Case Study

• 2026-04-19Case Study

  When Development Works Without Donors: The Georgia Hazelnut Case Study

  USAID's response to Georgia's hazelnut crisis didn't follow traditional aid patterns. It facilitated market connections designed to survive without perpetual donor funding. Ferrero still buys. But the $29M successor program my team and I designed would have carried the lessons forward, and the Administration dismantled USAID before it could run. Which parts actually hardened, and which parts needed the facilitator that's no longer there?