Republican senator Marco Rubio announced, on Monday, April 15, the cancellation of 139 foreign aid subsidies totaling $ 215 million, as part of a vast campaign for revising state expenditure. Among the suppressed projects is a feminist initiative in Tunisia, with funding of $ 740,000.
According to a press release published on his X account, Rubio denounces expenses deemed “superfluous” or “ideological”, aimed in particular at the media, civil rights and gender projects abroad. In addition to Tunisia, initiatives in Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Lebanon, Mauritania, Uzbekistan and Moldovia are concerned.
In Tunisia, the deleted project aimed to promote freedom of expression through a feminist approach. This decision comes as American support for the Tunisian democratic transition is clearly decreased. Since 2011, Tunisia has however benefited from more than $ 350 million from USAID to support its economic and institutional reforms.
But the trend is for contraction. Already in 2024, the Biden administration had announced drastic budgetary discounts. A document obtained by the * Washington Post * evokes a drop of almost 50 % of the budget of the State Department for the financial year 2025. Funding would drop from $ 55 to 28.4 billion.
This budgetary rigor, which began under the Trump era, continues to have its effects. In 2017, the USAID temporarily suspended its activities, under the pretext of a performance audit.
Faced with this unpredictability of American funding, Tunisia is now called upon to reassess its structural dependence with foreign aid. Whether it is to strengthen South-South partnerships, to more request the European Union or to encourage local philanthropy and participatory funding, other options exist. It is time for civil society and Tunisian institutions to diversify their sources of support to preserve their autonomy and the continuity of their actions.
