Paris: The order of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, to suspend most foreign aid, has sent shock waves through the humanitarian sector, threatening to trigger massive dismissals in many NGOs and possibly destroy others completely.
Less than a week after returning to power, the United States International Development Agency told NGOs that they would have to stop operating immediately because the new administration had frozen USAID budgets.
The president of the United States ordered a 90 -day review of the USAID, which executes health and emergency programs in around 120 countries, including the poorest in the world.
However, the Trump administration has issued exemptions for some “salvation” help, while freezing included exceptions to financing for Israel and Egypt.
USAID manages a budget of $ 42.8 billion, just under half of all the help disbursed worldwide
But confusion reigns about how these exemptions will be implemented and uncertainty has already affected.
The order to stop the work immediately hit “like a bomb,” said an NGO source in Kenya.
He asked to remain in anonymity for fear that his beneficial organization could be punished by the Trump administration.
“He launched people in panic,” said the humanitarian worker about freezing, noting that the lack of warning meant that the staff did not have time to adapt.
An unpaid mandatory license were instantly placed and the organization could no longer pay their rent or salaries, he said.
“What will mean that for people who have children?” He asked, horrible.
Impossible to compensate
According to AID Network Alnap, more than 630,000 people were used in the help sector in 2020, more than 90 percent of them to local staff.
For many locals, the United States freezes unemployment in countries with fragile economies where to find another job is almost impossible.
Expatrians who work for help agencies also face interruptions.
“We notified all US budgets that had been temporarily suspended,” said a source from the European headquarters of an NGO funded mainly by US funds.
The consequence of the expatriates, he said in condition of anonymity, is that “they put you on an plane and you return home.”
Except, he added: “You do not necessarily have a home” because many expatriate workers go from one mission to another, without a base of operations in their country of origin.
USAID manages a budget of $ 42.8 billion, which represents 42 percent of the humanitarian aid disbursed worldwide.
NGOs will have to “fire employees in proportion to their dependence on the funds of the United States,” he said.
“If an NGO depends on the 60 percent of USAID, you will have to say goodbye to 60 percent of its employees. If it depends on 40 percent, it will say goodbye to 40 percent. ” It would be “impossible to compensate for the loss of US funds,” he said.
The Norway Refugee Council, one of the world’s largest help agencies, said Monday that he was forced to abruptly suspend “urgent humanitarian work funded by the United States for hundreds of thousands of people in almost 20 countries affected by wars, disasters and displacements. “
A little less than 20 percent, $ 150 million, of its financing from the United States last year, providing life to 1.6 million people.
Although the initial freezing of US funds. . Trump and Musk have publicly promised to obtain Usaid forever.
Posted in Dawn, February 12, 2025
