Rebooting the Global Humanitarian Aid System

“PEPFAR, back in the days when it was again started by President [George W.] Bush, was a coalition of the right, the left, the grassroots, the activists, the faith-based communities across faiths. … It was really an incredible coalition that came together, landmark legislation that was passed on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis. And PEPFAR is the funding that survived the rescissions. … That coalition still holds together for PEPFAR, and the humanitarians need to build it.”

—Sonali Korde, MD Anderson Visiting Fellow, Baker Institute

About the Episode

The global humanitarian aid system is at a pivotal moment. Despite more than 300 million people in need of urgent aid in 2025 — nearly four times the number from just a decade ago — countries around the world have slashed aid budgets. The U.S. alone has cut nearly $8 billion in aid funding under President Donald Trump, in addition to his administration’s far-reaching dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Now, the sector must act quickly and strategically to survive and continue responding to humanitarian emergencies around the world. Sonali Korde, a Baker Institute visiting fellow and former head of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, joined a live recording of the podcast to explore the current upheaval and possible avenues for systemic reform.

This conversation was recorded on Oct. 9, 2025. 

Mentioned in this episode:

• Sonali Korde, “Strengthening the Humanitarian Sector Brick by Brick,” Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, August 11, 2025, https://doi.org/10.25613/HXM2-XZ79.

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About ‘Baker Briefing’

Hosted by David M. Satterfield,  the “Baker Briefing” podcast delivers timely analysis on breaking policy developments and other critical policy issues of the day in conversations with experts at the Baker Institute. New episodes are released weekly.

Select episodes of “Baker Briefing” are recorded in front of a live audience at Rice University in Houston, Texas. These recordings are free and open to the public. To learn about upcoming recordings and other public programming from the Baker Institute, subscribe to our “Events Digest” newsletter, delivered weekly.

This material may be quoted or reproduced without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given to the author(s) and Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. The views expressed herein are those of the individual author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.