Devex Newswire: The RIF ax officially comes down at the US State Department

Reduction in force. It sounds relatively benign, but let’s be blunt: It’s government-speak for firing people, and the U.S. Department of State just experienced its own long-awaited but still-raw RIF.

Also in today’s edition: Two very different donor outcomes for the Green Climate Fund and the Global Fund.

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History in the making, for better or worse

Nearly 3,000 workers at the Department of State are losing their jobs, with the U.S.-based staffers receiving termination notices Friday.

It wasn’t a surprise after a Supreme Court ruling gave the Trump administration the green light to fire tens of thousands of federal employees. But that didn’t exactly cushion the blow for those who have been axed.

The State Department calls the reduction in force part of a “historic reorganization.” Critics say it’s a historic blunder that will damage U.S. diplomacy.

“This is us taking another step away from the world. And will be looked upon as a historic mistake,” Rob Jenkins, a former assistant to the administrator at USAID, tells my colleague Elissa Miolene.

The cuts — which amount to roughly 15% of the department’s workforce — include more than 1,100 civil servants and nearly 250 foreign service officers who happen to be currently on domestic rotation. The remainder — some 1,650 staffers — include those who opted to take deferred resignation or early retirement.  

The move comes after around 250 people migrated from the USAID to the State Department, although it seems that those staff are isolated from this round of cuts. These have mainly affected staff in offices previously targeted for dissolution, such as the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations.

“This is not a statement about the individuals who are affected in this building,” says State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce. “It is a statement about a structure that needs to adapt, that must be smaller in order for us to be relevant, but even more than relevant — effective, quick.”

But others say the fact that it’s “not a statement” about the affected individuals is cold comfort — and part of the problem.

“These layoffs are untethered from merit or mission,” according to a statement by the American Foreign Service Association. “They target diplomats not for how they’ve served or the skills they have, but for where they happen to be assigned. That is not reform.”

“Diplomats are not faceless bureaucrats. They are America’s forward presence, serving in war zones, evacuating citizens, negotiating for the release of detained Americans, and steadying allies in turbulent times,” AFSA added. “As allies look to the U.S. for reassurance and rivals test for weakness, the administration has chosen to sideline the very professionals best equipped to navigate this moment.”

Read: State Department fires thousands in mass reduction-in-force

A pleasant surprise

In this era of aid cuts and the Trump administration’s rejection of climate change, climate advocates got a rare shot of good news: The Green Climate Fund board has approved its largest single round of climate finance — $1.225 billion for 17 projects — and adopted sweeping reforms to overhaul its often-criticized accreditation system to make it easier for organizations to access the funds.

“We felt that 2025, given the context, we as the largest climate fund needed to keep our ambition high. We needed to make sure that we were leading that coalition of the ambitious,” Henry Gonzalez, GCF’s chief investment officer, tells my colleague Ayenat Mersie.

Headquartered in South Korea, GCF has received pledges totaling $29.9 billion since its founding in 2010, with $21 billion paid in so far. The United Kingdom, Germany, and France are its top three contributors.

The United States is notably absent from that list: Soon after returning to office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump — who had attacked GCF during his first term — rescinded $4 billion in pledges.

But according to Gonzalez, the fund remains on solid footing. In fact, GCF is aiming to approve at least $3 billion in funding to organizations this year, with Gonzalez describing the pipeline for the next quarterly cycle as capable of exceeding $1 billion.

“I think there was a record in the number of projects,” he says. “This year, we would like to have a record in the quantum.”

Read: GCF board approves record $1.2B in funding and accreditation overhaul

You can’t give what you don’t have

Donors giveth for some, and taketh away from others. Case in point: In the wake of donors failing to meet their pledged contributions, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria confirmed it is taking away $1.43 billion in funding already allocated for current projects.

Country teams are now scrambling to reprioritize and revise their grants as a result of the cuts, which are as high as 16% in some places, Devex contributing reporter Andrew Green writes.

“This is the largest and fastest reprogramming the Global Fund has ever had to do,” Fionnuala Murphy of Frontline AIDS tells Andrew. Even as she praised the Global Fund for emphasizing the importance of community involvement, she cautioned that “in situations where information is not flowing as clearly as it should, community-led organizations, which are literally fighting for their lives and the lives of the communities they serve, are going to find that very concerning.”

Katy Kydd Wright of the Global Fund Advocates Network says the decision by the Global Fund was “a bit exceptional. At this stage, though, it’s the responsible thing to do from the Global Fund’s perspective, because if they don’t have the money, they can’t give the money to people for the work they’re doing.”

Read: Global Fund plans to cut $1.4 billion from grants it has already awarded

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An HIV care plan

The International AIDS Society conference kicked off in Kigali on Sunday, with U.S. foreign aid cuts to HIV programming looming large. In a report published last week, UNAIDS predicted over 4 million additional AIDS-related deaths and over 6 million additional new HIV infections by 2029 if programs previously supported by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief are halted.

But PEPFAR’s Dr. Ingrid Katz tried to reassure the audience that the Trump administration hasn’t abandoned the initiative.

“I think it’s worthwhile saying to this audience that Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio supports PEPFAR — that this administration supports PEPFAR and the work that we do, and we will continue to do,” she said. She added that PEPFAR has been “incredibly fortunate to be very well funded in a very long-standing way,” which created a “very powerful ecosystem.” She said PEPFAR has for years been working to transition countries to take more ownership of their HIV responses, and that work will “very intentionally” continue.

“Our goal — in the context of PEPFAR — is to continue to invest in those best, most efficient and effective practices that really render the results that countries are seeking,” she said.  

Conversations in Kigali also focused on ways to fill in the gaps left by aid cuts, including the increased role many hope philanthropy will play. Yogan Pillay, who leads the Gates Foundation’s efforts to strengthen TB and HIV program delivery, said the foundation’s strategy around tackling the HIV response is shifting.

“The foundation just had a rethink of our strategy, and we think that AI is not going to solve all our problems, for sure, but we think [it has] a specific role to play, and we need to really innovate around it, as well as self-care,” he said.

Pillay explained to my colleague Sara Jerving that self-care in the HIV context includes providing information and support to both HIV positive and negative individuals around easy access to products such as pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis, condoms, antiretroviral treatment, and treatment for sexually transmitted infections. Self-care in both prevention and treatment will be a big component of the foundation’s strategy moving forward, Pillay added.

For example, the Gates Foundation awarded global digital health nonprofit Audere funding in May to study a “self-care anywhere” AI tool grant, which provides HIV self-testing guidance for adolescent girls and young women, among other things.

ICYMI: What should a responsible PEPFAR transition look like? (Pro)

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Your next posting?

Like most regions of the world, the Middle East and North Africa were not spared by USAID cuts, with programs in Gaza, Yemen, and Syria taking a hit.

However, despite the cuts, the MENA region has not seen a drastic decline in job opportunities. In fact, there was a small increase in job postings, according to Devex data.

So my colleague Genevieve Gregorio looked at the organizations currently hiring in the MENA region in the months after USAID’s collapse.

Read more: The top local employers in the Middle East and North Africa (Career)

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In other news

The World Health Organization has placed its regional director for Southeast Asia, Saima Wazed, on leave following corruption allegations brought forth by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission. [The Economic Times]

An Israeli drone strike killed 10, including children, at a water collection point at the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, while 31 others were shot dead at a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site. [The Guardian]

The World Meteorological Organization warns that climate-driven sand and dust storms now affect over 330 million people around the world, causing millions of premature deaths, slashing crop yields, and driving economic and health crises. [Al Jazeera]

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