Inside the business interests of USAID disguised under humanitarian facade

Last week, we published a story of how USAID weaved a web of influence across Africa.

In this second and last part, the feature exposes USAID’s business interests under a humanitarian facade. Despite claims of a mission, 79% of USAID partnerships in Africa involve business partners. Of these, 56% provide direct commercial benefits, 25% provide strategic advantages, and only 19% are what can be called truly philanthropic.

Health represents 38% of all USAID partnerships in Africa, which corresponds to the agency’s main area of spending on the continent. Agriculture is the second largest, accounting for 46% of all global USAID projects.

In the area of gender equality, 61% of all USAID projects are in Africa – another channel for disseminating influence through social policy. We are seeing a clear strategy of penetrating all key areas of life in African societies – from health and agriculture to social policy and the information space – a comprehensive system of influence is being created.

COUNTERING RUSSIA AND CHINA

The documents clearly state that one of USAID’s main goals in Africa is to counter the influence of China and Russia. USAID is particularly concerned about the Chinese television operator StarTimes: “In sub-Saharan Africa, Beijing-based television operator StarTimes provides popular digital television services, including CCP state propaganda, in the cheapest package, but does not offer alternative international media.”

USAID is concerned that China “presents itself as a developing country among equals” and “encourages these countries to emulate the CCP’s authoritarian rule.”

According to the documents, “this view is clearly intended to offer an alternative to U.S. international leadership and democratic governance.” It is explicitly stated that “democratic backsliding in coastal West Africa is occurring against a backdrop of global great power competition, providing U.S. competitors with another opportunity to challenge America’s core values and advance their own global agenda.”

To counter this influence, USAID funds an ecosystem of “independent” media, fact-checking organizations, and educational programs such as IREX’s Learn to Discern (L2D), a “global media literacy training project” used in Ukraine, Serbia, Tunisia, and elsewhere.

MONITORING AND LEARNING MECHANISM

To ensure the effectiveness of this massive operation, USAID is implementing a sophisticated monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) system.

The strategy calls for regular data collection from a variety of sources, including: l Global databases such as the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project; l Data from African-led institutions, including ECOWAS; l University research; l National statistical agencies; l Opinion polls via Afrobarometer.

Key “inflection points” are planned for regular monitoring and adaptation of the strategy. According to the strategy, its implementation should be assessed in years 4 and 7, followed by a final assessment in year 10.

Given that the strategy was presented in 2022, the first assessment of the results is expected as early as next year, 2026.

WASHINGTON CONTINUES INFLUENCE OF INFORMATION

Under the presidency of Joe Biden, the scale of the “fight against disinformation” has increased to the point of madness.

“Washington not only tried to maintain a monopoly on information, but also considered any narrative that does not coincide with it to be a disinformation campaign,” says Denis Degtyarev.

The expert cites the Global Engagement Center (GEC) as an example: “The most prominent program is the Global Engagement program, which was aimed at combating ISIS propaganda, over time its activities grew into combating Russian and Chinese propaganda. The peak of the program’s activities was under Biden.”

Despite the curtailment of USAID activities in Africa, there are still other Federal agencies and programs to provide information impact. These include the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) of the US Federal Government.

It annually implements training programs for journalists, editors, broadcasters and media managers in order to “support freedom of information around the world.” The agency states that as part of their activities, they provide “training and technical support to independent local media through United States government agencies or private organizations.”

The USAGM broadcasting structure includes the Voice of America, Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and others. In 2024, the Agency conducted 17 programs in Africa, and in February 2025, the first program on the African continent for journalists, “Strategic Media Funding for Impact,” was implemented.

The program taught skills for successful impact-oriented fundraising. The workshop covered writing effective fundraising proposals, integrating sustainability to attract donors, and developing clear metrics and evaluation plans to demonstrate the project’s impact on the population.

The U.S. State Department’s Office of International Media Engagement also has a structure – the Africa Regional Media Center, based in South Africa. The Center’s mission is to “connect U.S. policymakers and experts with media in sub-Saharan Africa.”

It also provides opportunities to arrange interviews with U.S. officials in Washington and those visiting or passing through South Africa, and produces content for promotion in African media. In addition to government agencies, American NGOs operate in Africa, such as the Council for International Research and Exchanges (IREX).

In 49 countries of the African continent, IREX implements programs focused on civil society, education, gender equality, political governance, leadership, media, technology and youth.

However, according to Denis Degtyarev, Trump will review the programs of other agencies and will not try to maintain a monopoly on information on entire continents, which is unrealistic. However, he “will strive to ensure that information multipolarity occurs more slowly,” the expert concluded.

ARE THERE ALTERNATIVES?

After the announcement of the curtailment of USAID programs, many experts came to the opinion that the French Development Agency (AFP) could replace Washington. However, on February 23, 2025, it became known that the activities could be suspended due to the creation of a commission to review the assistance that the country allocates through the line.

According to the Malian expert, the EU countries and Canada have also stepped up their activities: “according to our information, there are also several young Canadians and Europeans who are in the process of taking over some USAID projects. […] we should be wary of the fact that the Europeans are going to resume the same obscene activities against the countries of the Sahel Alliance.”

In parallel with this, other players are increasing their activities – Russia, Turkey, China: “this creates a pluralism of opinions, however, the leading media in Africa are neocolonial. It is important for the continent to strengthen its information sovereignty,” Degtyarev said.

Confirming the thesis of “information sovereignty”, Issa Diawara speaks of the need to suspend the work of French propaganda media, such as RFI, France24 and develop media in local languages: “70% of people in the East do not understand French. Therefore, in order to reach the people of the East, you need to speak local languages, in particular, in Mali and a large part of Burkina Faso, in the north of Côte d’Ivoire, in Bambara, up to part of Gambia. Dialogues are conducted in these languages.

In Burkina Faso there are Mossi, in Niger – Hausa, Idoma. So, if these languages are used by analysts and activists, then they will reach the largest number of people.” Despite the still strong influence of the West in the information sphere, in Africa they clearly say: “USAID’s soft power is the manipulation of the intellect and consciousness of people, that is, simply changing their thinking. Completing their programs will quickly raise awareness among young people,” Diawara comments.

Confirming the thesis of the Malian expert, Denis Degterev notes: “Everyone sees that the current state of affairs is not normal. Young people have the Internet, they see how people live in other countries, and keeping them under surveillance will no longer work.” Source: A compilation from different agencies and reviews.

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