"They demand sex for fish'

Women in Zambia bear brunt of Trump's cuts to USAID

- ALICJA HAGOPIAN

In remote fishing villages in Zambia hit by poverty and drought, women and girls are falling victim to exploitative practices where fishermen pressure them into sex in exchange for fish.

“They don’t ask for money,” said Martha*, a fish trader in Zambia who experienced this first hand: “They demand sex.”

Since 2023, international charity ActionAid has run a programme to target these exploitative practices in the western provinces of Zambia and further afield.

But the Trump administration’s blanket cut of US foreign aid programmes has crippled projects like this one worldwide, which were providing vital protection for women and girls suffering gender-based violence.

In December, the programme – entitled Resilient Inclusive Sustainable Environment (RISE) – received $400,000 (£309,000) in funding from USAID via the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to extend the project for another two years and expand it in remote villages across Zambia.

But when US president Donald Trump entered office in January and froze global aid, on-the-ground projects went into panic.

The RISE programme, which protected women and girls through preventative and direct measures, was shut down immediately.

The loss of the programme highlights just one way in which women and girls worldwide will suffer from the sudden cuts to global aid; with millions already losing access to contraception, HIV care and midwives.

Faides TembaTemba, the country director for Action Aid Zambia, warns that the sudden halt of operations has damaged trust and hindered the charity’s ability to implement new programmes in the future.