World leaders at a conference in Brussels last week pledged millions to help plug the hole left by Trump’s “global gag rule”. Twenty countries aim to raise $600m (£490m) to compensate for Donald Trump’s ban on funding for NGOs that offer abortion services or advocacy in the developing world, even if they use their own funds to do so. The UK has so far failed to contribute, instead highlighting its existing commitments to family planning.
US spending on overseas aid is also expected to face huge reductions under Trump, as part of plans to increase defence funding by $54bn in his forthcoming budget. The US currently has the world’s most expansive overseas aid programme, with a proposed federal spend of $50.1bn (£40.3bn) for 2017 alone (pdf). But an outline budget suggests Trump will make good on a campaign pledge to “stop sending foreign aid to countries that hate us”.
Elsewhere on the site
Women’s leader from Indian BJP party charged with child trafficking
Belgium and Greece among countries failing women on rape laws, study says
EU urged to end cooperation with Sudan after refugees whipped and deported
Donors pledge $672m at Oslo summit to avert famine in Nigeria and Lake Chad
Major car paint suppliers join initiative against child labour in mica mines
Refugee women and children ‘beaten, raped and starved in Libyan hellholes’
Lush heartlands of Nicaragua’s Miskito people spark deadly land disputes
In depth
Enter disguised as a boy: how Maria Toorpakai rose to squash stardom
Nigerians let train take the strain on new Kaduna to Abuja line
Locals accuse Pakistan of doing the dirty by turning to coal to meet energy needs
Mexican kidnappers pile misery on to Central Americans fleeing violence
Is brutal treatment of young offenders fuelling violence in Brazil?
Burn it, dissolve it, east it: is the solution to India’s waste problem in the bag?
Opinion
Saleh Saeed: Horror and uncertainty are part of life in Yemen. We must act to prevent famine
Multimedia
Food aid from warehouse to plate: fighting South Sudan’s famine – in pictures
Is child labour always wrong? The view from Bolivia – podcast
Plastic pollution blights Bay of Bengal – in pictures
What you said
On Vidhi Doshi’s piece on the innovation that aims to reduce India’s 5m tonnes of annual plastic consumption, Mauryan wrote:
India needs technologists of this kind who serve India’s needs, focused on the issues that are affecting the population. The enormity of everything in India makes one wonder where to begin on any social task. I hope the government helps this young technologist with the necessary encouragement in every way so that it leads to a better life for all citizens over the long run.
Top tweet
Remember the horrific 2015 murder of Honduran activist Berta Cáceres? New docs suggest US-trained forces did it https://t.co/mJLDVC92Ap
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 28, 2017
Highlight from the blogosphere
For OpenDemocracy, Rebecca Brubaker and Nina Hall bemoan the lack of a strong, central voice defending migrants’ rights within the fractured landscape of the UN system, and put forward possible solutions.
And finally
Poverty matters will return in two weeks with another roundup of the latest news and comment. In the meantime, keep up to date on the Global development website. On Twitter, follow @gdndevelopment and the team – @LizFordGuardian, @BenQuinn75 and @karenmcveigh1 – and join Global development on Facebook.
