United States | Aid and a bet

USAID is changing the way it tries to do good in the world

The goal for the agency is to put itself out of business

March 27, 2010, Port Au Prince, Haiti: Food provided by USAID is distributed by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency at Juvenat College Sacre-Coeur, a school in Carrefour. Rice, beans, corn and soy meal, salt and cooking oil were distributed to 2,129 families through tickets, given only to women.///Women wait in line as volunteers distribute food aid. Credit: Allison Shelley / Polaris / eyevine For further information please contact eyevine tel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709 e-mail: info@eyevine.com www.eyevine.com

Rajiv Shah, a former head of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), took his team out for drinks to celebrate their hard work in the immediate aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in 2010. Mr Shah footed the bill himself. Funding at USAID didn’t stretch that far. But in a cordoned-off area of the bar he spotted a USAID contractor hosting a similar celebration. They were enjoying food and drinks—on the government’s dime.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “The effort to transform the aid business”

From the May 6th 2023 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from United States

 Pam Bondi is sworn in as she prepares to testify during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to examine her expected nomination to be Attorney General, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC.

Pam Bondi seems like a relatively safe pair of hands

But is America’s next attorney-general an independent operator?

US President Joe Biden delivers his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA.

Checks and Balance newsletter: Joe Biden’s farewell shot at the oligarchy

The outgoing president warns of a new “tech-industrial complex”


Xiaohongshu And TikTok Logos

A protest against America’s TikTok ban is mired in contradiction

Another Chinese app is not the alternative some young Americans think it is


Joe Biden wound up serving Donald Trump

In some ways, his administration will look less like an interregnum than like MAGA-lite

How bad will the smoke be for Angelenos’ health?

Expect more sickness and disrupted schooling

Should you have to prove your age before watching porn?

America’s Supreme Court weighs a Texan law aimed at protecting kids