Why Foreign Assistance Matters for Children

June 10, 2025

Why Foreign Assistance Matters for Children

As the U.S. Congress considers critical decisions on fiscal year 2026 appropriations, this timely and urgent webinar explored the real-world consequences of foreign assistance cuts on children across the globe. It featured voices from across sectors—including global health, education, humanitarian response, and child protection—who shared evidence, stories, and policy recommendations on why centering and investing in children through foreign assistance is a strategic priority for the United States.

This webinar was co-sponsored by the Georgetown University Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues, First Focus on Children, and the Child Partnership.

View research, reports, and more resources related to the webinar.

Learn More About Why Foreign Assistance Matters for Children

Participants

Gretchen Bachman

Gretchen Bachman has worked in global health and development for over 30 years and served on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) as an implementing partner and an advisor since its inception in 2003. She was the senior advisor for orphans and vulnerable children at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, where she was on detail from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). She led the development of policy and programming guidance for the Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s portfolio, which spanned 26 countries and served over 6 million children and their families.

Elana Banin

Elana Banin has 15 years of experience working across development, humanitarian, and peacebuilding initiatives. Most recently, she was a policy advisor at the International Rescue Committee, leading public policy engagement across issues involving women and children. She led strategic planning in the Division of Communications at UNICEF and research analytics for policy and advocacy at PATH. She previously spent several years advising the Israeli government on the implications of the onset of the Syrian war and studying external funding flows abetting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Banin holds a master’s degree in security and diplomacy from Tel Aviv University.

Gillian Huebner (moderator)

Gillian Huebner is the executive director of the Collaborative on Global Children's Issues at Georgetown University. Huebner's work focuses on supporting the development, strengthening, and coordination of programs and systems to enhance community-based and nationally owned approaches to building young people’s well-being, particularly in times of crisis. She believes in shifting focus from risks and deficits towards strength-based solutions, engaging young people, and other stakeholders to identify what works. She has worked with the UN, the U.S. government, foreign and local governments, private foundations, NGOs, academic institutions, and as an independent consultant.

Divine Irakoze

Divine Irakoze is an undergraduate student at Brigham Young University (BYU). Born in Tanzania to parents from Burundi, she and her family later moved to a refugee camp in Malawi, where she lived for 15 years before moving to the United States to study at BYU-Idaho. She will graduate this year and plans to pursue a master’s degree.

Leila Milani

Leila Milani is the program director for global policy and advocacy at Futures Without Violence. A lawyer and human rights advocate, Milani specializes in women’s and children’s rights. She advances innovative policy solutions, drives strategic advocacy, and shapes the agendas of national coalitions, including the Child Partnership, Coalition for Adolescent Girls, End Violence Against Children Task Force, and the Coalition to End Violence Against Women and Girls Globally. Milani serves on the boards of Soccer Without Borders, Too Young to Wed, and the Women’s Refugee Commission, and she was recently appointed to the Advisory Board of the Mona Foundation.

Lauren Murphy

Lauren Murphy has over two decades of experience designing and managing global health and social protection programs that center the needs of children and families. She has worked on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) across four administrations—Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden. Most recently, she served as a senior technical advisor for orphans and vulnerable children at the United States Agency for International Development. Murphy has lived and worked in sub-Saharan Africa for more than 16 years. She holds a master’s degree in international development from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Kathy Carney Sacco

Kathy Carney Sacco serves as vice president, international children's policy at First Focus on Children. Before First Focus, she worked at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Children’s Issues, shaping and leading policies related to child protection, intercountry adoption, and international parental child abduction. Previously, Sacco facilitated foster care and intercountry adoptions and advocated for ethical adoption practices and the expansion of post-adoption services. She was adopted from Korea at 5 years old along with her biological sister. Sacco is a clinical social worker who obtained her Master of Social Work from Arizona State University.