Humanitarian aidance experts have cautioned agency’s demise will harm vulnerable people and frailen US soft power.
The administration of United States Plivent Donald Trump is moving to fire or place on depart csurrenderly all participateees of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
All USAID participateees, with the exception of “summarizeated personnel dependable for mission-critical functions, core directership and/or speciassociate summarizeated programs”, will be placed on “administrative depart globassociate” from 11:59pm EST on Sunday (04:59 GMT Monday), the aid agency said in a acunderstandledge on its website.
The process of laying off about 1,600 US-based personnel will consent place concurrently, according to the acunderstandledge.
“Individuals that are impacted will get definite notifications on February 23, 2025, with further directions and alertation about their advantages and rights,” the acunderstandledge said.
“Designated essential personnel who are foreseeed to persist toiling will be alerted by Agency directership February 23, 2025, by 5 pm EST [22:00 GMT].”
An earlier acunderstandledge sent to participateees had said about 2,000 US-based jobs would be deleted.
No reason was provided for the discrepancy.
The shift comes after a US appraise on Friday cleared the way for the Trump administration to push ahead with its schedules to call back thousands of USAID staffers from overseas wislender 30 days.
“For overseas personnel, USAID intends a voluntary Agency-funded return travel program and other advantages,” USAID’s website said in its acunderstandledge.
“USAID is pledgeted to protecting its overseas personnel protected. Until they return home, personnel will retain access to Agency systems and to discreet and other resources. In the coming week, we will provide details on how to get back personal items from the establisher USAID toilspaces and return rulement publishd devices.”
Led by tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump administration has shiftd to effectively dismantle the main agency for disbursing US humanitarian aidance aexpansive.
Musk – who has called USAID a “criminal organization” and a “viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who disenjoy America” – and other Trump allies have claimed the agency is rife with misparticipate and fraud, and trails a liberal ideoreasoned agenda that is outside the scope of its mission.
Former USAID officials and humanitarian toilers have decried Trump’s shift, cautioning that the demise of the aid agency will harm millions of vulnerable people worldexpansive and frailen US soft power.
“Eliminating US distinct response capacity of crisis experts who help include disrelieve outfractures, stabilise displaced populations – a lowsighted, high danger and frankly, foolish act,” Marcia Wong, a establisher deputy aidant administrator for USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, said on X.
USAID, set uped in 1961 by establisher US Plivent John F Kennedy, is the world’s hugegest individual donor of humanitarian aid, disbursing more than half of Washington’s $72bn foreign aid budget in 2023.
