The sobering news came via email: Employees of International Relief and Development learned on Monday that their biggest donor had suspended the U.S. nonprofit from winning new business — shortly after IRD leaders got notice from their partners in government.
The “indefinite” suspension of IRD has since become talk of the town in Washington’s tight-knit aid community. And while there wasn’t a sense of surprise given several ongoing investigations into the work of the leading U.S. nonprofit contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan, the announcement served as an ominous reminder of the U.S. government’s intensifying clampdown on fraud, waste and abuse in international development cooperation.
Staff learned “as soon as” IRD leaders got notice from the U.S. Agency for International Development, John Engels, the nonprofit’s communications director, told Devex Tuesday. The news was shared via email because many of IRD’s approximately 2,200 employees work in the field.
About the author
Rolf RosenkranzRolfRosenkranz
Rolf Rosenkranz has worked as a Global Editor for Devex. Previously, Rolf was managing editor at Inside Health Policy, a subscription-based news service in Washington. He has reported from Africa for the Johannesburg-based Star and its publisher, Independent News & Media, as well as the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, a German daily.
