Beyond Aid:
New Models for a Changing World
Virtual, Members-only Briefing
Thursday, October 30, 2025| 6:00 PM – 7:15 PM ET
For decades, international aid has been a pillar of global stability and U.S. leadership. Today, that foundation is shifting. Major donors are re-evaluating their commitments, U.N. agencies face historic funding cuts, and long-standing development programs are on the brink of collapse. Over just a few years, G7 countries are projected to cut international assistance by more than $44 billion, marking one of the sharpest declines on record. In the United States, the government has dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) after announcing an 83% reduction across all USAID initiatives.
What’s driving this reordering of aid, and what will it mean for the world’s most vulnerable populations? Will new actors emerge to fill the void? And how might a smaller foreign aid footprint reshape the balance of global influence and responsibility?
Join us on Thursday, October 30 from 6:00 PM – 7:15 PM ET for a conversation with R. David Harden, former United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator and Managing Director of the Georgetown Strategy Group, as we explore these questions and examine how politics, policy, and power are redefining the future of global assistance.
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SPEAKER:
R. David Harden
Dave Harden is the Managing Director of the Georgetown Strategy Group, a Washington, D.C. next generation firm that leverages talent, technology, and capital to help solve some of the world’s most complex problems. Working with the private sector, local communities, and governments, the Georgetown Strategy Group seeks to promote trade and investment, advance security and stability, develop economic opportunity, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance in the Middle East and Africa. The Georgetown Strategy Group represents leading technology and financial firms in the Middle East and partners with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lincoln Laboratory to bring pre-commercial innovations to complex crises.
In May of 2019, President Trump awarded Mr. Harden the Presidential Award for Distinguished Service, the highest award in the Foreign Service, for “sustained extraordinary accomplishment in the conduct of the foreign policy.” In 2016, President Obama nominated and the Senate confirmed Mr. Harden to serve as the Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance. In that capacity, Mr. Harden led a bureau focused on global crisis response and political transition with an annual budget of $4.8 billion and a staff of nearly 1,200. Mr. Harden spearheaded all USAID efforts to respond to global crises and stabilization efforts – including responses in Haiti, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, the West Bank/Gaza, and Yemen.
Prior to his Senate confirmation, Mr. Harden was a Minister Counselor in the career Senior Foreign Service. Mr. Harden served 17 years overseas in the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia, including as Minister Counselor for Yemen, Mission Director in the West Bank and Gaza, and Deputy Mission Director in Iraq. Mr. Harden also served for three years as Senior Advisor to President Obama’s Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. In September 2011, Mr. Harden helped reopen the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli and established the first USAID presence in Libya. Prior to senior management, Mr. Harden was the Regional Legal Advisor in South Asia and Central Asia from 1999-2005. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Mr. Harden developed outreach programs to Muslim clerics in Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
Mr. Harden publishes articles, speaks at events, and appears on national and international television as a commentator on politics, economics, national security, and climate change. Mr. Harden earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University, Master of Arts in Political Science from Columbia University, and Bachelor of Arts in Government from Franklin and Marshall College.
THIS SESSION IS FREE FOR NETWORK 20/20’s MEMBERS
NOT YET A NETWORK 20/20 MEMBER?
Apply today to enjoy all exclusive briefings with high-profile speakers
Image credit: Image by
USAID U.S. Agency for International Development from Flickr
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