Featured in Powering Through – 05-2025

The USAID crisis

Taking apart the US Agency for International Development (USAID) could deprive African governments in dire need of solar energy expertise, over and above the loss of crucial grant funding schemes, as Max Hall reports.

By

Max Hall

02 May 2025

Technicians from irrigation startup Irri-Hub install solar panels on the roof of a farm in Kisumu, Kenya. | Image: GOGLA

Dismantling USAID will cause damage beyond the loss of grant funding for small-scale solar in Africa, according to a former employee who had two spells with the agency.Sarah Malm, who worked for USAID’s Power Africa energy access program and is now executive director of the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA), said shuttering USAID means the …

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