It was the largest machine in the world of civil help and humanitarian assistance programs abroad. Invce now, in the vision of Donald Trump, is a structure “managed by a group of mad -left -wing extremists”. And as such it must be demolished. Or at least for the moment subjected to the direct control of the new American administration. So Usaid (United States Agency for International Development), the American Federal Agency for International Development aid, has been commissioned, The secretary of state Marco Rubio who has taken on the interim direction, with the idea of bringing it back to the US State Department, Simply because to close the agency, which has always been independent, since it was established in 1961 by the then president John F. Kennedy. The US government would need the congress vote.
The “America First” policy led the new president to sign among the first executive orders that freezes the funds allocated for international aid for the moment for 90 days. And now the agency is also at risk. Elon Musk announced the next dismantling, to which Trump entrusted the guide of the Doge, the Department for Government Efficiency, in charge of cutting federal expenses. The Agency’s website (www.usaid.gov) It is no longer accessible and employees were asked to stay at home.
Born in the midst of the era of the Cold War, Usaid had been designed as an instrument through which America could contribute decisively to the development of democratic companies in many global contexts, providing assistance in more than one hundred countries – from Bangladesh to Burkina Faso, from Haiti to Nepal, from Kenya to Myanmar – In multiple sectors, From the fight against poverty, to the defense and promotion of human rights and the right to education, from the campaigns of vaccination to food safety, from environmental sustainability to access to drinking water, from intervention in emergencies such as natural catastrophes to aid in the conflicts. In 2023 the agency paid $ 72 billion throughout the planet – For interventions such as those in favor of women’s health in war areas, for access to clean water, for HIV/AIDS treatments, for energy safety, for anti -corruption activities – providing 42% of all humanitarian aid monitored by the UN in 2024.
Usaid has a staff of 10 thousand employees, two thirds of whom work abroad. The agency has offices in more than 60 countries and its field work is carried out mainly by local organizations that receive and manage USAID funding. Much of the budget is intended for programs in the field of health and most of the aid are aimed at the Asian continent, the countries of sub-Saharan Africa and Europe, in particular in the last three years at Ukraine in war. The stop to development aid will inevitably cause an earthquake to the global level. Without the aid provided by the United States – first country in the world for shopping in humanitarian aid – many projects in many countries cannot be carried out and will have to undergo a setback, starting from medical and scientific research.
(Photo Reuters: the ceramic sign of a USAID project promoted in Hebron, the West Bank, in 2019)
