Over the past few months, the development sector has faced one of its most destabilising challenges in recent memory: the sudden and sweeping freeze on USAID funding.
As a team working closely with international development organisations and charities across Asia, we’ve had a front-row seat to the impact. But more importantly, we’ve been working alongside leaders who are not only reacting, but they’re also recalibrating.
Immediate Disruption, Long-Term Reverberations
When the freeze was first announced, the response was swift and visceral. Programmes were paused or shuttered overnight. In Bangladesh alone, over 100 USAID-supported initiatives ceased operations, affecting around 50,000 NGO staff and halting services for millions. In Malaysia and Cambodia, legal aid, TB treatment, and refugee support programs were drastically scaled back or suspended altogether (Al Jazeera; Straits Times).
But what’s become increasingly clear is that this is more than a financial crisis. It’s a leadership one.
Resilient Leadership in Real Time
We’re seeing three core traits emerge among leaders who are not just surviving this crisis — but actively reshaping how their organisations will operate in the future.
- Clarity Under Pressure
The most effective leaders are those who quickly got their arms around the scope of the disruption. They didn’t wait for full information; they acted on scenarios. They communicated early and often with staff, donors, and local partners. - Radical Transparency and Trust-Building
In moments like this, institutional trust is currency. Leaders who engaged their teams openly, even with bad news, are now seeing higher retention and morale. - Strategic Diversification
The freeze has served as a forcing function for many organisations to accelerate diversification efforts, not just in funding streams, but in governance, partnerships, and delivery models. Those who were already experimenting with private philanthropy, local revenue generation, or regional donor blocs have been quicker to regain stability.
What This Means for the Sector
We often talk with our clients about organisational resilience. But what this moment has underscored is the importance of leadership resilience. Structures matter. Strategies matter. But ultimately, it’s how leaders show up for their teams, their communities, and their mission, that determines an organisation’s ability to weather external shocks.
This is especially critical given that many NGOs now face the dual challenge of operational disruption and reputational risk. In some cases, local communities have been left without explanation for why services disappeared. Leaders are now working hard to rebuild that social contract, even as uncertainty about future U.S. funding lingers.
The Opportunity to Reset
There are moments of optimism. Some USAID programs are being reinstated after congressional and internal pressure (Reuters). Alternative funding is trickling in from philanthropists, multilateral donors, and regional players. But no one is waiting for a return to “normal.”
In fact, many of our clients are using this moment to ask bigger questions:
- What would it look like to be truly donor-agnostic?
- How can we embed local leadership not just in rhetoric, but in structure and budget?
- What internal culture do we need to lead through the next inevitable disruption?
A Call for Collective Learning
As advisors, our role isn’t just to help organisations stabilise. It’s to help them evolve. And what we’re learning alongside our clients right now is this: leadership resilience isn’t about bouncing back. It’s about bouncing forward – with more agility, more self-reliance and more clarity on what matters.
The USAID freeze has forced a sector-wide reckoning. But it’s also revealed the depth of strength and creativity that already exists across Asia’s development leadership.
If we listen carefully and invest in that leadership, the future could be more sustainable, more inclusive, and more resilient than we imagined.
Nick Sutcliffe
Nick joined Oxford HR in 2022, based in Singapore. With over 20 years of international business experience and particular expertise in the Asian context. A seasoned business leader with extensive experience working with Fortune 500 companies and advising on C-Suite strategies including HR transformation, innovation, change management, and digital transformation. Additionally, with 15 years’ experience operating as the Asia Pacific MD of US based NGO and establishing regional offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai, and Beijing.
Having partnered with global consultants – Korn Ferry, KPMG, McKinsey and Mercer, etc. to design, develop and deliver multiple advisories, training, and research programs. Nick has published a broad range of business-led research encompassing all facets of the future of work, regional talent strategies, human capital analytics and strategic workforce planning.
