support, part of the Africa @ Noon lecture series. The event takes place Wednesday, September 30 from 12:00-1:30 pm in 110A Hale Hall. Lunch is provided. For questions, please contact davis.6540@osu.edu.
This talk will examine the impact of the abrupt USAID withdrawal on the communities in Northern Ghana that William Favell was working with as part of the USAID Trust2Peace program. Using original survey data from communities in Northern Ghana collected in February-March 2026, one year after cuts in USAID funding, and leveraging individual-level variation in participation in the USAID Trust2Peace peace-building program, William’s preliminary findings are that program participants report significantly more negative feelings toward the US over the preceding twelve months compared to non-participants in the same communities. The effect is specific to the donor country. The findings are strongest among more educated participants, consistent with greater capacity to attribute program termination to US political decisions. The results underscore the costs to reputation that donors incur in cutting aid projects abruptly.
