On January 23, 2026, Vice President Vance announced the administration’s intent to expand the “Mexico City Policy.” First established by President Reagan, the Mexico City Policy originally prohibited foreign non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”) from using funds to “promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations.” The policy was repealed by the Biden administration but then reinstated at the outset of the current administration. On January 27, 2026, the State Department implemented the Vice President’s announcement, and expanded the Mexico City Policy to require recipients of “foreign assistance” to abide by award terms reflecting three new policies: (1) Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance (“PLFA”); (2) Combating Gender Ideology in Foreign Assistance (“CGIFA”); and (3) Combating Discriminatory Equity Ideology in Foreign Assistance (“CDEIFA”).[1]
Collectively, the new PLFA, CGIFA, and CDEIFA policies are referred to as the Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance policy (“PHFFA”). These rules create new obligations relevant to U.S. NGOs, foreign NGOs, and other international organizations receiving foreign assistance. This blog post focuses on the new CDEIFA requirements—and the potential pitfalls—for U.S. NGOs.
- Key Takeaways for CDEIFA Compliance by U.S. NGOs
- The PHFFA, including the CDEIFA, will become effective on February 26, 2026, and will apply to new awards as well as prior grants and cooperative agreements when new funds are added.
- Under the CDEIFA, U.S. NGOs must abide by U.S. federal antidiscrimination laws.
- The CDEIFA also requires U.S. NGOs to implement adequate operational separation for activities promoting “discriminatory equity ideology.”
- U.S. NGOs must update subrecipient agreements to flow down these new requirements.
- The CDEIFA’s requirements may be waived by the Secretary of State if necessary for national security or foreign policy purposes.
- U.S. NGOs Must Abide by U.S. Federal Antidiscrimination Laws
The CDEIFA imposes two core guardrails for U.S. NGOs receiving federal funds: first, a prohibition on “unlawful DEI‑related discrimination;” and second, if the NGO chooses to support “discriminatory equity ideology,” the entity must do so only with non‑U.S. Government funds and with adequate operational separation.
Under the “unlawful DEI-related discrimination” limitation, U.S. NGOs receiving foreign assistance must not, in any foreign place, “discriminat[e] on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin if such discrimination violates U.S. federal antidiscrimination laws or would violate U.S. federal antidiscrimination laws if it occurred inside the United States.” Accordingly, under the CDEIFA, U.S. NGOs operating in any foreign place must be aware that the governing standard for evaluating whether conduct rises to the level of unlawful discrimination is whether the act violates U.S. federal law—not that of the host country. This may create conflicts that will require operational planning to comply with both host‑country law and the CDEIFA.
- U.S. NGOs Must Create Sufficient Operational Separation If Promoting “Discriminatory Equity Ideology”
Conversely, while U.S. NGOs are barred from engaging in unlawful DEI-related discrimination, entities may promote “discriminatory equity ideology” under specific circumstances. Discriminatory equity ideology is defined as “an ideology that treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals, and minimizes agency, merit, and capability in favor of generalizations.”
Under the CDEIFA, U.S. NGOs may promote discriminatory equity ideology if the NGO “uses funds from sources other than the U.S. Government to do so.” To comply with this requirement, there must be more than “mere bookkeeping separation of funds,” and instead compliance is a fact-driven analysis focusing on:
- Separate and accurate accounting records.
- Degree of separation from facilities in which the prohibited activities occur.
- Extent of such prohibited activities.
- Use of separate personnel and workstations.
- The extent to which signs and other forms of identification are present, and conversely, an absence of signs and material that refer to or promote prohibited activities.
Accordingly, U.S. NGOs seeking to promote discriminatory equity ideology must ensure sufficient operational separation between U.S. Government funds and non-U.S. Government funds. Because of the potential ambiguity in what may constitute a prohibited promotional activity as well as operational separation of funding sources, U.S. NGOs should likely treat borderline activities as within scope of the CDEIFA and implement broad internal guardrails to ensure that U.S. Government funds do not support any prohibited activities.
- U.S. NGOs Must Flow Down the CDEIFA Terms to Subrecipients
The CDEIFA requires prime recipients to flow down the award term so that subrecipients similarly abide by the CDEIFA’s requirements. Specifically, if the subrecipient is a U.S. NGO, the subrecipient must similarly abide by U.S. antidiscrimination laws, but may promote discriminatory equity ideology as long as there is sufficient operational separation in place. However, if the subrecipient is a foreign NGO or international organization, the subrecipient must not only abide by U.S. antidiscrimination laws but is also prohibited from promoting discriminatory equity ideology.
- Bottom Line
The PHFFA generally and the CDEIFA specifically parallel other efforts by the current administration requiring recipients of federal funding to provide certifications regarding their DEI policies. These efforts include a recent DOJ memorandum titled “Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination,” and a “Certification regarding compliance with applicable federal anti-discrimination law” sent to companies in Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and Spain. Accordingly, U.S. NGOs should carefully consider their business plans and whether their programs and initiatives outside the United States are compliant with the new CDEIFA requirements.
[1] Foreign assistance is defined as “federal funding administered by the Department under title III of, or under the ‘International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement,’ ‘Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs,’ ‘Peacekeeping Operations,’ and ‘International Organizations and Programs’ headings of, the annual Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act.”