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Stand Up for Aid Situation Report #11 May 1, 2025
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83%
USAID programs terminated. Approximately 5,200 programs terminated and 1,000 programs remain.*
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869
Number of USAID Direct Hire personnel on active duty as of March 24.**
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0
Number of USAID staff remaining by September 2.***
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![]() Flow of Life-Saving Aid:
Uncertain |
![]() Flow of USAID Payments: Scattered |
*Source: X post by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 10. However, USAID memo to Congress on March 24 indicates that 5,341 programs are terminated and 898 programs remain, or 86 percent of programs are terminated. USAID also retained 469 contracts for critical staff services to support internal operations. This figure does not account for terminations a/a April 4. **Source: March 24 memo to Congress. On March 28, the USAID front office shared a notice specifying that all USAID staff will be separated from the agency by September2. ***Source: March 28 notice to USAID staff and shared with Congress via Congressional Notification. While approximately 15 positions are considered statutory positions at USAID, sources indicate that the intention is to terminate all positions at USAID.
79 million people not receiving life-saving assistance due to U.S. international assistance program terminations, according to United Nations survey data. On April 28, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released results from its second global survey—conducted from March 10–21—to determine the impacts of the U.S. funding freeze and program terminations on the delivery of humanitarian assistance. According to survey results, an estimated 79 million people previously targeted for life-saving assistance by survey respondents are no longer being reached. Funding cuts have hit local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) the hardest. Seventy-five percent of national NGOs reported having funding terminated, with 30 percent then having terminations rescinded. Despite some rescissions, terminations reverse years of efforts to localize assistance in countries of operation. OCHA received nearly 1,000 survey responses across 68 operations; the data provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the operational impacts and systemic shocks occurring globally as a result of cuts to life-saving U.S. assistance—assistance covered by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s humanitarian assistance waiver. Inspectors General submit report to Congress confirming significant challenges USAID staff have faced since January 20, 2025. On April 30, the Inspectors General for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), U.S. Department of State, and USAID submitted their Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) Lead Inspector General Quarterly Report to Congress, covering programs implemented by DoD, State, and USAID in Iraq and Syria from January 1, 2025–March 31, 2025. The inspectors general report that “most U.S. Department of State and USAID foreign assistance programs in Syria and Iraq came to a halt, as did third-party monitoring of these programs. The rapid implementation of the pause, reductions in USAID staffing, and inability to communicate directly with implementers led to confusion within USAID regarding which programs were subject to the pause. Guidance about which programs were authorized to request waivers and the information required to apply for those waivers changed frequently. USAID issued guidance on stop-work orders directly to implementers; USAID staff in some cases initially learned about some stop-work orders and terminations from their implementers rather than USAID. In addition, USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) reported that guidance about which programs were authorized to request waivers and the information required to apply for those waivers changed frequently.” The United States launched OIR in 2014 to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), while setting the conditions for follow-on activities to increase regional stability. U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Budget and Planning (F Bureau) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reach a settlement on fiscal year (FY) 2026 President’s Budget levels. According to internal reports, F Bureau and OMB have reached an agreement on the President’s budget request. The FY 2026 U.S. Department of State overall total is $28.4 billion, of which $16.8 billion is for foreign assistance—a 48 percent decrease from FY 2025 enacted levels (excluding any rescissions and emergency funding). The agreed upon budget request aligns with the OMB passback from last month. The Trump administration is expected to submit its request to Congress by mid-May. Two new accounts have been established, while others have been zeroed out:
International Humanitarian Assistance would support humanitarian assistance programs from a single account. As a result, the Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA), Title II Food for Peace (FFP), and International Disaster Assistance (IDA) accounts have been zeroed out. American First Opportunities Funds (A1OF) would provide the U.S. Secretary of State flexibility to advance targeted political and economic goals with foreign assistance. The passback identified $2.9 billion for this account. To consolidate funding under these goals, Development Assistance (DA), Economic Support Fund (ESF), Assistance for Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia (AEECA) have been zeroed out. The International Organizations account has also been zeroed out.
Plaintiffs file amended complaint regarding payments, hundreds of millions of dollars still outstanding. On April 22, plaintiffs in the Global Health Council court proceedings against the administration for nonpayment filed an amended complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief. In the complaint, plaintiffs reported that since the court issued the preliminary injunction, defendants have made some payments to plaintiffs, plaintiffs’ members, and other implementing partners. However, as of the filing of the amended complaint, plaintiffs and their members were still owed hundreds of millions of dollars for work completed prior to February 13. The administration has maintained in their status reports to the Court that they are not unlawfully impounding Congressionally appropriated funds. However, USAID and the U.S. Department of State are currently obligating and expending only a tiny fraction of the appropriations available for international assistance programs due to the significant reduction in staff, conflicting guidance, and extra layers of review put in place by the administration. Furthermore, as reported in early April by Stand Up for Aid, it is unclear whether disbursement amounts that have been reported to Congress and the courts is disbursement data from Phoenix versus information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Department of Treasury, or other sources, which no longer align with Phoenix. Plaintiffs note that the U.S. government has yet to finish making payments to plaintiffs and other implementing partners for work completed prior to February 13, notwithstanding the fact that the TRO has been in place for over two months. Defendants had previously stated in court documents that it planned to complete outstanding payments for plaintiffs by March 21 and non-plaintiffs by April 29. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) begins assessing one of the last U.S. international assistance agencies. Media reported that DOGE began assessing the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) on April 28—one of the last remaining international assistance agencies. DFC was created with bipartisan Congressional support during the first Trump administration to provide private sector funding for development projects in lower- and middle-income countries. DFC links government funding with private investors to support infrastructure and development projects in West Africa, India, and South America. DFC plays a critical role in U.S. efforts to counter the People’s Republic of China (PRC) influence overseas, particularly China’s Belt and Road Initiative—a massive infrastructure project. The DOGE review of DFC comes a week after media reported that DOGE plans to dismantle the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC), another key soft power tool that created an enabling environment for private sector investment.
Roadblocks and Systemic Challenges |
Program terminations and nonpayment resulting in reputational, financial, and security risks for USAID partners, distrust in the U.S. government ability to meet financial obligations. The amended complaint submitted by plaintiffs in the Global Health Council case against the administration provides details regarding the impact of international assistance cuts and nonpayment for work already completed. According to the document, DAI Global received termination notices for 85 of its 91 prime contracts and cooperative agreements—88 percent of its budgeted 2025 revenue from active U.S. government- funded contracts. DAI reports that the terminations have caused permanent damage to DAI’s reputation by forcing nonpayment to numerous vendors, landlords, and security providers. They have also jeopardized DAI’s legal standing in the more than 80 countries in which it maintains active operating entities and forced DAI to shift to much more costly sources of financing for its working-capital requirements. DAI’s former lenders, which include some of the largest banks in the United States and the United Kingdom, no longer believe that the U.S. government will meet its financial obligations and pay in a timely manner for valid invoices or settlement agreements on U.S. government contracts. Chemonics also reports that terminations have seriously damaged the company’s financial performance and permanently eroded Chemonics’s reputation by forcing it to delay payments to suppliers, vendors, and landlords. Staff terminations and delays in payments to partners have also put Chemonics at risk of lawsuits around the world. In several cases, unpaid partners’ and vendors’ frustrations have escalated to serious intimidation and in-person hostile visits to staff members’ residences. Chemonics has historically relied heavily on a line of credit from a syndicate of national banks; however, since February 18, 2025, that syndicate has refused to permit Chemonics to draw down on that line of credit due to Chemonics’s financial situation and the syndicate’s view that U.S. government receivables are no longer reliable.
OCHA survey confirms the collapse of the delivery of life-saving assistance by USAID partners impacted by program terminations. According to OCHA survey results, an estimated 79 million people previously identified by USAID partners as needing life-saving assistance are no longer receiving shelter, protection, healthcare, safe drinking water, and food interventions. Seventy-one percent of survey respondents reported reducing services or assistance and 44 percent reported completely ceasing U.S.-funded operations, confirming a large-scale and rapid contraction of global humanitarian assistance. OCHA reports that USAID terminations have significantly impacted the operational capacity of the humanitarian sector. According to survey results, program terminations have resulted in the cancelation of at least 12,000 humanitarian staff contracts—representing a loss of skilled professionals and institutional memory that will take years to rebuild. Organizations reported an average 33 percent reduction in geographic coverage—including a 41 percent reduction by national NGOs—leaving sudden gaps in coverage that are resulting in preventable deaths. OCHA also reports that terminations are projected to result in the loss of nearly 200 coordination and information staff by June 2025. The breakdown in coordination directly impacts aid effectiveness and efficient use of resources—countering the administration’s objective of greater efficiency. OCHA reports that survey data validates earlier analysis that indicated national and local organizations are disproportionately affected by the funding freeze and subsequent terminations, undermining efforts to localize assistance for more effective and sustainable delivery of international assistance. Of national NGOs responding to the survey, 75 percent reported receiving termination notices versus the average of 68 percent across all organizations; only 30 percent of national NGOs saw funding reinstated versus 33 percent overall, indicating a more permanent defunding compared to international NGOs. Eighty percent of women-led and refugee-led organizations received termination notices, and 41 percent of survey respondents reported having to suspend partnerships with local actors. This systematic impact represents a severe setback for the localization agenda, eroding local expertise, trust, and sustainability.
Inspectors general report provides details regarding program status in Syria and Iraq, program terminations impacting safe and responsible returns process of displaced people in Syria to Iraq. The Inspectors General report on OIR finds that the majority of USAID stabilization programs in Syria and Iraq are paused at a time when the Islamic State is regrouping. The U.S. Department of State and USAID BHA did not provide program updates for the report, as the foreign assistance review remained ongoing. Syria: USAID’s Middle East Bureau, which administers stabilization awards, reported that three of its awards in Syria continued and eight had been terminated as of March 31. USAID Syria requested waivers for some terminated awards, including essential services activities, support for the White Helmets, and third-party monitoring for activities in northwestern Syria. However, as of March 31, no requests for waivers for stabilization activities had been approved. Iraq: According to the Inspectors General report, the stop work orders issued in late January 2025 impacted the majority of USAID awards in Iraq. The pause on foreign assistance and terminations of USAID programming increased pressure on Iraq to process citizens returning from the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria. However, schools, housing, and health clinics in areas of Iraq to which residents of the al-Hol displacement camp intended to return remained partially rehabilitated and U.S.-purchased street lights—which are a critical protection intervention to increase safety—remained uninstalled. In addition, programming that helps returnees and their communities work together to reduce tension and address negative perceptions of al-Hol returnees was also terminated. As of March 31, two USAID stabilization awards in Iraq were active and 20 were terminated. The termination of the USAID BHA Iraq third-party monitoring contract resulted in limited access by USAID BHA staff to programs. However, most implementing partners maintained some oversight, and USAID BHA reported that it will continue to oversee implementer activities through monitoring reports and, when feasible, through occasional site visits by USAID personnel. A USAID BHA-supported humanitarian organization reported critical service delivery deficiencies at Jeddah. Since 2021, the United States has provided the majority of funding for management and humanitarian assistance in the Jeddah 1 rehabilitation center in support of repatriations of displaced Iraqis from the al-Hol and Roj camps in northeastern Syria. As a result of program terminations, Jeddah 1 residents no longer have access to education referrals or remedial education, or to social services and economic activities referrals.
USAID stabilization program cuts globally reduce U.S. military readiness, provide opportunities for PRC and Russia to step in. The termination of USAID programs worldwide has resulted in a loss of strategic access and influence; decreased operational readiness; and left a gap for PRC, Russia, and other countries to fill and expand their influence. For example, USAID terminated the Security and Resilience Partnership in Central Asia program, which aimed to enhance cooperation with Central Asian nations on border security, counter-narcotics efforts, and the prevention of extremism from Afghanistan. This program termination is coupled with the termination of all remaining USAID humanitarian assistance programs in Afghanistan in mid-April. In East Asia and the Pacific, USAID has drawn down staff on the Civil-Military Coordination Team at the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), weakening coordination between DoD and local governments, NGOs, and other organizations, as USAID maintained the technical expertise and relationships with local actors. This affects both routine operations and emergency response, increasing the risk that the United States will be slower and less capable during regional disasters. In the Philippines, USAID has terminated programs that aligned with the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which allows DoD and Philippines military to train together. USAID programs were critical to building public support for DoD presence and deterring PRC in the South China Sea.
U.S. funding cuts significantly limiting women’s access to vital health services in Afghanistan. The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) reports that it has closed 21 of 39 women’s clinics in Afghanistan as a result of U.S. program terminations; the future status of the remaining 18 clinics remains uncertain. The majority of the UNFPA clinics are located in remote areas of Afghanistan, where women do not have access to services at another location. A partner reports that its mobile health clinics, which are intended to travel among provinces that have no other health services, are prohibited from being mobile due to restrictions from armed groups—making it even more challenging for women to receive health care in rural areas once clinics close. Access to UNFPA clinics is critical for maternal health services in Afghanistan, which has a very high maternal and infant mortality rate.
Long arc of reconciliation between U.S. and Vietnam falters under Trump | The Washington Post
May 1, 2025 Fifty years after the end of the Vietnam War, decades of progress in addressing its legacies is coming undone.
The Vietnamese deminers who find and destroy the deadly remnants of America’s war here were on break for Lunar New Year when they received word an executive order by President Donald Trump had suspended funding for their work.
For a month, they hung up the khaki uniforms stitched with American flag patches, left their metal detectors in storage, and rerouted reports of grenades, cluster munitions and mortars to the Vietnamese authorities.
“People were calling us every day,” remembered Tran Binh Phuong, who leads several hundred personnel in the largest demining operation in central Vietnam’s Quang Tri province — an effort that relies wholly on U.S. funding. “They asked why, when this land still has so many explosives that continue to go off, why the funding was halted.”
Fifty years after the end of the Vietnam War, decades of progress in redressing the conflict’s legacy, fostering reconciliation between the United States and its former enemy, and forging ties between surviving soldiers, are coming undone under Trump, say current and former U.S. officials, Vietnamese analysts and independent aid groups.
The two U.S. agencies that led engagement with Vietnam’s communist government and its people — the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) — have been effectively dismantled.
What 100 Days of Foreign-Aid Cuts Looks Like to Those Still in the Field | TIME
April 30, 2025
One of the first acts of the first 100 days of President Trump’s Administration was an executive order that led to a large-scale cutback in American spending on foreign aid. Through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is now on the verge of dissolution, the U.S. had funded 40% of the world’s foreign assistance, including programs designed to combat disease, malnutrition, maternal mortality, totalitarianism, and climate change. According to analysis by KFF, 80% of all the U.S.’s global health awards were terminated, including those to the jewel in the America's foreign aid crown, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, an organization that provides emergency medical help almost anywhere in the world during times of crisis, does not rely on any U.S. government funding. But its fieldworkers have front-row seats to the consequences of the loss of aid across the globe. Avril Benoît, the CEO of MSF in the U.S., spoke to TIME about the ripple effects the organization is seeing—and where the cuts are hurting most.
Warning systems for floods, hurricanes, and famine are suffering from Donald Trump’s data purge | The Verge
April 30, 2025
Within weeks of President Trump stepping into office, key health and environmental resources that doctors and farmers rely on started disappearing from federal websites. Trump was also quick to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID), cutting off funding — as well as the flow of data that people around the world use to prevent famine and issue warnings ahead of natural disasters.
Trump's 100 days: USAID cuts create real-world impact in Syria | France 24
April 30, 2025
In the first 100 days of his second term, Donald Trump made significant cuts to the international aid the US provides globally. This has had a tangible impact in Syria, particularly in a refugee camp where living conditions are becoming increasingly challenging without American assistance.
‘So dark and full of fear’: Here’s what’s happening in Africa since DOGE’s USAID cuts | San Francisco Chronicle
April 30, 2025
My friend Jesse is no stranger to struggle. He lives with HIV and cares for nine children — two of them his own; the seven others are the children of his brothers, who all died of AIDS. Each day has long been a battle for survival. Since the recent withdrawal of the U.S. Agency for International Development from our home country of Uganda, however, and the loss of access to the medical treatments it provided, he now fights that battle alone.
As U.S. foreign aid drops, United Nations agencies that provide aid worldwide slash jobs or cut costs | PBS
April 29, 2025
Several U.N. agencies that provide aid to children, refugees and other vulnerable people around the world are slashing jobs or cutting costs in other ways, with officials pointing to funding reductions mainly from the United States and warning that vital relief programs will be severely affected as a result.
The U.N. World Food Program is expected to cut up to 30% of its staff. The head of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it would downsize its headquarters and regional offices to reduce costs by 30% and cut senior-level positions by 50%. That’s according to internal memos obtained by The AP and verified by two U.N. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal personnel decisions. Other agencies like UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency, and OCHA, the U.N. humanitarian agency, have also announced or plan to make cuts.
New lawsuit argues Trump and DOGE's government overhaul is unconstitutional | NPR
April 29, 2025
A coalition of labor unions, nonprofits and local governments including Chicago, Baltimore and Harris County, Texas, has mounted the broadest legal challenge yet to President Trump's massive overhaul of the federal government.In a lawsuit filed late Monday, the plaintiffs charge that actions taken by the president, Elon Musk and the heads of nearly two dozen federal agencies to dramatically downsize the federal workforce violate the Constitution because Congress has not authorized them.
DOGE targets US foreign aid agency created under first Trump administration | Politico
April 28, 2025
DOGE has descended on the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, one of the last remaining foreign aid agencies that hasn’t yet been obliterated by the Trump administration.
A team of DOGE personnel, led by Nate Cavanaugh, went to DFC headquarters in Washington on Monday to begin assessing the agency’s effectiveness and alignment with the president’s agenda, according to two people familiar with the situation. Both were granted anonymity to speak openly.
The DFC was created with bipartisan congressional support during the first Trump administration to provide private sector funding for development projects in lower- and middle-income countries — offering an alternative to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
USAID cuts felt far outside Washington, D.C.: “Layoff trauma hit across the country” | CBS News
April 23, 2025
Lindsay Brown was working from home in Little Rock, Arkansas, when, during a company meeting in February, her employer said that due to the United States Agency for International Development not making payments to the organization, staff changes needed to happen.
Brown, who worked in internal communications for the nonprofit FHI 360, has been furloughed since shortly after that meeting.
She learned that her last day at FHI 360 will be May 2.
She is one of the close to 20,000 employees — many living in states such as North Carolina, Vermont, California and Georgia — who lost their jobs as the Trump administration took steps to shutter USAID.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has authority over the agency, said on Tuesday that the government plans to make staffing cuts, eliminating every position at the agency not required by law, and consolidate domestic offices at the State Department. The impending cuts are most likely to be felt by workers outside of Washington, D.C., already reeling from the decimation of their livelihoods and fields.
Background: The Dismantling of USAID and Termination of Vital Programs |
On January 20, U.S. President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order 14169 on Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid. The Executive Order included a 90-day pause in United States foreign development assistance. On January 24, Secretary Rubio paused all new foreign assistance obligations for an 85-day review period. On January 29, Secretary Rubio approved an Emergency Humanitarian Waiver to the Foreign Assistance Pause. However, a directive for USAID staff to refrain from external communications outside of those necessary to implement the pause, administration actions that have terminated staff or placed nearly the entire USAID workforce on paid administrative leave and inaccessibility to Phoenix resulted in significant challenges to implementation despite the waiver. On March 10, Secretary Rubio declared that the review had been completed, and 5,200 awards would be terminated and 1,000 retained. In recent weeks, a number of affected organizations have filed legal challenges to the administration’s actions. Just Security continues to track legal challenges to the administration’s actions, including efforts to dismantle USAID. USAID Stop-Work had confirmed nearly 19,200 people across 46 U.S. states and Washington, DC, had lost their jobs and nearly 177,000 people had lost their jobs globally as of April 23 due to the stop work orders on contracts and suspensions of cooperative agreements. These numbers will likely rise in the coming days as terminations remain ongoing.
To be added to the distribution list or if you have additional information to share regarding the dismantling of USAID, please contact: standupforaidinfo@gmail.com. Stand Up for Aid information products can be found at https://www.foreignaidfreeze.org/ or follow us on LinkedIn. ![]()
The next Situation Report will be distributed o/a May15, 2025.
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