Humanitarian officials told NBC News that the Trump administration’s cancellation of $60 billion of international development contract agencies in the U.S. international development contract agencies has revealed important plans and has done a huge harm to many of the world’s most vulnerable people.
The pace of change has begun since the White House announced plans to cut more than 90% of the contracts held by the U.S. International Development, the world’s largest single aid provider for decades. In January, a formal freeze of foreign aid was cast as part of an interim review.
The recently announced cuts essentially eliminated development and humanitarian aid in most of the U.S. abroad and government spending under Elon Musk’s Ministry of Efficiency has contracted drastically. Donald Trump and President Musk claim that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) promoted the freedom agenda and wasted money.
According to several officials familiar with the cuts, some at risk support for the drought-prone population in Africa, school feeding programs in West Africa, advocacy for young people recruited to extremist groups such as the Islamic State Group, and public health efforts involving HIV/AIDS.
Several representatives of NGOs affected by the U.S. International Development cuts were asked to speak with NBC News anonymously, while they decided how best to work with the Trump administration and handle devastating directives. A spokesman said they were worried they could lose money for the remaining few remaining plans that were not hit by Wednesday’s cuts, while another hopes the government will completely reconsider the cuts.
The United Nations Joint Programme’s response to global HIV/AIDS said on Friday that it had received letters from the government’s termination of funds and effective immediately. According to UNAIDS, the United States has been known for its PEPFAR since its inception in 2003, a major contributor to the U.S. President’s Emergency AIDS Relief Program.
“The U.S. funding cuts are removing the system,” Beatriz Grinsztejn, president of the International AIDS Association, said in a statement to NBC News. “Hidden HIV treatment is collapsing. TB services are collapsing. No data means no tracking who is caring for. No counselors, no HIV tests – even in hospitals. No outreach means people are stuck in a crack. Services of the most vulnerable people, including mobile clinics and pouring into centers. Life is online.”
Organizations that combat gender-based violence also have immediate impact. A spokesperson for a large international NGO in the war-torn Sudan’s medical, consulting and legal aid said the search for alternative funds to continue providing these essential services is scrambling to find alternative funds. The spokesman asked for anonymity for fear that the Trump administration would be anonymous if it lobbies Republican lawmakers to force the administration to reverse cuts.
Marco Rubio and Peter Marocco, deputy chief executive of the Agency for International Development, designated by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), “Determine that your award does not match the agency’s priorities and determine that continuing the program is not in the national interest,” NBC News received a copy of the termination notice, which was sent to the USAID contract Wednesday.
“There doesn’t seem to be any pattern” besides shutting down US foreign aid,” a humanitarian official said.
USAID provided assistance to approximately 130 countries in the fiscal year 2023. The top ten aiders of that year were Ukraine, Ethiopia, Jordan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Yemen, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria.
A spokesman for the UN International Organization for Migration told NBC News that the cuts directly affect the organization’s ability to support the world’s most vulnerable people.
The Trump administration is protesting two lawsuits challenging the dissolution of the U.S. Agency for International Development and subsequent litigation frozen over foreign aid. One of the lawsuits has reached the Supreme Court, which temporarily suspended a lower order on Wednesday, requiring the government to release frozen foreign aid funds by midnight on Wednesday.
There may be more lawsuits against the government due to the termination notice, while organizations are working hard and potentially developing the costs of these plans, while the USAID payment system remains closed.
DAI, an international development organization funded by USAID, said it operates in 160 countries and has received more than 90% of contract dismissal notices.
Therefore, according to spokesman Steven O’Connor, the organization was forced to take 500 employees on leave. Not only that, he said, the work that the government still owes DAI has been delivered.
“We want all the work and then issue reimbursement for the government; without this reimbursement, we will not be able to pay our employees, our partners, suppliers, creditors,” he said.
Meanwhile, the impact has been felt in communities that rely on these assistance for emergency relief, and trust can erode between these communities and USAID and its partner organizations.
“It’s really hard to reverse this truck because they’ve already rushed the road behind us,” a humanitarian official said.
