According to four individuals who spoke to Reuters on Thursday, President Donald Trump's administration intends to retain less than 300 employees at the U.S. Agency for international Development, out of the organization's more than 10,000 global employees.
 
Since the Republican president took office on january 20, businessman Elon Musk, a close trump supporter, has led a government reform initiative aimed at Washington's main humanitarian relief agency.
 
According to the four people who were acquainted with the proposal, just 294 employees of the agency would be permitted to remain in their positions, with only 12 in the Africa bureau and 8 in the Asia bureau.

"That's outrageous," said J. Brian Atwood, the former head of USAID for almost six years, who also said that the mass layoffs would essentially destroy an organization that has prevented the deaths of tens of millions of people worldwide.
 
"A lot of people will not survive," Atwood, who is currently a senior fellow at the Watson Institute at Brown University, stated.
 
A request for a response from the U.S. Department of State was not answered.
 
Numerous USAID employees have been placed on leave, hundreds of internal contractors have been let off, and life-saving initiatives throughout the world have been left in limbo as a result of trump and Musk, the richest man in the world, making baseless charges that its employees were criminals.
 
The government said on tuesday that it will recall thousands of staff operating abroad and place all directly employed USAID employees worldwide on leave.
 
The government was finding and selecting projects that would be spared from the widespread stop-work orders, which have jeopardized global efforts to avoid hunger, stem the spread of disease, and help alleviate poverty, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
 
USAID's implementing partners are having financial difficulties as a result of the State Department's stop-work orders.

MERGING USAID WITH STATE
Thousands of employees and their families will have their lives completely upended by the change.
 
Trump appointed Rubio as interim USAID administrator, and the administration wants to combine USAID with the State Department. However, since USAID was established and is supported by laws that are still in effect, it is unclear if he will be able to combine the agency unless congress decides to do so.
 
According to the Congressional Research Service, USAID employed over 10,000 workers worldwide, with two-thirds of them working outside of the US. In fiscal 2023, the most recent year for which full data is available, it controlled almost $40 billion.
 
In 2023, the organization gave relief to some 130 nations, many of which were very destitute and devastated by violence. According to the CRS study, ukraine was the leading receiver, followed by Ethiopia, Jordan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Yemen, and Afghanistan.
 
 
 
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SIBY JEYYA

07/02/2025 08:32 AM