The benefits of US foreign aid in rural US communities: The case of northwestern North Carolina

This study analyses the underexplored domestic benefits of US foreign aid by evaluating the long‐term impacts of two strategic international exchange programmes—the Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement (TEA) Program and the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders—that were implemented over a decade through Appalachian State University in rural northwestern North Carolina. Most evaluations of US foreign aid focus on external critiques that ignore the positive impacts that programmes can have domestically in the United States. Addressing these literature gaps is crucial in enhancing the efficacy and public understanding of US foreign aid. Approach and Methods The research uses retrospective impact evaluation and mixed methods content analysis. The evaluation fundamentally emphasized causal inference. Although the original programmes focused primarily on international participants, this study used existing data to concurrently explore the broader impacts of these programmes on local communities of the northwestern North Carolina region. The findings identify significant contributions across three domains: educational, cultural, and social. Key findings show that the programmes fostered global awareness, offered professional development opportunities to US participants, and promoted mutual understanding. Ultimately, this research demonstrates the reciprocal value and strategic potential of foreign aid as a domestic development tool in underserved US regions, thereby challenging the prevailing critiques that prioritize foreign over domestic needs. Policy‐makers should, therefore, consider these substantial, multifaceted domestic returns when evaluating the strategic value of international exchange programmes within the US foreign aid portfolio.