VOX: One of America’s best foreign aid programs is back from the dead

VOX's Sara Herschander reports on the 2026 launch of the DIV Fund. Excerpts include:

"…DIV is back — and under new management. Instead of being an entity under USAID, former leaders have spun the program into a newly-formed independent nonprofit called the DIV Fund. Backed by private philanthropy, including a $45 million grant from Coefficient Giving, the slow and steady work of building a brighter future can continue.

“It was hard to even think about innovation early in the year. It was like the house was on fire, and we’ve just got to get the kids out of the house,” said Gallant, who co-founded the new fund. But ultimately, “you also have to have better houses. We have to have better tools to extinguish the fires.”

For one possibility, look to Guatemala, where corn figures into almost every meal. DIV-backed program Semilla Nueva is literally seeding a new treatment for malnutrition by connecting local farmers with maize bred to contain higher levels of zinc, iron, and protein… 

DIV’s work differs from other NGOs that tend to fund solutions that are already standard practice, and only rarely invest in incubating and testing out brand new approaches. DIV supports organizations as they pilot and pressure test those projects to see if they really work in practice. If the evidence says they do, then — and only then — will DIV help those organizations scale up.

This model served DIV — and by extension, the world — very well during its 15-year stint at USAID. In 2021, a group of economists including Gallant and Nobel-winning cofounder Michael Kremer estimated that the $19.2 million DIV spent in its first three years generated $281 million in social benefits, which is a fancy way of saying that DIV helped an extraordinary number of people live longer, healthier, more prosperous lives. That wouldn’t have been possible without careful investments in research and development.

“People come to know the programs that are tremendously effective,” like investing in teachers, handing out malaria nets, or getting kids vaccinated, said Gallant. “But somebody had to figure out that those worked.”...

DIV’s real potential has always come from punching above its weight, especially in moments when the good ideas it finds eventually catapult into the mainstream. Gallant said the fund’s ultimate goal is to continue connecting with partners — including philanthropists, national governments, and multilateral organizations — to ensure that innovation is “not just happening in an R&D shop” but rather “meaningfully influencing” decisions about where to steer funds in the real world."

‍

https://www.vox.com/health/478707/usaid-foreign-aid-div-fund-returns

‍

‍