Little remains of USAID. A handful of emergency programs and, soon, just a few hundred staff, unless an emergency legal challenge can save the rest. For the community of INGOs and for-profit companies funded by the agency — and for their employees — the cost has been difficult to bear. We’ve tried to understand the scale of the losses.
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What was lost
The statistics are startling. USAID had already promised to spend almost $60 billion that may not now be funded, according to an analysis of agency data.
Meanwhile, a handful of the agency’s largest grantees and contractors have lost out on $2.7 billion a year in funding.
We compared USAID disbursements to those organizations in the past year with their most recently reported revenue, to build a picture of how dependent they were on USAID. The two figures don’t line up exactly — some organizations’ most recent report is for 2023; others don’t have the same year-end — but they give a clear picture.
On average, the largest grantees depended on USAID for just under a fifth of their funding, but many are far more exposed, with one relying on USAID for more than 80% of all revenue.
Among contractors, it’s harder to build a complete picture because many don’t share financial information publicly, but there are indications that they may be even more exposed. One received more in USAID disbursements during the past year than its most recent annual reported revenue.
At the United Nations, the picture is also bleak. Several agencies relied on the U.S. for more than 40% of their income, and some are considering job cuts.
Survey data from across the sector similarly paints a dark picture. Many organizations say they relied on USAID for more than half their income, and some have only one month’s funding left to keep them going.
Altogether, more than 100,000 jobs could be affected, according to one website dedicated to tracking the freeze.
Read:
• The US aid freeze in data: Mapping an unfolding catastrophe
• The US aid freeze in data: How will UN agencies be affected?
• How the USAID freeze hit the agency’s biggest partners (Pro)
• How the aid freeze affects nearly $60 billion in USAID spending (Pro)
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Funding activity
We publish tenders, grants, and other funding announcements on our Funding Platform. Here are some of the ones that have been viewed the most in the past 10 days.
The Asian Development Bank has signed an agreement that will bolster sustainable waste management efforts in Fiji.
The International Finance Corporation has agreed a $53 million loan that will boost sustainable, low-carbon development in Indonesia's building and construction sector.
Belgian development agency Enabel has announced a €25 million ($25.8 million) portfolio to support low carbon, inclusive development pathways and energy transition in Mozambique.
The African Development Bank has invited firms to review and update the National Strategy for Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change in Mozambique.
The U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office has committed to providing safety and security to citizens in the National Human Rights Action Plan in Nepal.
The European Union has allocated an additional €1 million ($1 million) to the cholera response in South Sudan.
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Just the job
After two weeks of continuous bad news, USAID staff were granted a tiny reprieve at the end of last week.
The week started with an announcement of huge staff cuts and orders to repatriate USAID staff based abroad. The federal administration initially announced that all but about 300 USAID staff would be placed on leave, although that was bumped up to a still-paltry 600 the next day.
But a lawsuit temporarily halted those plans, with a stay of execution now confirmed until at least Feb. 14.
Read: All USAID staff on administrative leave reinstated until Feb. 14
+ Having trouble keeping up with all the staffing and development work upheavals caused by the funding freeze? We’ve created an essential guide to track the impact for you. Check it out here.
What happens next?
The fallout from the collapse of USAID won’t be felt primarily in redundancies and funding cuts. It will come in lives lost elsewhere in the world.
Right now, the groups funded by USAID are trying to understand what exactly the agency is still willing to spend money on.
In many cases, even where a waiver has been issued, it hasn’t helped much, because there aren’t any staff left to send the money to pay for the service.
In Syria, for example, there are only days left for the INGO overseeing the Al Hol camp, which contains 40,000 people from areas previously controlled by ISIS. When the cash runs out, staff have warned, the camp could become a recruiting ground for terror.
In Ukraine, meanwhile, where USAID has delivered billions of dollars of funding, almost every sector is affected, from schools to hospitals to veterans’ support.
And the World Food Programme reported that more than 500,000 metric tons of food remains stranded across the globe — enough to feed 36 million people. But there was a moment of hope, however, on Sunday when WFP posted that a pause on in-kind food aid had been rescinded.
Read: The end of foreign aid as we know it
Read: How the collapse of USAID could unleash ‘an ISIS army in waiting’
Read: What loss of USAID funding could mean for Ukraine
+ Catch up on the latest news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive insights on how the Trump administration’s policies are reshaping global development.
About the author
David Ainsworth@daveainsworth4
David Ainsworth is business editor at Devex, where he writes about finance and funding issues for development institutions. He was previously a senior writer and editor for magazines specializing in nonprofits in the U.K. and worked as a policy and communications specialist in the nonprofit sector for a number of years. His team specializes in understanding reports and data and what it teaches us about how development functions.
