Dan Brown, a Program Officer leading GiveWell's new areas team, discusses the impact of U.S. funding cuts on global health programs. He explains the creation of Technical Support Units (TSUs) to assist Ministries of Health in six African countries, highlighting their role in enhancing local capacity and decision-making. Brown emphasizes the tailored approaches of TSUs in navigating funding challenges and ensuring the sustainability of essential health initiatives. The conversation also touches on the importance of qualitative factors in grant-making amidst these drastic changes.
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Role and Impact of TSUs
Technical support units (TSUs) are small local teams helping ministries of health handle US funding cuts.
They gather data, identify efficiencies, do cost-effectiveness analysis, and seek new funding sources.
insights INSIGHT
TSUs Boost Cost Efficiency
TSUs can integrate services across programs to reduce costs without sacrificing impact.
They can also shift from expensive contractors to local organizations to improve efficiency.
question_answer ANECDOTE
TSUs Improve Malaria Program Targeting
TSUs helped ministries target malaria programs by focusing on high-burden provinces using cost-effectiveness analysis.
This led to better allocation of malaria programs and likely increased health impact.
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Cuts to US government foreign assistance have created unprecedented challenges for global health programs. Countries that have relied on this funding must now navigate substantial gaps and make difficult decisions about program priorities.
In the fourth episode of GiveWell’s podcast series on these cuts, GiveWell CEO and co-founder Elie Hassenfeld speaks with Program Officer Dan Brown about grants to create technical support units (TSUs) in six African countries. These TSUs will provide support to the ministries of health in Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia as they navigate funding transitions to maintain essential health services. The work is being led by the respective governments, and the support will be tailored to their individual priorities, as well as the work they have already done.
Elie and Dan discuss:
What are TSUs?: Technical support units are small teams of three to five people, typically nationals of the countries they serve, who work directly with ministries of health. They provide additional capacity to support governments’ planning and prioritization, making them particularly valuable as officials navigate decisions about health programs in response to US funding cuts.
How do TSUs create impact?: TSUs help ministries assess funding gaps, identify cost-saving opportunities, analyze the cost-effectiveness of different programs, and develop strategies to secure additional funding sources. By creating in-depth analyses and evidence-based recommendations, TSUs enable ministries to make informed decisions quickly.
What’s unique about these grants?: These grants are a good illustration of how GiveWell is applying increased flexibility, speed, and risk tolerance to respond to urgent needs caused by recent cuts to US foreign assistance. Funded by our All Grants Fund, the grants also demonstrate how GiveWell has broadened its research scope beyond its Top Charities while maintaining its disciplined approach—comparing each new opportunity to established interventions, like malaria prevention or vitamin A supplementation, as part of its grantmaking decisions.
GiveWell co-investigated and co-funded these grants with Open Philanthropy. The TSUs will be implemented by two international organizations with established relationships at the respective ministries—Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in five countries (Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Malawi, Uganda, and Zambia) and PATH in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
To date, GiveWell has committed around $23 million in grants in response to US funding cuts. Visit our USAID Funding Cuts webpage to learn more about our response and how you can help, and listen or subscribe to our podcast for the latest updates.
This episode was recorded on May 2, 2025 and represents our best understanding at that time.
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