The fate of 64 years old United States Agency for International Development (USAID) seems to have been sealed.
Multiple media reports out of the USA says the last of the remaining agency staff have been sent home.
“The Trump administration is terminating nearly all of the remaining 900 employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development, in a final reduction in force.,” noted NPR, an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C.
NPR further added that a source it spoke to said the remaining staff were asked to clear with the front office by Friday (28th March 2025,) by 1pm.
The estimated 900 staff had remained at the agency following the executive order by president Donald Trump in January that froze its work for 90 days.
According to CNN, the state department on the same day (Friday formally notified Congress it is effectively dissolving the US Agency for International Development and moving some of its functions under the department.
“The reorganization will be done by July 1, the State Department said, sounding a death knell for USAID, a multibillion-dollar agency that fought poverty and hunger around the world,” said the network in its digital report.
The decision by the Trump administration to go hammer and tongs on USAID it said was because it funded multi-billion dollars projects overseas. Projects it insists were not aligned to the strategic interests of Washington.
On March 10, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he had canceled 5,200 foreign aid contracts—equivalent to 83%—under USAID.
In Africa, the agency has been instrumental in aid focused on healthcare, education and economic development.
The January 20th freeze on its operations has left thousands of staff in Africa jobless and a number of governments grappling with funding gaps.