(Interview) USAID Matters: An Interview with Jessica Benton Cooney
Vol. 68
In This Issue: INTERVIEW | TAKE ACTION | NOW READ THIS | IN PERSON | FINAL FRAME
Several lifetimes ago, during my senior year at Edgewood College, a small, Catholic, liberal arts school, I became co-editor of a campus newspaper that had fallen into serious disrepair. Few people were reading it. New issues came out at irregular intervals. The content didn’t feel particularly relevant or interesting. This was likely in large part the result of there being no journalism program or faculty up until that point.
But while I was an undergrad in the English department, the college hired its first (that I’m aware of) dedicated journalism professor, Jack Vitek. With his mentorship and guidance, my co-editor and I, along with a scrappy crew of two other students, managed to turn that campus newspaper into something worthwhile. Since then, in fact, Vitek has led the paper and its student employees to several awards and recognition for their work.
It was a seminal time for me–honestly, some of the education I’ve benefited from and used the most in my life. How to identify and write a proper lede. How to do interviews. How to sniff out a good story, and how to make people understand the information and the stakes, how to bring some accountability to people in power. And far better media literacy in general.
I owe a lot to Jack, but I owe equally as much to my co-editor, Jessica Benton Cooney–or JBC, as she’s called. JBC was energetic, enthusiastic, far more organized than me, and seemed utterly unafraid to ask hard questions of people in authority to get at the story people needed. I loved working alongside her and felt like we had fairly complimentary skills and personalities for the gig (I can only hope she agrees). We went through some really challenging moments, proudly pissing off the administration along the way, and came out the other end feeling like we’d contributed a little something meaningful to campus life.
Sadly, as life sometimes goes, we mostly lost touch after graduation. I stayed in Madison and JBC went to serve in the Peace Corps in El Salvador. This was before social media was much of a thing and staying in contact was generally more difficult, even if someone hadn’t gone off to live in a village in Central America.
I was delighted, then, to bump into JBC again just recently, even if the circumstances were less than happy. I logged into LinkedIn (my twice yearly foray) and saw a post by her, noting the recent dismantling and closure of USAID by the Trump Administration and her thoughts on it, as a longtime employee of that organization. Turns out, JBC had been working in communications for USAID for years, including overseas in Liberia and Afghanistan, working her way up to lead the communication team for the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance.
Naturally, I reached out to say hello and ask if she’d be willing to chat with me about her time with USAID. She graciously agreed. We talked about her career trajectory that led her from journalism to development and communications to support democracy internationally, the wide-ranging impacts of USAID’s dismantling by the Trump Administration, the major messaging shift needed to support pro-democracy messaging and movements, and what might come next for her and the vital work that was being done at the Agency.
The following is our conversation (lightly edited for length and clarity–all opinions expressed within are those of Jessica Benton Cooney and do not necessarily reflect those of her previous or current employers):
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Emily (EM): When did you start with USAID?
Jessica Benton Cooney (JBC): My first development job, and my first with USAID, was with the USAID/Afghanistan Mission, from 2010 to 2011. It was right after I completed my Master’s program in Human Rights in London, and I worked for six months as a consultant. I ran the website, and I learned all the USAID vernacular, how they put together what they called a “success story.” How USAID conducts interviews, and how the Agency framed stories. I always say it was like trial by fire, because I had no idea what I was doing. I was a journalist, and then I became a communicator at the Agency’s biggest overseas mission in a conflict zone. It was awesome, and I made a lot of mistakes, and I learned a lot personally and professionally, and I have no regrets on any of that.
EM: Can you explain a little bit how USAID works, what it does?
JBC: USAID designed the programs for what were our various sectors - from democracy, public health, economic growth, education, peace building, and much more – and was the largest government funder in the world [for international aid]. While the purse was Congress, we would provide the money for implementation to our partners who had competed for the funding through the submission of project designs. The local Mission would then work with the partner in the country to implement and measure the results of the program.
EM: How did things go, after the work in Afghanistan?
JBC: I eventually went back into the field, in Liberia. I worked on three different USAID projects for implementing partners. The first one was based on agriculture, the second one was advancing education for youth, and the third one was working with public health, specifically maternal health.
Liberia was such an interesting place, as the country was still recovering from 20 years of two civil wars that destroyed their education, health, and infrastructure systems. It basically took out an entire generation of growth and development. Half of all Liberians generate their income through agriculture, yet they struggled to make it a business venture. The USAID project I worked on helped Liberia achieve increased food security - which included food availability and affordability - by helping local farmers adopt a commercial approach. The wars also left a gap in the education sector, resulting in a “lost generation” of youth with limited education and employable skills. One of the projects I worked on aimed to help rebuild Liberia’s educational and economic infrastructure through providing access to basic education, leadership development, and livelihood training for out-of-school youth ages 13-35, with no literacy and numeracy skills. And then the last project ended up being a short stint in public health, but in between all of that I came down with cerebral malaria.
EM: I saw the op-ed you wrote about that experience, yeah. That sounded terrifying! I’m so glad you’re OK.
JBC: I hadn’t been taking my prophylactics, which I absolutely should have been. I survived, obviously–but a U.S. Marine who contracted it just a couple of weeks after me didn’t make it. I often use that to illustrate the stark difference in access to systems and care I had [versus many local residents]. And even for me, it was pretty bad.
Once I recovered, I went back. That was really important – like getting back on the horse. I didn’t want that to be my last memory of Liberia and of field work. It was awesome. I left feeling like I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish in that time. I wanted the field work of really building and developing portfolios and managing local staff, so that when I came back I had that in my arsenal for my eventual DC-based career. After being out in the world for a while – and having a near-death experience – I was ready to be more intentional and selective about my next steps.
EM: I imagine that really puts things into perspective, yes.
JBC: Absolutely. I took my time, and I eventually ended up at USAID’s Center for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG). It was the absolute right fit for me. I spent 11 years building that portfolio and leading a team that told the stories of extraordinary democracy defenders, and human rights and civil society advocates, many of whom put their lives at risk. Sadly, today they face even greater dangers as authoritarian governments gain ground, and U.S. support has receded. It feels like this Administration has completely killed off democracy and human rights work from the State Department and USAID.
Oftentimes it's not just that it was the best job for a lot of the folks that worked in the Embassy and then the mission overseas. But, like I said, it impacts all those partners as well that we're working with, and all the people and groups who benefit.
Public health impacts are often easier to quantify – you can point to the number of malaria nets not being distributed, or vaccines not given. Our former administrator, Samantha Power, told a story about how someone was in line to get their shot, and they were like the 10th person in, and then the stop-work order came [from the Trump Administration], and the 11th person did not receive their shot. It was that dramatic.
DRG work is going to be slower to show its absence because it’s based on relationships, reputation, and trust – things that take decades to develop. That soft power is what makes development distinct from defense and diplomacy. And now we're putting a lot of our government structures, our relationships, our fellow democracies at incredible risk.
EM: Right. There’s a lot of talk about how the vacuum left behind by the U.S. dismantling USAID and pulling out of so much international aid work will likely be filled by the other big powers, like China and Russia. And I can’t tell if that’s on purpose, or if it’s just the result of sheer stupidity on the part of Trump and Rubio, etc.
JBC: Both.
EM: You’re probably right. I can’t imagine how frustrating that must be on personal and professional levels for you and everyone involved.
JBC: Yeah, they’re heartbroken. Development, at least with USAID, it's so mission driven. It's not a job. It's a life, and it's a lifestyle. A lot of our foreign service officers and our foreign service nationals that live and work overseas, their whole life is built around this mission. They make a lot of sacrifices. Yes, there are some perks – your children go to school for free and housing is covered – but you live in challenging places, away from family and friends, and you are constantly uprooted. And now these deeply dedicated public servants are being cut loose. They are some of the most passionate, thoughtful and technically brilliant people I know - I was fortunate to have them as friends and colleagues.
When the stop-work order initially came out, it was chaos. The Trump Administration first said that everyone living and working overseas for USAID had three days to pack up and leave. It would have been totally impossible. There was enough pushback that now the timeline is that they have to be home by mid-July. And we’re only getting paid through July 1.
Meanwhile, USAID went from an organization with around 10,000 staff to maybe 300 positions, none of them that are focused on democracy, peace building, or stabilization.
EM: That is such an enormous loss. It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around. What do you think the impacts of that will be? How would you explain this to us regular folks who aren’t as familiar with the work that USAID traditionally did?
JBC: I don't think people understand how our work overseas connects to their own safety, security, and stability–just to go back to the three priorities that the Trump Administration has promoted as priorities. Everything we did fit within that alignment. And now, without USAID programming, we will see an increase in conflict, humanitarian crises, and instability. That said, I don’t believe USAID did a great job of promoting our own work within the U.S. domestic audience. They didn't feel connected. They don't understand. It's like, “Why do we help these people if we ourselves have issues at home?” But even at a micro level, I don't think we did a great job of promoting how a lot of USAID grants were in every state in the country, too, like even the University of Wisconsin received a couple of grants from us. So even folks were benefiting from it in Wisconsin, and the farmers of Indiana, and so on. There's American jobs that were lost, too.
EM: Speaking of helping people understand the work that you all did and why it was important, what would you want to highlight to folks from your time working at USAID? What especially impacted you?
JBC: The three, Biden Administration-led Summits for Democracy. It brought together 80 democratic countries to make commitments for how they were going to further strengthen their democratic principles and practices. That included everything from free and fair elections, free media, open and transparent judiciary, etc. I led USAID’s communications and outreach to the White House and National Security Council, shaped messaging strategy, launched influencer campaigns, and supported new initiatives under the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal. It was the first-ever democracy-specific Presidential initiative at USAID.
I also designed and delivered a training called “Making the Case for Democracy,” based on an 18-month, 12 country global study of what pro-democratic and pro-authoritarian messages are resonating and why. We distilled the findings into actionable guidance, and trained staff, partners, and missions around the world. My last USAID trip was delivering this training in Central Asia. The feedback was incredible - staff saw it as something they truly needed to communicate better in their country contexts to counter the local authoritarian narratives.
EM: It feels like that kind of work is more needed than ever, and we can all benefit from it. To actually study and understand how we’re getting in our own way, those of us who want to protect and create a more robust democracy. How do we make the messaging and the meat of that work relevant to regular people? This feels particularly urgent in our current moment in the U.S.
JBC: Yes, a lot of the same principles are applicable, absolutely. I’m working on setting up trainings here in DC with a lot of grassroots organizers, mobilizers that are interacting with democratic political operatives that used to work at USAID. They’ve been doing a lot of offline mobilizing with the Democratic National Committee, because this work and messaging needs to be top-down and bottom-up. All the pro-democracy narratives have to change.
EM: How do you see this potentially rolling out or applying to, or maybe shaking some things up within the organizations in the U.S.? Because a lot of people see the Republican party as a lost cause on this front, and we’re also mad at Democrats, so where do you start? And how do you get people to take this seriously? Or how do you get those messages across to the right people? What comes next on that front, particularly when it comes to you and other folks let go from USAID? That’s a lot of skill and knowledge and expertise to lose.
JBC: We didn't see this coming. We thought that it would be like what we lived through with the first Trump Administration, just hard and we’d maybe have to talk about our programs differently. But we didn’t think that he would just wipe us out entirely. And it wasn’t really Trump, it was Musk and Rubio. They didn’t just wipe out an agency, but a whole industry. This is directly impacting over 150,000 people around the world. There is trauma from that, and a lot of folks are struggling with pivoting how to describe what they did within a government where they're so niche in their technical expertise. Finding new jobs is really hard, especially with so many federal employees who have been let go and are saturating the market.
The bigger, global impacts are already being felt, but I think a lot of it will only become really evident over the next year or so. This is creating a public health crisis in many places. So where do you even start? How do you get people to care about democracy when they can’t even get their basic needs met, can’t get a vaccine to keep them alive? Or on a different level, you try to visit a National Park and it’s closed or unsafe because all the staff have been fired?
A lot of well-intentioned people are feeling overwhelmed by it all, and thinking, what do I do? And I don’t know.
EM: Yeah, that’s definitely the question on my mind, and so many people I talk to. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and even defeated by the onslaught. But I think it’s important to just figure out where you can plug in and do some good, small scale or large. Because I don’t think there’s just one answer, or one person who’s going to fix everything, right? Every single one of us has something to contribute, some piece of the puzzle. So in an ideal world, or even a realistic one, what are your goals? What are you hoping to do next?
JBC: I’m an optimist. I believe I’ll end up where I’m meant to be - even if it’s a path I didn’t originally envision. My hope is that in a few years, we can rebuild USAID – and that people will better understand its value not just on lives overseas, but on their own here in the United States. Ironically, one of the brilliant things that has come from this crisis – is that we finally raised domestic awareness. Now the general public recognizes the USAID name and hopefully they will come to appreciate what our impact was for the last 64 years.
In any case, I know that former staff are going out into the world and finding ways to continue the work, however we can.
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JBC and I spoke back in April. She sent the following post-script/update to go along with the interview, now that I’ve finally had time to put it together and publish:
“July 1 marked the official last day of USAID. It was a heartbreaking milestone for all of us who dedicated our lives to this work. There was a final town hall that was both deeply emotional and inspiring. Former Presidents Obama and George W. Bush both spoke about USAID’s legacy and the vital role it played in building a more just and stable world. Former Administrators shared reflections on the Agency’s history and impact. And in one of the most moving moments, Bono shared a poem he’d written as a tribute to the Agency’s work and the people behind it. It was a reminder that, even in this loss, the spirit of service, solidarity, and hope lives on—and those of us who believed in USAID’s mission will find ways to continue that work.”
Take Action.
The Texas Hill Country was hit by intense flash flooding over the July 4 holiday, with a death toll currently standing at 59 as of Sunday morning, with a dozen more people unaccounted for. The news and images out of the region have been heartwrenching, particularly news that many of the dead and missing are children who had been attending summer camps.
There are several ways to send help to the people impacted, and the Texas Tribune has a good list here. Cash donations and supplies are both needed, and can be made online if you’re not in the vicinity.
I’m grateful that my friends who live in the area are all OK, but angry that at least some of the devastation could have been avoided or mitigated if more people in charge would just take the climate crisis seriously, and also stop gutting the weather services.
Now Read This.
“The Struggle Is Permanent: Keep Fighting” [Mariame Kaba]
I know that the struggle is permanent. I also know that we have a duty to fight and that is my ongoing commitment. I struggle for and with specific people in mind rather than for abstract ideas. And this is fuel that keeps me grounded and going despite the dull roar of fascism. Some of our best teachers who were movement long-distance runners learned the same lessons.
“Rogue Activism, Tiny Victories” [Heather Hogan]
I've started thinking of myself as an activist rogue. I slip in through the shadows, do what helpful thing I can, then I'm gone again! Like I was never there! That way, I can stay un-crashed inside my little energy box and I can also do something good!
“What If We Just Say No” [Stef Rubino for Autostraddle]
The reality is we can’t fight people who want us dead by insisting we deserve to be alive. So, what if we all, without asking for permission from anyone, just kept saying “No”? What if every time they passed a law, we not only ignored it but actively rejected succumbing to its mandates? What if we asked our friends and allies to do the same?
“Where Do We Go From Here? A manifesto for the left” [Hoda Katebi for Acacia]
What lies ahead is frightening and seemingly without an end in sight. To build sustainable movements that will succeed—and we must succeed—we must confront ourselves with clear eyes and humility, taking stock of our challenges and opportunities. Not many things are within our individual control, and it often feels like decisions are made behind closed White House doors regardless of what we say, do, demand, block, encamp, or destroy. But we cannot let the despair of our enemies’ relentlessness, resources, and hollow halls of power impede what we do have control over: how we fight, resist, and build.
“Some Thoughts on Techno-Fascism” [Kelly Hayes]
This is the endgame of our isolation. Rather than throwing up barriers that make it harder to seek companionship and support in each other, we are being offered an artificial replacement for other people’s humanity, and for our own thoughts. We are being bundled away from one another and deskilled, as critical thinking atrophies or goes undeveloped in people who outsource their thought work to an autocomplete mechanism. Men who sell machines that mimic people want us to become people who mimic machines. They want techno feudal subjects who will believe and do what they’re told. We, as people, are being strategically simplified. This is a fascist process.
In Person.
I thought June was busy (no rest for the weary queer during Pride) but my July is even busier! If you’re in the Madison area, I’d love to see at at one or more of these events. Let’s all commit to getting outside and being in person with each other when we can, yeah? Here’s where you can find me:
July 11 - LINE (trio) - Giant Jones Brewing / La Fete de Marquette
6p.m. Performing an acoustic set with LINE, then DJing the variety show and dance party that follows (FREE!).
July 12 - Hot Summer Gays at Musique Electronique / La Fete de Marquette (Central Park)
1-4 p.m. I’ll be tag-teaming with other queer DJs toward the end of the HSG time (FREE).
July 18 - Hot Flash x Hot Summer Gays at Atwood Music Hall
7p.m. to 11:30p.m. Early dance party, throwback jams and modern bangers, plus a drag show at 9:30! $10 adv/$15 day of.
July 19 - Damsel Trash album release party - Gamma Ray Bar
7pm doors, show at 8pm. SO STOKED for this one! Our friends, Hey Ghost, will open the show and then we’ll do an extra long DT set, followed by a karaoke party. P.S. The album itself drops on most streaming platforms on July 8 (or right now on Bandcamp!), but you can only get a physical CD copy at our show! $15/adv, $20 day of.
July 25 - LINE opening for Kiss the Tiger & Kat and the Hurricane - High Noon Saloon
Our final (big cry) full band show before Maddie, our fearless leader, moves to NYC. Gonna big great music, excellent vibes, and big feels. Doors at 7, show at 8pm.
Final Frame.
‘Til Next Time.
Free Palestine. Don’t give up.
