The international humanitarian community faced growing calls for reform even before the Trump administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in early 2025 and cut nearly $8 billion in funding to the global aid sector. Now, it will need to move quickly and strategically to survive funding cuts from major donor countries like the U.S. and continue to respond to humanitarian emergencies around the world.
In this live recording of the “Baker Briefing” podcast, Ambassador David M. Satterfield, director of the Baker Institute, sat down with Sonali Korde, MD Anderson Visiting Fellow and former head of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, to examine the existential questions facing the future of global aid and how the humanitarian system can rise to meet the moment.
This event was free and open to the public.
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About ‘Baker Briefing’
The “Baker Briefing” podcast tackles the most critical foreign and domestic policy issues of the day in conversations with experts at the Baker Institute. Hosted by David M. Satterfield, director of the Baker Institute, new episodes are released weekly. Certain episodes of “Baker Briefing” are recorded in front of a live audience at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
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Agenda
5:00 pm CDT — Armchair Discussion
5:30 pm CDT — Audience Q&A
6:00 pm CDT — Adjourn
Participants
Featured Speakers
Sonali Korde
MD Anderson Visiting Fellow, Baker Institute; Former Assistant to the Administrator of the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance at USAID
The Honorable David M. Satterfield
Director, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy; Janice and Robert McNair Chair in Public Policy; Former ambassador to Lebanon and Turkey
