Funds from the world’s richest nation once flowed from the largest global aid agency to an intricate network of small, medium and large organizations that delivered aid: H.I.V. medications for more than 20 million people; nutrition supplements for starving children; support for refugees, orphaned children and women battered by violence. Now, that network is unraveling. The Trump administration froze foreign aid for 90 days and has planned to gut the U.S. Agency for International Development to just 5 percent of its workforce, although a federal judge paused the plan on Friday. Given wars and strapped economies, other governments or philanthropies are unlikely to make up for the shortfall, and recipient nations are too hamstrung by debt to manage on their own. Even the largest organizations are unlikely to emerge unscathed. In interviews, more than 25 aid workers, former U.S.A.I.D. employees and officials from aid organizations described a system thrown into mass confusion and chaos.
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