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Rachel Silver, associate professor in Faculty of Education, has received a $500,000 grant to study how Malawian schools and educational organizations are adapting to international aid cuts, with insights that could inform education policy and development strategies around the world.

From 2021-24, Silver was principal investigator on a project that explored how global discourse around gendered risk during the COVID-19 pandemic did – or did not – relate to the lived experiences of young people in Malawi. At that time, the small African country was also contending with the 2020 decision by the U.K. – one of several countries providing educational aid to Malawi – to cut a significant portion of its support as part of austerity measures.

Silver, is also a faculty affiliate in the Faculty of Graduate Studies Development Studies program and examines power dynamics in international development and humanitarian aid structures. She had the opportunity to observe how funding reductions ripple through relationships in schools and programs, which inspired a larger project: investigating how Malawians working in the education sector navigate shifts in austerity.

Silver and her colleagues also wondered what new possibilities for funding, partnerships and education might exist in the wake of these changes.

In December 2024, Silver returned to Malawi to meet with colleagues and explore research focused on post-aid futures. They piloted the study through interviews and discussions with local educators and then, something unprecedented happened, she says.

In March 2025, President Donald Trump shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development, the world’s largest bilateral funder of education, removing support accounting for more than 13 per cent of Malawi’s 2024-25 national budget.

These events prompted a paper – – funded in part by the 2025 Seed Grants in Critical Social Science Perspectives in Global Health Research.

The study examined the emerging impacts of aid cuts and found that while aid can improve lives, it often reinforces unequal power dynamics rooted in colonial histories. Conducted by a transnational team, the pilot explored whether such cuts could open space to rethink international development and support more locally driven approaches.

Silver, however, wanted to take the project further and has now received funding from the Spencer Foundation. The U.S.-based organization that supports education research will provide more than $500,000 for a three-year study entitled Reconfigurations and Refusals: Forging Futures Beyond Aid in Malawi’s Education Sector, allowing Silver to expand on the 2025 paper.

“We were pretty shocked and elated,” Silver says, noting that only nine projects out of 380 submitted for consideration received funding. “It feels very meaningful to be able to do this.”

The research will include three longitudinal case studies involving Malawian educational organizations: a girls’ education NGO, a university and a basic education NGO. Silver and her partners will conduct an extensive interviews with individuals across government and the non-profit sector, capturing a broad range of perspectives from Malawi’s education landscape. The funding will also support local collaborators and enable the hiring of graduate students from �첥��Ƶ and Malawi-based institutions, ensuring the research remains collaborative and grounded in the communities it studies.

The goal is to further understand how educational organizations and communities in Malawi respond to evolving pressures from international donors. “The consequences of aid cuts are very harmful,” says Silver, “but there is also much to be learned from how people respond, as it presents a chance to reimagine possibilities.”

New opportunities may emerge if organizations are no longer required to align closely with donor priorities. The project will examine how these changes create space for local actors to set their own agendas, explore new approaches and potentially redefine education in Malawi. Early insights point to several pathways, including shifting decision-making and funding power to local organizations, developing alternative financing models such as regional partnerships, diaspora support, and private capital and diversifying funding sources to reduce reliance on U.S. aid.

Silver hopes the work will amplify how Malawian organizations are navigating this period of uncertainty and that insights will inform responses from remaining funders, including the Canadian government and international NGOs.

She also aims for the research to reach Canadian, North American and global audiences, offering new perspectives on how education systems can be designed and delivered in times of change. She notes that this is especially important in the current moment of global uncertainty. “Thinking about aid, responsibility and power – and how our world operates – is always important, but it is particularly crucial at this moment of rupture and change,” she says, noting that austerity measures are affecting countries beyond the U.S., including the U.K. Germany.

Despite the potential global reach of the work, for Silver there is also a personal dimension. She has conducted research in Malawi since 2012 and the country holds significance for her. Initially drawn to Malawi as a space to reconsider international development because of the high concentration of international interventions relative to its size, she has come to appreciate how those in the country navigate an inequitable playing field – with lessons that may now serve as a model for the world.

“Seeing how people are navigating this period and the creative ideas they’re developing is both interesting and meaningful to me,” she says.

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