The Atlantic, September 2025

Andrea Tracy was honored to support the reporting of The Atlantic’s cover story on Sudan by accompanying journalists Anne Applebaum and Lynsey Addario on their travels across the country—including Nuba, Khartoum, Darfur, and neighboring Chad. 

Drawing on her experience with Sudan’s mutual aid networks, including the volunteer-led Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), she helped provide context and connections that highlighted the critical work these groups are doing. In the absence of sufficient international aid, these local volunteers are holding communities together, providing food, water, and care at great personal risk—offering hope and resilience in the darkest times. 

ABC News, July 13, 2025

For this ABC News report, Andrea Tracy provided critical context for reporting on the fallout from U.S. aid cuts in Sudan. She shared firsthand insight into the collapse of essential services following the shutdown of USAID programs and highlighted the work of grassroots mutual aid networks striving to fill the gap—often at great personal risk.

 “The July 1 reprogramming of USAID into the State Department cut two additional U.S. staffers dedicated to Sudan, leaving just nine remaining in the region, said Andrea Tracy, a former USAID Sudan official who now runs her own humanitarian funding mechanism for the country.

“Tracy saw colleagues lose their jobs on a daily basis as USAID wound down the programs it funded in the country, she told ABC News in a June phone call.

“In the void, small, grassroots organizations began to sprout when war broke out two years ago. A coalition known as Mutual Aid stood up emergency clinics and soup kitchens that became “a lifeline” for Sudanese, Tracy said.”

BBC News, Feb 24, 2025

For BBC News, Andrea Tracy provided expert insight into the devastating impact of U.S. aid cuts on Sudan’s emergency food response. She explained how the funding freeze forced the closure of over 1,100 community kitchens and emphasized the urgent need for private donations to sustain local efforts that had become a lifeline for millions.

“It is a "huge setback" says Andrea Tracy, a former USAID official who has set up a fund, the Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition, for private donations to the emergency rooms.

“Here and in the rest of the country, Ms Tracy's Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition fund will do what it can to plug the gap left by USAID.

“I think we can shore up [the emergency kitchens]," she said, "but the reality is that [private donations] are going to have to do even more now, because even if humanitarian assistance resumes, it's never going to be what it was."

NBC News, Feb 11, 2025

For NBC News, Andrea Tracy offered critical insight into the chaos caused by the sudden freeze to US foreign aid. She explained that the supposed exemptions for emergency food aid were poorly communicated and virtually unworkable, especially for smaller groups like Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs). 

“While U.N. agencies may have several months of supplies in the pipeline, the ERRs often relied on purchasing goods directly from local markets. So when the cash flow was cut off, the kitchens could no longer buy and cook food.Andrea Tracy, a former USAID official and country representative in Sudan, said the exemption issued by Rubio was “very complicated, nobody really knows how it works.”

“Tracy, who is currently vice president of Proximity 2 Humanity, a nonprofit working to shore up funding for Sudan’s ERRs, added that some agencies might be big enough to continue operations, relying on a future reimbursement if an exemption is granted, but a lot of smaller organizations can’t do that.”