How the USAID Debacle is Affecting Rhode Island

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
This past week, America’s foreign aid infrastructure faced an existential crisis after the Trump administration abruptly issued a stop-work order at USAID. President Trump’s attempts to shut down the agency had real, immediate implications for organizations around the world, including a nonprofit in Rhode Island called Edesia. It’s named after the Roman goddess of food and makes nutrition packets for USAID to feed starving children. From The Public’s Radio, David Wright reports.

DAVID WRIGHT, BYLINE: At Edesia’s Rhode Island factory, founder Navyn Salem holds up a spreadsheet of products already in transit when the stop work order came in.

NAVYN SALEM: These are going to Nigeria, Haiti, Chad, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Madagascar.

WRIGHT: Three hundred thirty-six thousand cartons of fortified peanut butter are now in limbo.

Is it fair to say you were blindsided by this?

SALEM: A hundred percent - yes.

WRIGHT: Her company makes one product called PlumpyNut. They ship it to 65 countries worldwide. It’s a lifesaver for severely malnourished children, as Salem told the U.N. Security Council in 2023.

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SALEM: We make the food that saves lives. This is a ready-to-use therapeutic food called PlumpyNut. It is used in the treatment of severe acute malnutrition, and it’s used by UNICEF, the World Food Programme and USAID.

WRIGHT: She says over the past two decades, PlumpyNut has saved more than 25 million people. USAID accounts for 85% of the company’s business.

SALEM: If everything were to come to a halt, we would need to find massive funds and provide those ourselves.

WRIGHT: In the ballpark of...

SALEM: Fifty million dollars.

WRIGHT: Edesia’s factory is a prime example of American manufacturing.

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WRIGHT: A hundred and sixty people work here. And under the terms of Edesia’s longstanding contract with USAID, all the ingredients are sourced here in the U.S. Matt Wilke’s in charge of procurement.

MATT WILKE: We buy packaging film and boxes from Rhode Island, dairy from Massachusetts, peanuts from Georgia, soy flour from Iowa. We buy vitamin and mineral premix from New York. So really all around the country, there’s areas that benefit.

WRIGHT: Late this week, some good news - USAID told them they can now resume work. But the turmoil in Washington has already had an impact overseas, according to Ron Dalgliesh, head of global sales.

RON DALGLIESH: Some NGO staffs we know have been devastated by these cuts, and they’re laying off staff or sending people home. So we got to find out who actually in the field is still there to get the product to the kids who need it.

WRIGHT: Still, Navyn Salem is determined to continue this work.

SALEM: I know who we are as a country, and I know we don’t want to lose that place in the world. And I still remain hopeful and positive. We will not stop fighting here for what the right thing to do is. It might be a little messy, but we will get there because I believe so much in what we’re doing that there’s no way we can put an end to this.

WRIGHT: The work, she says, is too important to stop. For NPR News, I’m David Wright in Providence.

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