View source for Agency for International Development

{{Organization
|OrganizationName=U.S. Agency for International Development
|OrganizationType=Independent Agencies
|Mission=To promote and demonstrate democratic values abroad, and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world. USAID works to end extreme poverty and promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing U.S. security and prosperity.
|CreationLegislation=Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
|Employees=10000
|Budget=$50.3 billion (FY 2022)
|OrganizationExecutive=Administrator
|Services=Humanitarian assistance; Economic development; Health; Education; Democracy, human rights, and governance
|HeadquartersLocation=38.89552, -77.03045
|HeadquartersAddress=1300 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20004
|Website=https://www.usaid.gov/
}}
{{Short description|US government civilian foreign aid agency}}


{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name = United States Agency for International Development
| seal = Seal of the United States Agency for International Development.svg
| seal_width = 150
| seal_caption = Seal of USAID
| logo = Flag of the United States Agency for International Development.gif{{!}}border
| logo_width = 208
| logo_caption = Flag of USAID
| image = USAID-Identity.svg
| image_size = 210
| image_caption = Wordmark of USAID
| formed = {{start date and age|1961|11|3}}
| preceding1 = [[International Cooperation Administration]]
| jurisdiction = 
| headquarters = [[Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center|Ronald Reagan Building]]<br />[[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| employees = 10,235 employees (FY 2016)<ref>{{cite web|title=Agency Financial Report, FY 2016|url=https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/USAIDFY2016_AFR_508.pdf|publisher=USAID|access-date=22 December 2016|archive-date=September 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905082058/https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/USAIDFY2016_AFR_508.pdf|url-status=dead}} Page 3.</ref>
| budget = $50 billion (FY 2023 Budgetary Resources)<ref>{{cite web|title=Agency for International Development|url=https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/agency-for-international-development?fy=2023|publisher=USASpending.gov|accessdate=March 8, 2024}}</ref>
| chief1_name = [[Samantha Power]]
| chief1_position = [[Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development|Administrator]]
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| motto = "From the American people"
| website = {{official URL}}
| footnotes = <ref>{{cite web | title = USAID History | publisher = [[USAID]] | url = http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/usaidhist.html | access-date = 2014-08-07 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120515232854/http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/usaidhist.html | archive-date = 2012-05-15 }}</ref>
}}
The '''United States Agency for International Development''' ('''USAID''') is an [[independent agency of the United States government]] that is primarily responsible for administering civilian [[United States foreign aid|foreign aid]] and [[development assistance]]. With a budget of over $50 billion, USAID is one of the [[List of development aid country donors|largest official aid agencies]] in the world and accounts for more than half of all U.S. foreign assistance—the highest in the world in absolute dollar terms.

Congress passed the [[Foreign Assistance Act]] on September 4, 1961, which reorganized U.S. foreign assistance programs and mandated the creation of an agency to administer economic aid. USAID was subsequently established by the [[executive order]] of President [[John F. Kennedy]], who sought to unite several existing foreign assistance organizations and programs under one agency.<ref>{{cite web|title=USAID HISTORY|url=https://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/usaid-history|website=usaid.gov|publisher=USAID|access-date=8 January 2018}}</ref> USAID became the first U.S. foreign assistance organization whose primary focus was long-term socioeconomic development.

USAID's programs are authorized by Congress in the [[Foreign Assistance Act]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/400/fsa.pdf |title=USAID: Automated Directives System 400 |access-date=2013-05-27 |archive-date=November 19, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031119001121/http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/400/fsa.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> which Congress supplements through directions in annual funding appropriation acts and other legislation. As an official component of U.S. foreign policy, USAID operates subject to the guidance of the [[President of the United States|President]], [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]], and the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]].<ref name="USAID">{{cite web|last=USAID|title=ADS Chapter 101.2 Agency Programs and Functions|url=http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/100/101.pdf|access-date=22 December 2011|archive-date=November 18, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031118231328/http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/100/101.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> USAID has missions in over 100 countries, primarily in [[Africa]], [[Asia]], [[Latin America]], the [[Middle East]], and [[Eastern Europe]].

==Purposes==
USAID's decentralized network of resident field missions is drawn on to manage U.S. government programs in low-income countries for a range of purposes.<ref>{{cite web |title=USAID Primer: What We Do and How We Do It |url=https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACG100.pdf |website=Development Experience Clearinghouse |publisher=USAID |access-date=16 July 2018 |date=January 2006}} Each particular official statement of USAID's goals is specific to the U.S. foreign-policy emphases of the moment the statement is made.  The best official statement relevant to the most recent era is contained in USAID's 2004 "White Paper," which was reaffirmed in high-level USAID policy documents in 2006 and 2011.  (See the references authored by USAID, at the end of this article.)

To give a perspective of USAID's goals that is as general as possible, the list of goals in this article subsumes one of the goals from the 2004 White Paper, "Strengthen fragile states," whose emphasis as understood at the time was on Iraq and Afghanistan, into a more general goal, "U.S. national interests," together with one of the White Paper's other goals, "Support strategic states."  State fragility is understood to be one of the development issues addressed under this article's "Socioeconomic development" goal.

On the other hand, the White Paper's goal, "Provide humanitarian relief," is divided in this article into two goals, both of which are humanitarian: "Disaster relief" (which may assist victims at various income levels) and "Poverty relief" (which targets chronic poverty, not just the result of a disaster, and which does not necessarily have to be justified by a developmental impact).</ref>

* Disaster relief
* Poverty relief
* Technical cooperation on [[list of global issues|global issues]], including the environment
* U.S. bilateral interests
* Socioeconomic development

=== Disaster relief ===
[[File:USAID.jpg|thumb|right|USAID packages are delivered by [[United States Coast Guard]] personnel]]

Some of the U.S. government's earliest foreign aid programs provided relief in crises created by war. In 1915, U.S. government assistance through the [[Commission for Relief in Belgium]] headed by [[Herbert Hoover]] prevented starvation in Belgium after the German invasion. After 1945, the European Recovery Program championed by Secretary of State [[George C. Marshall|George Marshall]] (the "[[Marshall Plan]]") helped rebuild war-torn Western Europe.

USAID manages relief efforts after wars and natural disasters through its Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which is the lead federal coordinator for international disaster assistance.

=== Poverty relief ===
[[File:Early reading and literacy programs contribute to long-term development (7269588282).jpg|thumb|right|Early reading and literacy programs contribute to long-term development, USAID [[Nigeria]]]]
After 1945, many newly independent countries needed assistance to relieve the chronic deprivation afflicting their low-income populations. USAID and its predecessor agencies have continuously provided poverty relief in many forms, including assistance to public health and education services targeted at the poorest. USAID has also helped manage food aid provided by the [[U.S. Department of Agriculture]]. Also, USAID provides funding to NGOs to supplement private donations in relieving chronic poverty.

=== Global issues ===
Technical cooperation between nations is essential for addressing a range of cross-border concerns like communicable diseases, environmental issues, trade and investment cooperation, safety standards for traded products, money laundering, and so forth. The United States has specialized federal agencies dealing with such areas, such as the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|Centers for Disease Control]] and the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]]. USAID's special ability to administer programs in low-income countries supports these and other U.S. government agencies' international work on global concerns.

==== Environment ====
Among these global interests, environmental issues attract high attention. USAID assists projects that conserve and protect threatened land, water, forests, and wildlife. USAID also assists projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to build resilience to the risks associated with global [[climate change]].<ref>{{cite web | title = Global Climate Change: Capacity Building | publisher = [[USAID]] | url = http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/environment/climate/policies_prog/capacity.html | access-date = 2014-08-07 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120120113701/http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/environment/climate/policies_prog/capacity.html | archive-date = 2012-01-20 }}</ref> U.S. environmental regulation laws require that programs sponsored by USAID should be both economically and environmentally [[sustainable]].

=== U.S. national interests ===
To support U.S. geopolitical interests, Congress appropriates exceptional financial assistance to allies, largely in the form of "Economic Support Funds" (ESF). USAID is called on to administer the bulk (90%) of ESF<ref>Tarnoff (2015), p. 13.</ref> and is instructed: "To the maximum extent feasible, [to] provide [ESF] assistance ... consistent with the policy directions, purposes, and programs of [development assistance]."<ref>Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (as amended), Section 531.</ref>

Also, when U.S. troops are in the field, USAID can supplement the "[[Civil Affairs]]" programs that the U.S. military conducts to win the friendship of local populations. In these circumstances, USAID may be directed by specially appointed diplomatic officials of the State Department, as has been done in [[Afghanistan]] and [[Pakistan]] during operations against al-Qaeda.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stabilization: Lessons from the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan |url=https://www.sigar.mil/interactive-reports/stabilization/index.html |publisher=SIGAR |access-date=1 December 2019}}</ref>

U.S. commercial interests are served by U.S. law's requirement that most goods and services financed by USAID must be sourced from U.S. vendors.<ref>{{cite web |title=ADS Chapter 310: Source and Nationality Requirements for Procurement of Commodities and Services Financed by USAID |url=https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1876/310.pdf |publisher=USAID |access-date=1 December 2019 |archive-date=October 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031232911/https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1876/310.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Socioeconomic development ===
To help low-income nations achieve self-sustaining socioeconomic development, USAID assists them in improving the management of their own resources. USAID's assistance for socioeconomic development mainly provides technical advice, training, scholarships, commodities, and financial assistance. Through grants and contracts, USAID mobilizes the technical resources of the private sector, other U.S. government agencies, universities, and NGOs to participate in this assistance.

Programs of the various types above frequently reinforce one another. For example, the Foreign Assistance Act requires USAID to use funds appropriated for geopolitical purposes ("Economic Support Funds") to support socioeconomic development to the maximum extent possible.

==Modes of assistance==
USAID delivers both technical assistance and financial assistance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/primer.html |title=USAID Primer: What We Do and How We Do It |publisher=Usaid.gov |date=2010-12-08 |access-date=2011-03-12}}</ref>

===Technical assistance===
Technical assistance includes technical advice, training, scholarships, construction, and commodities. Technical assistance is contracted or procured by USAID and provided in-kind to recipients. For technical advisory services, USAID draws on experts from the private sector, mainly from the assisted country's own pool of expertise, as well as from specialized U.S. government agencies. Many host-government leaders have drawn on USAID's technical assistance for the development of IT systems and computer hardware procurement to strengthen their institutions.

To build indigenous expertise and leadership, USAID finances scholarships to U.S. universities and assists in the strengthening of developing countries' own universities. Local universities' programs in developmentally important sectors are assisted directly and through USAID support for forming partnerships with U.S. universities.

The various forms of technical assistance are frequently coordinated as capacity-building packages for the development of local institutions.

===Financial assistance===
[[File:National Open Source Software Competition - USAID.jpg|thumb|National Open Source Software Competition – USAID financial assistance for groups developing technology in Indonesia]]

Financial assistance supplies cash to developing country organizations to supplement their budgets. USAID also provides financial assistance to local and international [[NGOs]] who in turn give technical assistance in developing countries. Although USAID formerly provided loans, all financial assistance is now provided in the form of non-reimbursable grants.

In recent years, the United States has increased its emphasis on financial rather than technical assistance. In 2004, the [[George W. Bush|Bush]] Administration created the [[Millennium Challenge Corporation]] as a new foreign aid agency that is mainly restricted to providing financial assistance. In 2009, the Obama administration initiated a major realignment of USAID's own programs to emphasize financial assistance, referring to it as "government-to-government" or "G2G" assistance.

==Organization==
USAID is organized around country development programs managed by resident USAID offices in developing countries ("USAID missions"), supported by USAID's global headquarters in Washington, DC.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/usaidorg.html |title=USAID: Organization |publisher=Usaid.gov |date=2011-03-04 |access-date=2011-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423111526/http://www.usaid.gov/about_usaid/usaidorg.html |archive-date=2011-04-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Country development programs===
USAID plans its work in each country around an individual country development program managed by a resident office called a "mission". The USAID mission and its U.S. staff are guests in the country, with a status that is usually defined by a "framework bilateral agreement" between the government of the United States and the host government.<ref>{{cite web|last1=USAID|title=ADS Chapter 349|url=https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1876/349.pdf|access-date=19 June 2017|page=Section 349.3.1.1|date=2003}}</ref> Framework bilaterals give the mission and its U.S. staff privileges similar to (but not necessarily the same as) those accorded to the U.S. embassy and diplomats by the [[Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations]] of 1961.<ref>{{cite web|last1=USAID|title=ADS Chapter 155|url=https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/155.pdf|access-date=19 June 2017|page=Section 155.3.1.1.c|date=2004}}</ref>

USAID missions work in over fifty countries, consulting with their governments and non-governmental organizations to identify programs that will receive USAID's assistance. As part of this process, USAID missions conduct socio-economic analysis, discuss projects with host-country leaders, design assistance to those projects, award contracts and grants, administer assistance (including evaluation and reporting), and manage flows of funds.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Tarnoff|first1=Curt|title=U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID): Background, Operations, and Issues|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R44117.pdf|access-date=13 June 2017|date=July 21, 2015}}</ref>

As countries develop and need less assistance, USAID shrinks and ultimately closes its resident missions. USAID has closed missions in a number of countries that had achieved a substantial level of prosperity, including South Korea,<ref>{{cite web |title=South Korea: From Aid Recipient to Donor |url=https://photos.state.gov/libraries/korea/115197/kimnamhee/Korea%20case%20study%2020110615%20_corrected%2020111027%20TU_%20-%2050th.pdf |publisher=USAID |access-date=1 December 2019}}</ref> Turkey,<ref>{{cite web |title=Mission Directory |url=https://www.usaid.gov/mission-directory |publisher=USAID |access-date=1 December 2019}}</ref> and [[Costa Rica&nbsp;– United States relations|Costa Rica]].

USAID also closes missions when requested by host countries for political reasons. In September 2012, the U.S. closed USAID/Russia at that country's request. Its mission in [[Moscow]] had been in operation for two decades.<ref>{{cite news |title=USAID mission in Russia to close following Moscow decision |first=Arshad |last=Mohammed |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-aid-idUSBRE88H11E20120918 |work=Reuters |date=September 18, 2012 |access-date=September 19, 2012 |archive-date=September 18, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120918172926/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/18/us-usa-russia-aid-idUSBRE88H11E20120918 |url-status=live }}</ref> On May 1, 2013, the President of [[Bolivia]], [[Evo Morales]], asked USAID to close its mission, which had worked in the country for 49 years.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bolivia's President Morales expels USAID, accused it of working against him |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/bolivias-president-morales-expels-usaid-accused-it-of-working-against-him/2013/05/01/00e1ce28-b263-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501161502/http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/bolivias-president-morales-expels-usaid-accused-it-of-working-against-him/2013/05/01/00e1ce28-b263-11e2-9fb1-62de9581c946_story.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 1, 2013 |agency=[[Washington Post]] |date=May 1, 2013}}</ref> The closure was completed on September 20, 2013.

USAID missions are led by Mission Directors and are staffed both by USAID [[Foreign Service Officers]] and by development professionals from the country itself, with the host-country professionals forming the majority of the staff. The length of a Foreign Service Officer's "tour" in most countries is four years, to provide enough time to develop in-depth knowledge about the country. (Shorter tours of one or two years are usual in countries of exceptional hardship or danger.)<ref>{{cite web |title=ADS Chapter 436: Foreign Service Assignments and Tours of Duty |url=https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1877/436.pdf |publisher=USAID |access-date=1 December 2019 |archive-date=May 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170504131439/https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1877/436.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Mission Director is a member of the U.S. Embassy's "Country Team" under the direction of the U.S. Ambassador.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dorman |first1=Shawn |title=Foreign Service Work and Life: Embassy, Employee, Family |url=http://afsa.org/sites/default/files/iuse_country_team_local_staff_role.pdf |publisher=American Foreign Service Association |access-date=1 December 2019}}</ref> As a USAID mission works in an unclassified environment with relative frequent public interaction, most missions were initially located in independent offices in the business districts of capital cities. Since the passage of the Foreign Affairs Agencies Consolidation Act in 1998 and the [[1998 United States embassy bombings|bombings of U.S. Embassy chanceries]] in east Africa in the same year, missions have gradually been moved into U.S. Embassy chancery compounds.

===Sub-organizations===
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) operates with various sub-organizations or bureaus to manage its diverse portfolio of international development and humanitarian assistance programs. These bureaus are responsible for overseeing specific geographic regions, thematic areas, or special initiatives. USAID also coordinates with other U.S. government agencies and maintains field missions in over 100 countries, which are not sub-organizations per se but are integral to its operational structure. 

* [[Bureau for Africa]]
* [[Bureau for Asia]]
* [[Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean]]
* [[Bureau for Europe and Eurasia]]
* [[Bureau for the Middle East]]
* [[Bureau for Global Health]]
* [[Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment]]
* [[Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance]]
* [[Bureau for Food Security]]
* [[Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance]]
* [[Bureau for Conflict Prevention and Stabilization]]
* [[Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning]]
* [[Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance]] (OFDA)
* [[Office of Transition Initiatives]] (OTI)
* [[Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships]]
* [[American Schools and Hospitals Abroad]] (ASHA)
* [[Office of Innovation and Development Alliances]]

===USAID/Washington===
[[File:Samantha Power official portrait.jpg|thumb|USAID Administrator [[Samantha Power]]]]
The country programs are supported by USAID's headquarters in Washington, D.C., "USAID/Washington", where about half of USAID's Foreign Service Officers work on rotation from foreign assignments, alongside USAID's Civil Service staff and top leadership.

USAID is headed by an [[Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development|Administrator]]. The current Administrator, Samantha Power, was sworn in on May 3, 2021. Under the Biden administration, the Administrator became a regular attendee of the National Security Council.

USAID/Washington<ref>{{cite web |title=Organization |url=https://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/organization |publisher=USAID |access-date=21 July 2018 |date=February 16, 2018}}</ref> helps define overall federal civilian foreign assistance policy and budgets, working with the State Department, Congress, and other U.S. government agencies. It is organized into "Bureaus" covering geographical areas, development subject areas, and administrative functions. Each Bureau is headed by an Assistant Administrator appointed by the President.

(Some tasks similar to those of USAID's Bureaus are performed by what are termed "Independent Offices".)

* Geographic bureaus
** AFR—Africa
** ASIA—Asia
** LAC—Latin America & the Caribbean
** E&E—Europe and Eurasia
** ME—the Middle East
* Subject-area bureaus
** GH—Global Health
*** Every year, the Global Health Bureau reports to the U.S. Congress through its Global Health Report to Congress.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/global-health/global-health-programs-report-congress-fy-2014/|title=Global Health Programs: Report to Congress FY 2014|website=usaid.gov|date=July 12, 2021}}</ref> The Global Health Bureau also submits a yearly report on the Call to Action: ending preventable child and maternal deaths.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/global-health/maternal-and-child-health/|title=Maternal and Child Health|website=usaid.gov|date=June 4, 2019|access-date=June 1, 2016 |archive-date=May 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508142801/https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/global-health/maternal-and-child-health|url-status=dead}}</ref> This is part of USAID's follow-up to the 2012,<ref> [https://web.archive.org/web/20160626225910/http://5thbday.usaid.gov/pages/ResponseSub/Event.aspx Call to Action on Child Survival]</ref> where it committed to ending preventable child and maternal deaths in a generation with A Promise Renewed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unicef.org/health/maternal-newborn-and-child-survival|title=Maternal, newborn and child survival|website=www.unicef.org}}</ref>
** E3—Economic Growth, Education, and the Environment
*** Economic Growth offices in E3 define Agency policy and provide technical support to Mission assistance activities in the areas of economic policy formulation, international trade, sectoral regulation, capital markets, microfinance, energy, infrastructure, land tenure, urban planning and property rights, gender equality and women's empowerment. The Engineering Division, in particular, draws on licensed professional engineers to support USAID Missions in a multibillion-dollar portfolio of construction projects, including medical facilities, schools, universities, roads, power plants, and water and sanitation plants.
*** The Education Office in E3 defines Agency policy and provides technical support to Mission assistance activities for both basic and tertiary education.
*** Environment offices in E3 define Agency policy and provide technical support to Mission assistance activities in the areas of climate change and biodiversity.
** Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance 
** Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights and Governance
***
*** The mission of the DRG Bureau is to lead USAID's efforts to invigorate democracy, enhance human rights and justice, and bolster governance that advances the public interest and delivers inclusive development.<ref>{{Cite web |access-date=October 3, 2023 |title=USAID DRG Bureau |url=https://www.usaid.gov/democracy |website=USAID Democracy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=DRGLinks |url=https://www.drglinks.org/ |access-date=October 2, 2023 |website=DRGLinks}}</ref>
**
** LAB—U.S. Global Development Lab
*** The Lab serves as an innovation hub, taking smart risks to test new ideas and partner within the Agency and with other actors to harness the power of innovative tools and approaches that accelerate development impact.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.usaid.gov/GlobalDevLab |title=U.S. Global Development Lab|access-date=July 17, 2018|archive-date=August 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803002928/https://www.usaid.gov/GlobalDevLab|url-status=dead}}</ref>
** RFS—Resilience and Food Security
* Headquarters bureaus
** M—Management
** OHCTM—Office of Human Capital and Talent Management
** LPA—Legislative and Public Affairs
** PPL—Policy, Planning, and Learning
** BRM—Office of Budget and Resource Management

Independent oversight of USAID activities is provided by its [[Office of Inspector General, U.S. Agency for International Development]], which conducts criminal and civil investigations, financial and performance audits, reviews, and inspections of USAID activities around the world.

===Staffing===
USAID's staffing reported to Congress in June 2016 totaled 10,235, including both field missions "overseas" (7,176) and the Washington DC headquarters (3,059).<ref>{{cite web|title=USAID Staffing Report to Congress|url=https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/2016_USAID_Staffing_Report_to_Congress.pdf|publisher=USAID|access-date=27 December 2017|archive-date=May 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170503155112/https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/2016_USAID_Staffing_Report_to_Congress.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Of this total, 1,850 were USAID Foreign Service Officers who spend their careers mostly residing overseas (1,586 overseas in June 2016) and partly on rotation in Washington DC (264). The Foreign Service Officers stationed overseas worked alongside the 4,935 local staff of USAID's field missions.

Host-country staff normally work under one-year contracts that are renewed annually.<ref>{{cite web|last1=USAID|title=ADS Chapter 495: Foreign Service National Personnel Administration|url=https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1877/495.pdf|access-date=15 June 2017|date=2014|archive-date=June 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170615233535/https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1877/495.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Formerly, host-country staff could be recruited as "direct hires" in career positions<ref>See ADS section 495.3.1.</ref> and at present many host-country staff continue working with USAID missions for full careers on a series of one-year contracts. In USAID's management approach, local staff may fill highly responsible, professional roles in program design and management.<ref>ADS section 495.3.4; Koehring et al. (1992), pp. 17, 28.</ref>

U.S. citizens can apply to become USAID Foreign Service Officers by competing for specific job openings based on academic qualifications and experience in development programs.<ref>{{cite web|title=USAID Foreign Service|url=https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/careers/foreign-service|publisher=USAID|access-date=22 December 2016}}</ref> Within five years of recruitment, most Foreign Service Officers receive tenure for an additional 20+ years of employment before mandatory retirement. Some are promoted to the Senior Foreign Service with extended tenure, subject to the Foreign Service's mandatory retirement age of 65.

(This recruitment system differs from the State Department's use of the "Foreign Service Officer Test" to identify potential U.S. diplomats. Individuals who pass the test become candidates for the State Department's selection process, which emphasizes personal qualities in thirteen dimensions such as "Composure" and "Resourcefulness". No specific education level is required.<ref>{{cite web|title=Foreign Service Test Information|url=https://careers.state.gov/work/foreign-service/officer/test-process|publisher=U.S. Department of State|access-date=22 December 2016}}</ref>)

In 2008, USAID launched the "Development Leadership Initiative" to reverse the decline in USAID's Foreign Service Officer staffing, which had fallen to a total of about 1,200 worldwide.<ref>{{cite web|title=Survey of USAID's Development Leadership Initiative in Southern and Eastern Africa|url=https://oig.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/audit-reports/4-000-15-001-s.pdf|publisher=USAID Inspector General|access-date=22 December 2016|page=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161227114150/https://oig.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/audit-reports/4-000-15-001-s.pdf|archive-date=27 December 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Although USAID's goal was to double the number of Foreign Service Officers to about 2,400 in 2012, actual recruitment net of attrition reached only 820 by the end of 2012. USAID's 2016 total of 1,850 Foreign Service Officers compared with 13,000 in the State Department.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mission|url=https://careers.state.gov/learn/what-we-do/mission|publisher=U.S. Department of State|access-date=22 December 2016|archive-date=December 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215231134/https://careers.state.gov/learn/what-we-do/mission|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==USAID field missions==
[[File:USAID-Pakistan Staff in 2009.jpeg|thumbnail|Pakistani and U.S. Staff of USAID/Pakistan in 2009]]
While USAID can have as little presence in a country as a single person assigned to the U.S. Embassy, a full USAID mission in a larger country may have twenty or more USAID Foreign Service Officers and a hundred or more professional and administrative employees from the country itself.

The USAID mission's staff is divided into specialized offices in three groups: (1) assistance management offices; (2) the Mission Director's and the Program office; and (3) the contracting, financial management, and facilities offices.<ref>{{cite web|last1=USAID|title=ADS Chapter 102: Agency Organization|url=https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/102_0.pdf|access-date=13 June 2017|page=23|date=2012|archive-date=June 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630222347/https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/102_0.pdf|url-status=dead}} See in particular the definitions of "Large mission" and "Office."</ref>

===Assistance management offices===
Called "technical" offices by USAID staff, these offices design and manage the technical and financial assistance that USAID provides to their local counterparts' projects. The technical offices that are frequently found in USAID missions include Health and Family Planning, Education, Environment, Democracy, and Economic Growth.

====Health and Family Planning====
Examples of projects assisted by missions' Health and Family Planning offices are projects for the eradication of communicable diseases, strengthening of public health systems focusing on maternal-child health including family planning services, [[HIV/AIDS|HIV-AIDS]] monitoring, delivery of medical supplies including contraceptives and [[HIV]] vaccines, and coordination of Demographic and Health Surveys. This assistance is primarily targeted to the poor majority of the population and corresponds to USAID's poverty relief objective, as well as strengthening the basis for socio-economic development.

====Education====
USAID's Education offices mainly assist the national school system, emphasizing broadening the coverage of quality basic education to reach the entire population. Examples of projects often assisted{{citation needed|date=August 2022}} by Education offices are projects for curriculum development, teacher training, and provision of improved textbooks and materials. Larger programs have included school construction. Education offices often manage scholarship programs for training in the U.S., while assistance to the country's universities and professional education institutions may be provided by Economic Growth and Health offices. The Education office's emphasis on school access for the poor majority of the population corresponds to USAID's poverty relief objective, as well as to the socioeconomic development objective in the long term.

====Environment====
Examples of projects assisted by environmental offices are projects for tropical forest conservation, protection of indigenous people's lands, regulation of marine fishing industries, pollution control, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and helping communities adapt to climate change. Environment assistance corresponds to USAID's objective of technical cooperation on global issues, as well as laying a sustainable basis for USAID's socioeconomic development objective in the long term.

USAID (United States Agency for International Development) has recently initiated the HEARTH (Health, Ecosystems and Agriculture for Resilient, Thriving Societies) program, which operates in 10 countries with 15 activities aimed at promoting conservation of threatened landscapes and enhancing community well-being by partnering with the private sector to align business goals with development objectives. Through HEARTH, USAID implements One Health principles to achieve sustainable benefits for both people and the environment through projects focused on livelihoods, well-being, conservation, biodiversity, and governance.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shen |first1=Jianzhong |last2=Schwarz |first2=Stefan |date=2023-03-29 |title=Introducing One Health Advances: a new journal connecting the dots for global health |journal=One Health Advances |volume=1 |issue=1 |page=1 |doi=10.1186/s44280-023-00011-1 |doi-access=free |pmid=37521534 |issn=2731-9970|pmc=10049891 }}</ref>

====Democracy====
Examples of projects assisted by Democracy offices are projects for the country's political institutions, including elections, political parties, legislatures, and human rights organizations. Counterparts include the judicial sector and civil society organizations that monitor government performance. Democracy assistance received its greatest impetus at the time of the creation of the successor states to the USSR starting in about 1990, corresponding both to USAID's objective of supporting U.S. bilateral interests and to USAID's socioeconomic development objective.

====Economic Growth====
[[File:Dry Fruit Wala. Peshawar.jpg|thumb|A dried fruit vendor in Peshawar, Pakistan (2007)]]
Examples of projects often assisted by Economic Growth offices are projects for improvements in agricultural techniques and marketing (the mission may have a specialized "Agriculture" office), development of microfinance industries, streamlining of Customs administrations (to accelerate the growth of exporting industries), and modernization of government regulatory frameworks for the industry in various sectors (telecommunications, agriculture, and so forth). In USAID's early years and some larger programs, Economic Growth offices have financed economic infrastructure like roads and electrical power plants. Economic Growth assistance is thus quite diverse in terms of the range of sectors where it may work. It corresponds to USAID's socioeconomic development objective and is the source of sustainable poverty reduction. Economic Growth offices also occasionally manage assistance to poverty relief projects, such as to government programs that provide "cash transfer" payments to low-income families.

====Special assistance====
Some USAID missions have specialized technical offices for areas like counter-narcotics assistance or assistance in conflict zones.

Disaster assistance on a large scale is provided through USAID's [[Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance|Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance]]. Rather than having a permanent presence in country missions, this office has supplies pre-positioned in strategic locations to respond quickly to disasters when and where they occur.<ref>{{cite web|last1=USAID|title=Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance|url=https://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/organization/bureaus/bureau-democracy-conflict-and-humanitarian-assistance/office-us|access-date=13 June 2017|date=November 15, 2016}}</ref>

===The Office of the Mission Director and the Program Office===
The Mission Director's signature authorizes technical offices to assist according to the designs and budgets they propose. With the help of the Program Office, the Mission Director ensures that designs are consistent with USAID policy for the country, including budgetary earmarks by which Washington directs that funds be used for certain general purposes such as public health or environmental conservation. The Program Office compiles combined reports to Washington to support budget requests to Congress and to verify that budgets were used as planned.

===Contracting, financial management and management offices===
While the Mission Director is the public face and key decision-maker for an impressive array of USAID technical capabilities, arguably the offices that make USAID preeminent among U.S. government agencies in the ability to follow through on assistance agreements in low-income countries are the "support" offices.

====Contracting====
Commitments of U.S. government funds to NGOs and firms that implement USAID's assistance programs can only be made in compliance with carefully designed contracts and grant agreements executed by warranted Contracting and Agreement Officers. The Mission Director is authorized to commit financial assistance directly to the country's government agencies.

====Financial management====
Funds can be committed only when the Mission's Controller certifies their availability for the stated purpose. "FM" offices assist technical offices in financial analysis and in developing detailed budgets for inputs needed by projects assisted. They evaluate potential recipients' management abilities before financial assistance can be authorized and then review implementers' expenditure reports with great care. This office often has the largest number of staff of any office in the mission.

====Management====
Called the "Executive Office" in USAID (sometimes leading to confusion with the Embassy's Executive Office, which is the office of the Ambassador), "EXO" provides operational support for mission offices, including human resources, information systems management, transportation, property, and procurement services. Increasing integration into Embassies' chancery complexes, and the State Department's recently increased role in providing support services to USAID, is expanding the importance of coordination between USAID's EXO and the Embassy's Management section.

==Assistance projects==
While the terms "assistance project" and "development project" might sometimes be used indiscriminately, it helps in understanding USAID's work to make a distinction. (1) Development is what developing countries do. Development projects are projects of local government agencies and NGOs, such as projects to improve public services or business regulations, etc. (2) Assistance is what USAID does. USAID's assistance projects support local development projects.

The key to a successful development project is the institutional capacity of local organizations, including the professional ability of their staff members. The key to successful assistance is how well it fits the needs of local development projects, including institutional capacity building and supporting professional education and training for staff.

When a local development project's assistance needs have been identified, USAID arranges the agreed assistance through funding agreements with implementing organizations, referred to by USAID staff as "implementing partners". USAID finances several types of implementers using a variety of funding agreements.

To illustrate, USAID might assist a development project with inputs provided through several different funding agreements:

# A budget-support grant to a government agency.
# A contract with a firm for support to the agency.
# A grant to a local NGO serving the beneficiary group.
# A grant to an international NGO to strengthen the operations of the local NGO.

Each of these types of USAID funding agreements is profiled below.

===Budget support to a government agency===
This funding agreement would take the form of a letter from USAID's Mission Director, countersigned by the recipient agency, explaining the agency's objectives, the amount of USAID's financial commitment, the specific expenditures to be financed by USAID's grant, and other operational aspects of the agreement.

USAID's technical office would assign a staff member (U.S. or local) to oversee progress in the agency's implementation. USAID's financial management office would transfer funds to the agency, in tranches as needed. Audit under this kind of government-to-government (G2G) financial assistance is usually performed by the host government's own audit agency.

===Contract for technical assistance to a government agency===
As a government agency is usually specialized in services to the beneficiary population (medical services, for example), its staff may not be equipped to undertake planning and evaluation, construction, acquisition of equipment, or management of training and study tours. The government agency might, therefore, request USAID's assistance in these areas, and USAID could respond by contracting with a firm to supply the services or technical assistance requested.

USAID's technical office would collaborate with the government agency in drafting the specifications for what is needed (generally referred to as a "Statement of Work" for the contract) and in conducting market research for available sources and potential bidders. USAID's Contracting Officer would then advertise for bids, manage the selection of a contractor from among the competing bidders, sign the contract, and assign a technical-office staff member as the Contracting Officer's Representative to oversee the performance under the contract. (If the workload permits, this staff member might be the same person who oversees USAID's financial assistance to the government agency.)

The contractor supplies technical assistance directly to the government agency, so that in monitoring contractor performance USAID relies substantially on the agency's evaluation of the contractor's work.

===Grant to finance NGO services to a beneficiary group===
Non-governmental organizations are, like their government counterparts, usually already engaged in service provision in areas where USAID wants to assist, and they often have unique abilities that complement public programs. Therefore, USAID technical-office staff might set aside a budget and, with the help of the mission's contracting office, publish a solicitation for applications from NGOs for financial assistance to their programs. One or several grants could be made to selected NGOs by the contracting office's "Agreement Officer". Similar to the case of a contract, a USAID technical-office staff member would be assigned as the Agreement Officer's Representative to monitor progress in the NGOs' implementation and to arrange for external evaluations. USAID grants require recipient NGOs to contract for external audits.

As some local NGOs may be small and young organizations with no prior experience in receiving awards from USAID, the USAID mission's financial management office reviews grant applicants' administrative systems to ensure that they are capable of managing U.S. government funds. Where necessary, USAID can devote part of the grant to the NGO's internal strengthening to help the NGO qualify for USAID's financing and build the capacity of the organization in the process. Following completion of the NGO's internal strengthening, USAID would disburse financing for the NGO's service project.

===Grant to international NGOs for technical assistance===
International NGOs have their own development projects and capabilities. If USAID and its counterparts determine that development objectives can best be met by supporting an NGO project, and if local NGO capacity is not yet sufficient, the relevant USAID technical office will draft a program description and the contracting office will issue as a request for applications to solicit responses from the international NGO community. USAID manages the award and implementation processes in the same way as for local NGOs.

Also, international NGOs frequently make unsolicited proposals to USAID, requesting funding for their own planned assistance activities. Where NGOs or business enterprises are dedicating a substantial amount of non-governmental resources to their projects, they can receive USAID funding through "Global Development Alliance" grants, provided that the non-governmental resources are at least equal in value to USAID's grant.

In general, USAID provides financial assistance to support other organizations' programs when those programs correspond to the areas that USAID wants to support, while USAID uses contracts to procure products or services requested by the leaders of local development projects.

===Other mechanisms===
In addition to the types of projects described above, USAID uses various other assistance mechanisms for different U.S. objectives.

====Budget agreements====
Budget agreements with other federal agencies are common in supporting collaboration between the U.S. and other countries on global issues. Large budget-support grants, referred to as "non-project" assistance, may be made to recipient governments to pursue U.S. foreign policy interests.

====Cases of integration with U.S. military operations====
In the exceptional circumstances of Vietnam in the 1960s and Afghanistan and Iraq in the 2000s, the government of the United States had USAID integrate selected staff with U.S. military units for "counterinsurgency" (COIN) operations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Coffey |first1=Ross (Major, U.S. Army) |title=Revisiting CORDS: The Need for Unity of Effort to Secure Victory in Iraq |journal=Military Review |date=March–April 2006 |pages=24–34 |url=https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=483590 |access-date=22 July 2021}}</ref> The integrated institutions were "CORDS" in Vietnam ("[[Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support]]") and "PRTs" in Afghanistan and Iraq ("[[Provincial Reconstruction Teams]]").

Counterinsurgency operations were undertaken in localities where insurgents were vying with the national government for control. In Vietnam, for example, these were areas where there was what the United States government called "Viet Cong infrastructure".<ref>Coffey. p. 31</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Robert Leith |title=Blowtorch: Robert Komer, Vietnam, and American Cold War Strategy |date=2013 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, MD |isbn=9781612512280}}</ref>

USAID's role was to assist the national government in strengthening its local governance and service capabilities, and in providing direct services to local residents.

In these areas, the national government could not provide physical security against attacks by insurgent forces. The role of the U.S. military assistance in COIN was, therefore, to combat insurgent military forces and to protect the civilian work of USAID and the national government. The military also contributed substantial resources for assistance projects.

The overall purpose of U.S. civilian-military assistance was to give the national government a capable and uncontested local presence.

In each of these countries, USAID also administered substantial conventional assistance programs that were not under the U.S. military chain of command.

The US military is assisting USAid in 2024.<ref> {{Cite news |last=Youssef |first=Nancy A. |title=Pentagon Shuts Down Floating Pier for Gaza Aid After Storm Damage |url=https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/pentagon-shuts-down-floating-pier-after-storm-damage-2017a811 |access-date=2024-06-05 |work=WSJ |language=en-US}}</ref>

==History==
When the U.S. government created USAID in November 1961, it built on a legacy of previous development-assistance agencies and their people, budgets, and operating procedures. USAID's predecessor agency was already substantial, with 6,400 U.S. staff in developing-country field missions in 1961. Except for the peak years of the Vietnam War, 1965–70, that was more U.S. field staff than USAID would have in the future, and triple the number USAID has had in field missions in the years since 2000.<ref>Data from USAID reports, "Distribution of Personnel as of June 30, 1949 thru 1976," "Supporting the USAID Mission, and the "USAID Staffing Report to Congress" of 2016.  See full citations in "References," below.</ref>

Although the size of the development-assistance effort was not new, the 1961 decision to reorganize the government's main development-assistance agency was a landmark in terms of institutional evolution, representing the culmination of twenty years' experience with different organizational forms and procedures, in changing foreign-policy environments.

The new structure created in 1961 "proved to be sturdy and durable".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Butterfield|title=U.S. Development Aid|page=60}}</ref> In particular, the U.S. government has maintained since then "the unique American pattern of placing strong resident aid missions in countries that [the U.S. was] helping."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Butterfield|title=U.S. Development Aid|page=37}}</ref>

The story of how the base for USAID's structure was built is described below, along with an account of changes that have been made since 1961.<ref>A history of all the programs that USAID has supported since 1961, in scores of countries, plus the evolution of U.S. government policies and academic theories about development and development assistance, to say nothing of the development in the low-income countries themselves, would require enough books to fill a library.  For a start, see Samuel Butterfield's ''U.S. Development Aid'' (2004).</ref>

===Before World War II===
The realization that early industrializers like the United States could provide technical assistance to other countries' development efforts spread gradually in the late 1800s, leading to a substantial number of visits to other countries by U.S. technical experts, generally with official support by the U.S. government even when the missions were unofficial. [[Japan]], China, Turkey, and several Latin American countries requested missions on subjects like fiscal management, monetary institutions, election management, mining, schooling, roads, flood control, and urban sanitation. The U.S. government also initiated missions, particularly to Central America and the Caribbean, when it felt that U.S. interests might be affected by crises like failed elections, debt defaults, or spread of infectious disease.<ref>Merle Curti and Kendall Birr, "Prelude to Point Four: American Technical Missions Overseas, 1838–1938" (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1954).</ref>

U.S. technical missions in this era were not part of a systematic, government-supported program. Possibly the closest approximation to what U.S. government development assistance would become was the China Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Culture,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chinafound.org.tw/ec99/eshop1387/e_profile.asp |title=China Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Culture |access-date=December 26, 2014 |archive-date=December 21, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221015955/http://www.chinafound.org.tw/ec99/eshop1387/e_profile.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> established by the United States in 1924 using funds provided by China as reparations following the "Boxer" conflict. The foundation's activities ranged widely and included support for development of a leading Chinese university, [[Tsinghua University]].

A notable early example of U.S. government foreign assistance for disaster relief was its contribution to the 1915 [[Committee for Relief in Belgium]] headed by [[Herbert Hoover]], to prevent starvation in [[Belgium]] after the German invasion. After World War I in 1919, the U.S. government created the American Relief Administration, also headed by Hoover, which provided food primarily in Eastern Europe.

Between the two world wars, U.S. assistance to low-income countries was often a private initiative, including the work of private foundations such as the Rockefeller Foundation and the Near East Foundation.<ref>For information on the Near East Foundation, see {{cite web|title=Near East Foundation|url=http://www.neareast.org/}}  Also {{cite book|last1=Badeau|first1=John S.|last2=Stevens|first2=G. G.|title=Bread from stones: fifty years of technical assistance|date=1966|publisher=Prentice-Hall|location=Englewood Cliffs, N.J.}}</ref> The Rockefeller Foundation, for example, assisted the breeding of improved maize and wheat varieties in Latin America and supported public health initiatives in Asia.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fosdick|first1=R. B.|title=The story of the Rockefeller Foundation|date=1952|publisher=Harper|location=New York City|edition=1st}}</ref>

===Institutionalization of American development aid===
The coming of World War II stimulated the U.S. government to create what proved to be permanent, sustained foreign aid programs that evolved into USAID.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=William Adams Jr.|last2=Opie|first2=Redvers|title=American Foreign Assistance|date=1953|publisher=The Brookings Institution|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> U.S. development assistance focussed initially on Latin America. Since countries in the region were regularly requesting expert assistance from U.S. cabinet departments, an Interdepartmental Committee on Cooperation with the American Republics was established in 1938, with the State Department in the chair, to ensure systematic responses.<ref>{{cite web|title=Records of Interdepartmental Committees|date=August 15, 2016|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/353.html|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|access-date=17 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Glick|first1=Philip|title=The Administration of Technical Assistance|date=1957|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|pages=7–9}}</ref>

More ambitiously, the U.S. subsequently created an institution that for the first time would take an active role in development assistance programming: the [[Institute of Inter-American Affairs]] (IIAA), chartered in March 1942. The I+institute was the initiative of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, Nelson Rockefeller, the future Vice President of the United States, whose family financed the Rockefeller Foundation. IIAA's 1,400 employees provided technical assistance across Central and South America for economic stabilization, food supply, health, and sanitation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's [[Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations]] (OFAR) also began during the war to assist Latin American countries in food production. U.S. benefits included development of sources for raw materials that had been disrupted by the war.<ref>Erb, Claude (1985). "Prelude to Point Four: The Institute of Inter-American Affairs". ''Diplomatic History''. 9 (3).</ref><ref>[http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pcaab967.pdf Office of Inter-American Affairs, ''History of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs: Historical Reports on War Administration'' (Government Printing Office; Washington, DC, 1947).]</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Anthony|first1=Edwin D.|title=Records of the Office of Inter-American Affairs|date=1973|publisher=National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://www.archives.gov/files/research/foreign-policy/related-records/rg-229-inter-american-affairs.pdf|access-date=8 February 2017}}</ref>

IIAA's operational approach set the pattern for subsequent U.S. government technical assistance in developing countries, including ultimately USAID.<ref>Ruttan (1996), p. 37</ref> In each country, a program comprising a group of projects in a given sector—health, food supply, or schools—was planned and implemented jointly by U.S. and local staff working in an office located in the developing country itself.<ref>Glick (1957), pp. 17ff and Mosher (1957), pp. 323–328</ref> In IIAA's case the offices were called "''servicios''".
 
After the end of the war in 1945, IIAA was transferred to the State Department. Based on positive evaluations from the U.S. Ambassadors in Latin America, the State Department succeeded in getting congressional authorization to extend IIAA, initially through 1950 and then through 1955.<ref>Glick (1957), pp. 26–28</ref> OFAR continued to operate separately until 1954 and the [[Smith-Mundt Act]] of 1948 also supported technical assistance in agriculture.<ref>OFAR was an office in USDA between 1939 and 1953.  In this period, the [[Foreign Agricultural Service]] reported to the Department of State rather than to USDA. See {{cite web|last1=National Archives and Records Administration|title=Records of the Foreign Agricultural Service|date=August 15, 2016|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/166.html|access-date=17 June 2017}}</ref>
 
In January 1949, President Truman, responding to advice from staff who had worked with IIAA,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Butterfield|title=U.S. Development Aid|pages=2–4}}</ref> proposed a globalized version of the program as the fourth element of his overall foreign policy—"Point Four". The purpose of the program was to provide technical knowledge to aid the growth of underdeveloped countries around the world. After a lengthy debate, Congress approved Point Four in 1950<ref>{{cite web |title=Title IV of the Foreign Economic Assistance Act of 1950 (PL 81-535) |website=[[Library of Congress]] |url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/81st-congress/session-2/c81s2ch220.pdf |access-date=25 April 2019 |pages=204–209 |quote=Act for International Development.}}</ref> and the [[Technical Cooperation Administration]] (TCA) was established within the Department of State in September 1950 to administer it.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |title=Records of U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies, 1948-1961 |date=August 15, 2016 |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/469.html#469.6 |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2 October 2018}}</ref>

After an initial attempt to operate in the mode of the old Interdepartmental Committee and to merely coordinate programs of other agencies (such as IIAA), TCA adopted an integrated implementation mechanism in November 1951.<ref>Glick (1957), pp. 35–39. The revised operating procedure was modeled on reforms that had been pioneered by IIAA in March 1951.]</ref> In an approach that was greatly expanded after 1953, some early technical assistance projects were implemented by U.S. universities under contract to TCA. University project staff in some cases helped perform administrative functions in TCA missions that were in the process of being set up.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Andrews |first1=Stanley |title=University Contracts: A Review and Comment on Selected University Contracts in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia |date=August 1961 |publisher=Technical Assistance Study Group, International Cooperation Administration}}</ref>

===Maturation of American development assistance institutions===
While U.S. government development assistance was institutionalized on a nearly global scale by TCA, strong currents of change in U.S. foreign economic policy during the 1950s affected how development assistance worked and at times called its continued existence into question. When this process finally resulted in the creation of USAID in 1961, USAID continued to use TCA's core mechanism—providing technical assistance led by in-country resident offices—and supplemented it with substantial amounts of financial assistance.

====Post-war foreign aid====
Point Four and TCA had been established in the context of several other programs in the large-scale U.S. foreign aid effort of the 1940s.<ref>Brown & Opie (1953).</ref> Already during the war, in 1943, the U.S. (jointly with its wartime allies, referred to collectively as "the United Nations") established the "United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration" ([[UNRRA]]) for war-affected parts of Europe, China, the Philippines, Korea, and Ethiopia.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ninth and Final Financial Report of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration |date=March 1949 |publisher=UNRRA |location=Washington, D.C. |page=25 |hdl=2027/nnc1.cu03384870 }}</ref> Immediately after the war, the United States government supplied relief in Germany and Japan, funded by appropriations for "Government and Relief in Occupied Areas" ([[GARIOA]]).<ref>Brown & Opie (1953), pp. 108–109.</ref>

Relief was quickly followed by reconstruction assistance. In 1946, the U.S. created a special financial-assistance program for rehabilitation of war damages in its former possession, the Philippines.<ref>By the program's completion in March 1951, the U.S. had provided $388 million for private property claims and $55 million for public property reconstruction.  (See {{cite book |last1=Waring |first1=Frank A. |last2=Delgado |first2=Francisco A. |last3=O'Donnell |first3=John A. |title=Rehabilitation of the Philippines: Final and Ninth Semiannual Report of the United States Philippine War Damage Commission |date=March 31, 1951 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington D.C. |hdl=2027/mdp.39015039449130 }}) The following month, in April 1951, the U.S. and the Philippines signed an agreement for the U.S. to open an aid office (a Special Technical and Economic Mission). (See {{cite book |title=Thirteenth Report to Congress of the Economic Cooperation Administration: Supplement |pages=58–65 |hdl=2027/umn.31951d03727992c }})</ref> In 1948, reconstruction assistance was expanded through the [[Marshall Plan]], implemented by the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA), mainly for Western Europe. In the same year, the U.S. and China established the [[Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction]],<ref>Brown & Opie (1953), pp. 341–342.</ref> which, starting on the mainland and continuing for two decades in Taiwan, provided sustained development assistance.

Also, the [[Fulbright Program]] of academic exchanges was established in 1946, globalizing the wartime program of exchange visits between professionals from Latin America and the United States.

In contrast to the [[Marshall Plan]], Point Four focussed on technical assistance and provided financial assistance only in limited amounts to support its technical initiatives.

In terms of geographic focus, while the Marshall Plan and Point Four mainly operated in different countries, the Marshall Plan also expanded into developing nations. In particular, the Marshall Plan financed activities in:
* Overseas territories of European allies, including territories in Africa.
* "The general area of China"—Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Burma, and the Philippines.
In the countries referred to as being in the general area of China, the Marshall Plan (ECA) operated through Special Technical and Economic Missions (STEMs). The STEMs were set up in 1950 and 1951, and had a "Point Four character" in the sense that they emphasized services by technical experts.<ref>Hayes (1971), pp. 44–52.</ref>

Minimizing overlaps with the Marshall Plan, Point Four managed assistance mainly in:
* Latin America (via IIAA).
* India, Pakistan, and Ceylon.<ref>Brown & Opie (1953), pp. 412–414.</ref>

The U.S. also participated in post-1945 UN initiatives for technical assistance to developing countries. Through a series of actions in 1948 and 1949, the UN's General Assembly and Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) created the [[Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance]] (EPTA).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jolly|first1=Richard|last2=Emmerji|first2=Louis|last3=Ghai|first3=Dharam|last4=Lapeyre|first4=Frederic|title=UN Contributions to Development Thinking and Practice|date=2004|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, IN|pages=68–73}}</ref> The U.S. provided 60% of EPTA's financing.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kirdar|first1=Üner|title=The Structure of United Nations Economic-Aid to Underdeveloped Countries|url=https://archive.org/details/structureofunite0000kird|url-access=registration|date=1966|publisher=M. Nijhoff|location=The Hague|page=[https://archive.org/details/structureofunite0000kird/page/60 60]}}</ref> By 1955, EPTA adopted a country-led approach where the UN's TA in each country was programmed according to a plan drawn up by the receiving country in consultation with the UN. ECOSOC also created a new Technical Assistance Board, which (similarly to the United States' wartime Interdepartmental Committee) coordinated the TA being provided to low-income countries by various individual UN agencies.

====Korean War====
Coordination between development assistance and the Marshall Plan was tightened in response to the 1950–51 war in Korea. In October 1951 Congress passed the [[Mutual Security Act]], creating the [[Mutual Security Agency]] (MSA), which reported directly to the President and supervised both civilian and military assistance. MSA increased the emphasis on large-scale financial assistance to U.S. allies, which was provided as civilian "economic assistance" but was intended to help the allies to make greater military efforts and was therefore often called "defense support".<ref>The name under which Congress appropriates these funds has changed over time, becoming "Supporting Assistance" in 1961, "Security Supporting Assistance" in 1971, and finally "Economic Support Funds" from 1978 to the present. See Nowels (1987), pp. 5–6.</ref>

The Mutual Security Agency absorbed the Marshall Plan (the ECA), which otherwise had been scheduled to end in 1952. The Technical Cooperation Administration remained a semi-autonomous agency in the State Department to administer Point Four, but after 1951 under the supervision of MSA.<ref>Butterfield (2004), p. 37.</ref> Under this coordinated approach, the policy was adopted that ECA and TCA would not both operate in the same country ("one country—one agency"). Accordingly, each agency transferred programs to the other and closed down in some countries.<ref>Bingham (2004), pp. 262–263.</ref> For example, in Indonesia and Burma, ECA closed its financial-assistance programs, while TCA initiated technical assistance.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oral History Interview with Stanley Andrews |url=https://www.trumanlibrary.org/oralhist/andrewss.htm |publisher=Harry S. Truman Library & Museum |access-date=22 April 2019 |pages=42–44}}</ref>

====Eisenhower administration====
In 1953, the administration of Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower took office. The President's party, which had been out of the White House since 1933,<ref>The only times the Republican Party had a majority in either house of Congress in the 48-year span from 1933 to 1981 was in 1947-1949 when it enjoyed small majorities in both houses in the 80th Congress under Pres. Truman and in 1953-1955 when it had majorities in both houses of the 83rd Congress under Pres. Eisenhower.</ref> took a critical view of the previous administrations' policies, including both the globalizing policies of the 1940s and the New Deal initiatives of the 1930s.<ref>The New Deal's Tennessee Valley Authority was the model for some major development assistance projects. See Ekbladh (2002).</ref>
 
An overall goal of the new administration was to administer the government efficiently and cut spending.<ref>Kaufman (1982), p. 14.</ref> While TCA's technical assistance to developing countries was a small budget item and was considered a long-term program (although fresh funds were appropriated annually), "economic assistance" (or "defense support") was considered an inherently short-term measure.<ref>Bingham (1953), p. 38.</ref> In place of U.S. economic assistance, the Eisenhower administration proposed that U.S. allies should increasingly finance themselves through their own exports: in other words, through "trade not aid".<ref>Kaufman (1982), ch. 2, pp. 12–33.</ref> With respect to financial assistance for developing countries, the policy was maintained that it should be provided primarily by the U.S. Export-Import Bank and by the World Bank,<ref>U.S. documents of the 1950s usually referred to the World Bank as "the International Bank."</ref> and that it should be available only on commercial terms and primarily to finance private investment.<ref>Glick (1957), pp. 130–136: "The Relation of Technical Co-operation to Economic Aid."</ref>

To administer the foreign assistance more efficiently, President Eisenhower integrated management into a single agency, the newly created [[Foreign Operations Administration]] (FOA).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Eisenhower |first1=Dwight D. |title=Special Message to the Congress on the Organization of the Executive Branch for the Conduct of Foreign Affairs |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-the-congress-the-organization-the-executive-branch-for-the-conduct-foreign |website=The American Presidency Project |publisher=UC–Santa Barbara |access-date=26 April 2019 |date=June 1, 1953}}</ref> MSA, TCA (which had been under MSA's direction), and IIAA (which had been part of TCA) were all abolished as of August 1953 and their country offices became "United States Operations Missions" (USOMs) under FOA.<ref>Bingham (2004), p. 240.</ref> The President directed other U.S. government agencies to put their technical assistance in developing countries under FOA's management as well. USDA in particular transferred OFAR's programs to FOA, while reconstituting the [[Foreign Agricultural Service]] for the task of building global markets for U.S. farm products.<ref>Glick (1957) p. 49.</ref>

Administrative functions were consolidated as the various agencies came into FOA, and the Mutual Security Act of July 1953 instructed FOA to reduce personnel by at least 10% within 120 days.<ref>{{cite web|last1=U.S. Government|title=Mutual Security Act of 1953|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-67/pdf/STATUTE-67-Pg152.pdf|at=Section 706(a)|access-date=21 June 2017|date=July 16, 1953}}</ref> A large number of TCA's senior professionals were summarily dismissed, and FOA's administrator mounted an effort to compensate for lower U.S. government staffing by drawing on experts from U.S. universities and private voluntary organizations.<ref>Ruttan (1996), p. 205.</ref> The ExIm Bank's lending volume in developing countries was also cut dramatically in 1953.<ref>Kaufman (1982), pp. 29–33.</ref>

While a "trade not aid" strategy required the U.S. to import more goods from its allies, the administration was unable to convince Congress to liberalize import policy.<ref>Kaufman (1982), pp. 37–46.</ref> On the contrary, the main foreign commercial measure taken at this time went in the other direction: the U.S. ramped up subsidies for exports of U.S. agricultural products. The 1953 amendment to the Mutual Security Act and the much larger Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, known as "PL-480", allowed the U.S. government to buy U.S. farm surpluses and sell them in developing countries for inconvertible local currencies.<ref>Kaufman (1982), pp. 26–29.  Sen. Hubert Humphrey was a prominent supporter of the PL-480 concept.</ref><ref>A currency is "inconvertible" when the government forbids it to be used to buy foreign exchange, so that it can only be spent in the country that issues it.</ref> Much of PL-480's foreign-currency revenue was returned to developing countries as a supplement to U.S. development assistance. PL-480 revenues in the first twenty years were sometimes huge and although PL-480 has become smaller it continues to provide resources to USAID for nutrition and disaster relief programs.<ref>{{cite web|last1=USAID|title=Food Assistance|url=https://www.usaid.gov/what-we-do/agriculture-and-food-security/food-assistance|access-date=19 June 2017|date=2017}}</ref>
 
Several factors arose that favored large-scale economic assistance to developing countries, especially in Asia. [[South Korea]] needed massive economic assistance after an armistice was finally signed in July 1953,<ref>Mason, Kim ''et al.''. (1980), chapter 6.</ref> and U.S. economic assistance to South Vietnam increased after the retreat of France in 1954.<ref>Ruttan (1996), pp. 259–260.</ref> On a global scale, the Cold War after the death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953 evolved in the direction of rivalry over influence in low-income countries who were seeking financing for their development initiatives. India was a particular case of a country where the U.S. felt it needed to provide economic assistance to balance the USSR's influence, even though India was not a U.S. military ally.<ref>Ruttan (1996), pp. 72–73.</ref> These considerations led to advocacy of expanded economic assistance by several voices within the Eisenhower administration: the FOA Director, former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen; national security advisor [[Charles Douglas Jackson]] (who drew on advice from MIT economists Max Millikan and Walt Rostow); and leading officials in the State Department and the National Security Council.

In June 1954, Congress raised the ExIm Bank's lending authority from $4.5 billion to $5 billion.<ref>Kaufman (1982), p. 32.</ref> Pres. Eisenhower also created in December 1954 a Cabinet-level Council on Foreign Economic Policy,<ref>Kaufman (1982), p. 37.</ref> which in March 1955 recommended expanded soft loans for development. In April 1955, Pres. Eisenhower proposed a special economic fund for Asia.<ref name="Kaufman 1982, p. 52"/>

To implement Congress's August 1954 decision that technical assistance for developing countries should be put back under the State Department,<ref>{{cite web|last1=U.S. Government|title=Mutual Security Act of 1953|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-67/pdf/STATUTE-67-Pg152.pdf|access-date=21 June 2017|date=1953}}</ref> Pres. Eisenhower abolished FOA in May 1955 and created the new [[International Cooperation Administration]] (ICA) in the State Department.<ref name="auto"/> This separated development assistance from military assistance.<ref name="Kaufman 1982, p. 52">Kaufman (1982), p. 52.</ref>

====Resolving debate over foreign aid====
Some voices in the administration continued to point in the opposite direction: for example, Under Secretary of State Herbert Hoover Jr. and the new ICA head, John Hollister, who represented more frugal attitudes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kaufman |first1=B. Ira |title=Trade and aid : Eisenhower's foreign economic policy, 1953-1961 |url=https://archive.org/details/tradeaideisenhow00kauf_0 |url-access=registration |date=1982 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |page=[https://archive.org/details/tradeaideisenhow00kauf_0/page/82 82]|isbn=9780801826238 }}</ref> Given the lack of consensus, Pres. Eisenhower and Congress conducted in 1956 several studies to give foreign aid policy a more solid basis. Mainly delivered in early 1957, the reports included an updated version of the essay by Millikan and Rostow that C.D. Jackson had circulated in 1954.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 1951900|title = Foreign Aid and the Policy Process: 1957|journal = The American Political Science Review|volume = 52|issue = 3|pages = 689–724|last1 = Haviland|first1 = H. Field|year = 1958|doi = 10.2307/1951900| s2cid=144564474 }}</ref>

The overall view that emerged was that sustained development assistance would have long-term benefits for the U.S. position in the world and, more specifically, that developing countries needed substantial financial assistance in the form of low-interest loans.<ref>Kaufman (1982), pp. 96ff.</ref> Developing countries particularly needed softer financing to invest in public health systems, schools, and economic infrastructure, for which "hard", commercial lending was unsuitable.<ref>An expanding academic literature also featured models that assumed that low-income countries would grow virtually automatically if sufficient macroeconomic financing was provided. See Ruttan (1996), pp. 89–91.</ref> Personnel changes soon reflected this change in the administration's view: Christian Herter succeeded Herbert Hoover Jr. as Under Secretary of State in February 1957, Robert Anderson succeeded George Humphrey as Treasury Secretary in July 1957, and James H. Smith Jr. replaced John Hollister as ICA Director in September 1957.<ref>Haviland (1958), pp. 690, 691, 696.</ref>
 
Pres. Eisenhower summarized the conclusions in his May 21, 1957 message to Congress:

"This past year ... Congressional Committees, the Executive Branch and distinguished private citizens have just examined these programs anew. ... I recommend the following legislative actions: ... economic development assistance should be provided primarily through loans, continuingly, and related closely to technical assistance. ... I recommend a clear separation of military and defense support assistance on the one hand, from economic development assistance on the other. ... I recommend that long[-]term development assistance be provided from a Development Loan Fund. ... Such loans should not compete with or replace such existing sources of credit [to] private investors, the International Bank [the World Bank], or the Export-Import Bank. ... I believe the Fund should be established and administered in the International Cooperation Administration. ... The technical cooperation program is one of the most valuable elements of our entire mutual security effort. It also should be continued on a long-term basis and must be closely related to the work of the Fund."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Eisenhower |first1=Dwight D. |title=Special Message to the Congress on the Mutual Security Programs |date=May 21, 1957 |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-the-congress-the-mutual-security-programs |website=The American Presidency Project |publisher=UC-–Santa Barbara |access-date=2 May 2019}}</ref>
 
As a result, the Development Loan Fund was established in August 1957. The DLF largely financed infrastructure (such as railroads, highways, and power plants), factories, and agriculture with loans whose terms were relatively "soft" in the sense of charging interest rates lower than commercial levels and being repayable in local currency rather than U.S. dollars.<ref>Local-currency repayments were adjusted when exchange rates changed to maintain their value in terms of U.S. dollars.</ref> Some projects were financed by a combination of a DLF soft loan and a harder World Bank loan.<ref>{{cite web|last1=USAID|title=Terminal Report of the Development Loan Fund|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pdabc787.pdf|access-date=19 June 2017|pages=3–4|date=1962}}</ref> Operationally, the DLF became administratively self-contained by 1959 after contracting for administrative support from ICA for its first two years.<ref>Terminal Report of the DLF, p. 6.</ref> Also, the Export-Import Bank's lending limit was raised in 1958 from $5 billion to $7 billion,<ref>Kaufman (1982), p. 167</ref> and the administration advocated in January 1959 an expanded "food for peace" program.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Eisenhower |first1=Dwight D. |title=Special Message to the Congress on Agriculture |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-the-congress-agriculture-3 |date=January 29, 1959 |website=The American Presidency Project |publisher=UC–Santa Barbara |access-date=2 May 2019}}</ref>

The overall trend in U.S. government development-assistance activity in the 1950s is indicated by the change in the number of U.S. staff in field missions, which during Pres. Eisenhower's years in office from 1953 to 1961 rose from 2,839 to 6,387.<ref name="USAID 1976">Data from USAID, "Distribution of Personnel as of June 30, 1949 thru 1976."</ref>

====Multilateral Initiatives====
As the U.S. expanded its development-assistance efforts in the course of the 1950s, other industrial countries were recovering economically from World War II and were increasingly able to engage in development assistance. The U.S. supported their involvement through several multilateral initiatives.

Three of these initiatives expanded World Bank facilities.
* In November 1954, the U.S. decided to endorse the World Bank's proposed International Finance Corporation, which would raise funds from global capital markets to lend to the private sector in developing countries.<ref>Kaufman (1982), pp. 46–49.</ref> The IFC was finally established in 1956.
* With Senator [[Mike Monroney]] playing a prominent role, Congress approved in July 1958 another new World Bank facility, the International Development Association (IDA). Funded by grants from industrialized countries, the IDA would make low-interest credits to developing countries for projects like public works. The IDA formally came into being in September 1960, with the U.S. contributing 42% of its initial resources.<ref>Mason, Edward; Asher, Robert (1973). ''The World Bank Since Bretton Woods''. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution. pp. 381–389.</ref><ref>[http://siteresources.worldbank.org/IDA/Resources/ida-articlesofagreement.pdf International Development Association. "Articles of Agreement, Schedule A"]
IDA-articlesofagreement.pdf. Retrieved 16 September 2018.</ref>
* Also in 1958, the United States proposed doubling industrialized countries' contributions to the World Bank, raising the bank's capitalization from $10 billion to $21 billion in September 1959.<ref>Kapur, D., Lewis, J. P, & Webb, R. Charles. (1997). ''The World Bank : its first half century'' (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution), p. 929.</ref>

While the U.S. supported expanded World Bank facilities, it did not support the proposal for a Special UN Fund for Economic Development (SUNFED). The UN did create a "Special Fund" in 1957, but it was limited to designing projects for the UN's technical assistance program, EPTA, and could not finance public works.<ref>Jolly ''et al.'' (2004), pp. 73–83.</ref>

The U.S. also adopted a regional initiative with [[Latin America]]. Through most of the 1950s, the U.S. concentrated on technical assistance in the region. Financial assistance sources were limited to the Eximbank and the World Bank, with the U.S. opposing proposals for a regional development bank. Events in 1958—notably a riot during Vice President Nixon's visit to [[Caracas]], [[Venezuela]] in May 1958—resulted in a reversal of the U.S. position in August 1958. With U.S. support, the Organization of American States created in April 1959 the Inter-American Development Bank, most of whose capital was contributed by the borrowing countries.<ref>Kaufman (1982), p. 161-162.</ref>

To further engage other wealthy countries in development assistance, the United States supported the creation of the Aid India Consortium in August 1958. This was the first of several informal groupings of donors focussing on particular countries.

The United States also encouraged Western Europe and Japan to increase their development assistance by building on the European Marshall Plan organization, the Organization of European Economic Cooperation (OEEC).<ref>{{cite web |last1=OECD |title=DAC in Dates: The History of OECD's Development Assistance Committee |url=http://www.oecd.org/dac/1896808.pdf |access-date=16 September 2018 |date=2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bracho |first1=Gerardo |editor1-last=Bracho |editor1-first=Gerardo |editor2-last=Carey |editor2-first=Richard |editor3-last=Hynes |editor3-first=William |editor4-last=Klingebiel |editor4-first=Stephan |editor5-last=Trzeciak-Duval |editor5-first=Alexandra |title=Origins, Evolution and Future of Global Development Cooperation: The Role of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) |date=2021 |publisher=German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik |location=Bonn, Germany |isbn=978-3-96021-163-1 |url=https://www.die-gdi.de/studies/article/origins-evolution-and-future-of-global-development-cooperation-the-role-of-the-development-assistance-committee/ |access-date=3 February 2022 |chapter=Chapter 5: Diplomacy by stealth and pressure: the creation of the Development Assistance Group (and the OECD) in 51 days}}</ref> The OEEC had been created in 1948 by recipients of Marshall Plan aid, at the request of the United States government, to decide on allocation of that aid within Europe, and by the late 1950s it had fulfilled its original mandate. In January 1960, Pres. Eisenhower and Under Secretary of State [[C. Douglas Dillon]] got agreement from OEEC members to create a Development Assistance Group composed of the OEEC members who were the main sources of development assistance, along with non-members who were major donors—the U.S., Canada, and Japan.<ref>NATO was also considered as a possible institutional base for cooperation between Western Europe and North America on development assistance.</ref> In 1961, the OEEC itself was restructured to become the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]], which established a [[Development Assistance Committee]] (DAC) as a restructured DAG that was brought under the OECD. This effort resulted in informal agreements to increase budgets for development assistance. Several participating countries also established new agencies to manage development assistance.

===Creation of USAID and Decade of Development===
At the end of the 1950s, the momentum in favor of development assistance—as represented by PL-480, new mechanisms for financial assistance, larger U.S. budgets and staffing, and multilateral initiatives—picked up support from Senator John F. Kennedy, who was preparing to be a candidate for the presidency. In 1957, JFK proposed, in bipartisan collaboration with Sen. [[John Sherman Cooper]] (a former U.S. Ambassador to India), a major expansion of U.S. economic support for India. As a candidate in 1960, he supported the emphasis on humanitarian goals for PL-480 set by Sen. Hubert Humphrey's "Food for Peace" Act of 1959<ref>Ruttan (1996), pp. 156–159.</ref> and supported the idea of a [[Peace Corps]] that was under development thanks to the initiatives of Sen. Humphrey, Rep. Reuss, and Sen. Neuberger. {{Crossreference| (See the "History" section of [[Peace Corps]].)}}<ref>Until 1973, USAID and its predecessors also supported [[International Voluntary Services]], which was founded in 1953.  See {{cite web|url=http://mac.libraryhost.com/?p=creators%2Fcreator&id=333|title=International Voluntary Services - Mennonite Archival Commons|website=mac.libraryhost.com|access-date=June 19, 2017|archive-date=October 11, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011215050/http://mac.libraryhost.com/?p=creators%2Fcreator&id=333|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After his inauguration as president on January 20, 1961, JFK created the Peace Corps by Executive Order on March 1, 1961. On March 22, he sent a special message to Congress on foreign aid, asserting that the 1960s should be a "Decade of Development" and proposing to unify U.S. development assistance administration into a single agency. He sent a proposed "Act for International Development" to Congress in May and the resulting "Foreign Assistance Act" was approved in September, repealing the Mutual Security Act. In November, Pres. Kennedy signed the act and issued an Executive Order tasking the Secretary of State to create, within the State Department, the "Agency for International Development" (or A.I.D.: subsequently re-branded as USAID),<ref>The names of predecessor agencies often continued in popular usage.  In Vietnam in the 1960s, it was common to refer to A.I.D.'s office as "USOM," while in Peru A.I.D. telephone operators continued in the 1960s to answer calls saying "Punto Cuatro" (Point Four).</ref> as the successor to both ICA and the Development Loan Fund.<ref>In 1966, the UN would also integrate its EPTA and the Special Fund into a new agency, the UN Development Program, or UNDP.</ref>

With these actions, the U.S. created a permanent agency working with administrative autonomy under the policy guidance of the State Department to implement, through resident field missions, a global program of both technical and financial development assistance for low-income countries. This structure has continued to date.<ref>The Fulbright educational and cultural exchange program was also strengthened by the Fulbright-Hays Act in September 1961.</ref>

Taking this momentum onto the world stage via an address to the UN General Assembly in September 1961, Pres. Kennedy called for a "United Nations Decade of Development". This initiative was endorsed by a General Assembly resolution in December, establishing the concepts of development and development assistance as global priorities.

===New Directions Act===
In the late 1960s, foreign aid became one of the focal points in Legislative-Executive differences over the Vietnam War.<ref>Ruttan (1996). pp. 107–108.</ref> In September 1970, [[Richard M. Nixon|President Nixon]] proposed abolishing USAID and replacing it with three new institutions: one for development loans, one for technical assistance and research, and one for trade, investment and financial policy.<ref>See Pres. Nixon's April 1971 message to Congress: {{cite web|title=For a Generation of Peaceful Development|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pcaaa603.pdf|access-date=22 May 2017}}</ref> USAID's field missions would have been eliminated in the new institutional setup.<ref>See the "Peterson Report": {{cite web|title=Report to the President from the Task Force on International Development|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNABH264.pdf|access-date=22 May 2017|page=36}}</ref> Consistent with this approach, in early 1971 President Nixon transferred the administration of private investment programs from USAID to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which had been established by foreign aid legislation at the end of 1969.

Congress did not act on the President's proposal for replacing USAID but rather amended the Foreign Assistance Act to direct that USAID emphasize "Basic Human Needs": food and nutrition; population planning and health; and education and human resources development. Specifically, USAID's budget would be reformed to account for expenditures for each of these Basic Human Needs, a system referred to as "functional accounts". (Previously, budgets had been divided between categories such as "development loans, technical assistance, [[Alliance for Progress]] [for Latin America], loans and grants, and population.")<ref>Ruttan (1996).  pp. 94, 98–100, 543 fn. 2.</ref> The new system was based on a proposal developed by a bipartisan group of House members and staff working with USAID management and outside advisors.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Butterfield|title=U.S. Development Aid|pages=177–179}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Pastor|first1=Robert A.|title=Congress and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Economic Policy 1929–1976|date=1980|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA|isbn=0-520-03904-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/congresspolitics0000past/page/278 278–279]|url=https://archive.org/details/congresspolitics0000past/page/278}}</ref> President Nixon signed the New Directions Act into law (PL 93-189) in December 1973.

Also in 1973, the "Percy Amendment" of the Foreign Assistance Act required U.S. development assistance to integrate women into its programs, leading to USAID's creation of its Women in Development (WID) office in 1974. The [[Helms Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act|Helms Amendment]] of 1973 banned use of U.S. government funds for abortion as a method of family planning, which effectively required USAID to eliminate all support for abortion.<ref name="usaidweb1">USAID Public website [http://transition.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/pop/restrictions.html USAID's Family Planning Guiding Principles and U.S. Legislative and Policy Requirements] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130329101241/http://transition.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/pop/restrictions.html |date=2013-03-29 }} Retrieved September 10, 2012</ref>

A further amendment of the Foreign Assistance Act in 1974 prohibited assistance for police, thus ending USAID's involvement in Public Safety programs in Latin America, which in the 1960s were, along with the Vietnam War, part of the U.S. government's anti-Communist strategy.

The reforms also ended the practice of the 1960s and 1970s in which many USAID officers in Latin America and Southeast Asia had worked in joint offices led by State Department diplomats or in units with U.S. military personnel.

The Basic Human Needs reforms largely cut off USAID's assistance to higher education.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Guither |first1=Harold D. |title=The Famine Prevention and Freedom from Hunger Amendment: Issues and Compromises in International Development Policymaking |journal=Illinois Agricultural Economics |date=July 1977 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=7–12 |doi=10.2307/1348954 |jstor=1348954 |url=http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/283827/files/19-00105AAEA_0473.pdf }}</ref><ref>See also Congressional Research Service (1981), material found via search string "higher education".</ref> A large part of that assistance had gone to agricultural universities in hungry developing countries, as illustrated by a 1974 book by a University of Illinois professor, Hadley Read, describing USAID-supported U.S. land-grant universities' work in building India's agricultural universities.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Read |first1=Hadley |title=Partners With India: Building Agricultural Universities |date=1974 |publisher=University of Illinois |location=Urbana-Champaign}}</ref> Read's book inspired an Illinois Member of Congress concerned with famine prevention, Paul Findley, to draft a bill authorizing more support for programs like the ones Read described.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Findley |first1=Paul |title=Interview with Paul Findley: Transcript |url=https://www.illinois.gov/alplm/library/collections/oralhistory/illinoisstatecraft/general/Documents/FindleyPaul/Findley_Pau_4FNL.pdf |publisher=Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library |access-date=13 June 2018 |pages=158–161 |date=2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115133153/https://www.illinois.gov/alplm/library/collections/oralhistory/illinoisstatecraft/general/Documents/FindleyPaul/Findley_Pau_4FNL.pdf |archive-date=2017-11-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In a legislative process involving USAID staff, the association of state universities and land-grant colleges (NASULGC), and Sen. Hubert Humphrey, Rep. Findley's bill ultimately became Title XII of the Foreign Assistance Act, via an amendment to the FAA passed in 1975. Title XII created the [[Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD)]], with seven members representing U.S. universities and agricultural technology institutions who advise USAID on Title XII implementation.

The impact of all these actions of the early 1970s on the overall scale of U.S. development assistance is indicated by the change in the number of U.S. staff in field missions. In 1969, the year when Pres. Nixon took office, the number was already decreasing from its Vietnam War high of 8,717 and had reached 7,701. By 1976, near the end of the Nixon-Agnew and Ford-Rockefeller administrations, it was 2,007.<ref name="USAID 1976"/>

===Evolving organizational linkages with the State Department===
Foreign aid has always operated within the framework of U.S. foreign policy and the organizational linkages between the Department of State and USAID have been reviewed on many occasions.

In 1978, legislation drafted at the request of Senator [[Hubert Humphrey]] was introduced to create a Cabinet-level International Development Cooperation Agency (IDCA), whose intended role was to supervise USAID in place of the State Department. Established by executive order in September 1979, it did not in practice make USAID independent.

In 1995, legislation to abolish USAID was introduced by Senator [[Jesse Helms]], the Chairman of the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]], who aimed to replace USAID with a grant-making foundation.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/16/world/helms-seeks-to-merge-foreign-policy-agencies.html | work=The New York Times | first=Steven | last=Greenhouse | title=Helms Seeks to Merge Foreign Policy Agencies | date=March 16, 1995}}</ref> Although the House of Representatives passed a bill abolishing USAID, the measure did not become law. To gain congressional cooperation for his foreign affairs agenda, President [[Bill Clinton]] adopted in 1997 a State Department proposal to integrate more foreign affairs agencies into the department. The "Foreign Affairs Agencies Consolidation Act of 1998" (Division G of PL 105-277) abolished IDCA, the [[Arms Control and Disarmament Agency]], and the [[United States Information Agency]], which formerly maintained American libraries overseas. Although the law authorized the President to abolish USAID, President Clinton did not exercise this option.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Epstein|first1=Susan B.|last2=Nowels|first2=Larry Q.|last3=Hildreth|first3=Steven A.|title=Foreign Policy Agency Reorganization in the 105th Congress|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PCAAA780.pdf|access-date=2 March 2017|date=May 28, 1998}}</ref>

In 2003, [[George W. Bush|President Bush]] established PEPFAR, the [[President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief]], putting USAID's HIV/AIDS programs under the direction of the State Department's new Office of the [[Global AIDS Coordinator]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pepfar.gov/agencies/c19390.htm |title=Department of State (DoS) |publisher=Pepfar.gov |date=2006-11-15 |access-date=2011-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728032409/http://www.pepfar.gov/agencies/c19390.htm |archive-date=2011-07-28 |url-status=dead }}  For the nature of the emergency and the U.S. Government response, see {{cite web |last1=U.S. Government Accountability Office |title=Intellectual Property: U.S. Trade Policy Guidance on WTO Declaration on Access to Medicines May Need Clarification (GAO-07-1198) |url=https://www.gao.gov/assets/270/267756.pdf |access-date=6 March 2019 |date=September 2007}}</ref>

In 2004, the Bush administration created the [[Millennium Challenge Corporation]] (MCC) as a new foreign aid agency to provide financial assistance to a limited number of countries selected for good performance in socioeconomic development.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mcc.gov/pages/about |title=About MCC {{pipe}} MCC {{pipe}} Washington, DC |publisher=Mcc.gov |access-date=2011-03-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228045845/https://www.mcc.gov/pages/about |archive-date=2016-12-28 }}</ref> The MCC also finances some USAID-administered development assistance projects.

In January 2006, Secretary of State [[Condoleezza Rice]] created the Office of the Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance ('F') within the State Department. Under a Director with the rank of Deputy Secretary, F's purpose was to ensure that foreign assistance would be used as much as possible to meet foreign policy objectives.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/f |title=Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance |publisher=State.gov |access-date=2011-03-12}}</ref> F integrated foreign assistance planning and resource management across State and USAID, directing all USAID offices' budgets according to a detailed "Standardized Program Structure" comprising hundreds of "Program Sub-Elements". USAID accordingly closed its Washington office that had been responsible for development policy and budgeting.

On September 22, 2010, President [[Barack Obama]] signed a [[Presidential Determination|Presidential Policy Determination]] (PPD) on Global Development. (Although the Administration considered the PPD too sensitive for release to the public, it was finally released in February 2014 as required by a U.S. court order. The Administration had initially provided a fact sheet to describe the policy.) The PPD promised to elevate the role of development assistance within U.S. policy and rebuild "USAID as the U.S. Government's lead development agency." It also established an Interagency Policy Committee on Global Development led by the National Security Staff and added to U.S. development efforts an emphasis on innovation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/22/fact-sheet-us-global-development-policy |title=Fact Sheet: U.S. Global Development Policy {{pipe}} The White House |date=2010-09-22 |via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |work=[[whitehouse.gov]] |access-date=2011-03-12}}</ref> To implement the PPD's instruction that "USAID will develop robust policy, planning, and evaluation capabilities," USAID re-created in mid-2010 a development planning office, the Bureau of Policy, Planning, and Learning.<ref>{{cite web |author=Scott Gruber, LPA/PIPOS |url=http://www.usaid.gov/press/frontlines/fl_jun10/p03_insights100606.html |title=USAID FrontLines: Insights From Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah |publisher=Usaid.gov |date=2010-07-02 |access-date=2011-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110601072831/http://www.usaid.gov/press/frontlines/fl_jun10/p03_insights100606.html |archive-date=2011-06-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On November 23, 2010, USAID announced the creation of a new Bureau for Food Security<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.usaid.gov/2010/11/bread-for-the-world-applauds-new-bureau-of-food-security/ |title=USAID Impact » Bread for the World Applauds New Bureau of Food Security |publisher=Blog.usaid.gov |date=2010-11-24 |access-date=2011-03-12}}</ref> to lead the implementation of President Obama's [[Feed the Future Initiative]], which had formerly been managed by the State Department.

On December 21, 2010, Secretary of State Clinton released the [[Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review|Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR)]]. Modeled after the military's [[Quadrennial Defense Review]], the QDDR of 2010 reaffirmed the plan to re-build USAID's Foreign Service staffing while also emphasizing the increased role that staff from the State Department and domestic agencies would play in implementing U.S. assistance. In addition, it laid out a program for a future transfer of health sector assistance back from the State Department to USAID.<ref>{{cite web | title = Leading Through Civilian Power | publisher = [[USAID]] | url = http://www.usaid.gov/qddr/QDDR_ExecutiveSummary.pdf | access-date = 2014-08-07 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130221202740/http://www1.usaid.gov/qddr/QDDR_ExecutiveSummary.pdf | archive-date = 2013-02-21 }}</ref> The follow-on QDDR released in April 2015 reaffirmed the Administration's policies.

==Budget==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;margin-left:1em;float:right"
|+ '''The 20 Countries with the Largest Budgets for U.S. Economic Assistance in Fiscal Year 2012'''
! style="width:145px;"| Nation
!  style="text-align:center; width:55px;"| Billions of Dollars
|-
| [[Afghanistan]] || 2.24
|-
| [[Pakistan]] || 0.97
|-
| [[Jordan]] || 0.48
|-
| [[Ethiopia]] || 0.45
|-
| [[Haiti]] || 0.31
|-
| [[Kenya]] || 0.31
|-
| [[Iraq]] || 0.28
|-
| [[Democratic Republic of Congo]] || 0.24
|-
| [[Uganda]] || 0.22
|-
| [[Tanzania]] || 0.21
|-
| [[Somalia]] || 0.20
|-
| [[State of Palestine|West Bank and Gaza]] || 0.20
|-
| [[Ghana]] || 0.19
|-
| [[Bangladesh]] || 0.18
|-
| [[Colombia]] || 0.18
|-
| [[Indonesia]] || 0.17
|-
| [[Liberia]] || 0.16
|-
| [[Yemen]] || 0.16
|-
| [[Mozambique]] || 0.16
|-
| [[India]] || 0.15
|}

The cost of supplying USAID's assistance includes the agency's "Operating Expenses", $1.35 billion in fiscal year 2012, and "Bilateral Economic Assistance" program costs, $20.83 billion in fiscal year 2012 (the vast bulk of which was administered by USAID).

Up-to-date details of the budget for USAID's assistance and other aspects of U.S. foreign assistance are available from USAID's budget webpage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usaid.gov/results-and-data/budget-spending|title=Budget - U.S. Agency for International Development|website=usaid.gov|date=March 11, 2019}}</ref> This page contains a link to the Congressional Budget Justification, which shows the U.S. Government's Foreign Operations budget (the "150 Account") for all International Affairs programs and operations for civilian agencies, including USAID. This page also has a link to a "Where Does the Money Go?" table, which shows the recipients of USAID's financial assistance (foreign governments as well as NGOs), the totals that were spent for various countries, and the sources (U.S. government agencies, universities, and private companies) from which USAID procured the goods and services that it provided as technical assistance.

U.S. assistance budget totals are shown along with other countries' total assistance budgets in tables in a webpage of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oecd.org/development/stats/statisticsonresourceflowstodevelopingcountries.htm |title=Aid statistics |publisher=OECD |date=2013-12-23 |access-date=2014-06-10}}</ref>

At the [[Earth Summit]] in [[Rio de Janeiro]] in 1992, most of the world's governments adopted a program for action under the auspices of the United Nations [[Agenda 21]], which included an Official Development Assistance (ODA) aid target of 0.7% of gross national product (GNP) for rich nations, specified as roughly 22 members of the [[OECD]] and known as the Development Assistance Committee (DAC). Most countries do not adhere to this target, as the OECD's table indicates that the DAC average ODA in 2011 was 0.31% of GNP. The U.S. figure for 2011 was 0.20% of GNP, which still left the U.S. as the largest single source of ODA among individual countries. According to the [[OECD]], The United States' total official development assistance (ODA) (US$55.3 billion, preliminary data) increased in 2022, mainly due to support to Ukraine, as well as increased costs for in-donor refugees from Afghanistan. ODA represented 0.22% of gross national income (GNI).<ref>{{cite web|url= https://oe.cd/il/dev-coop-us | title = OECD Development Co-operation Profiles| access-date= 4 October 2023}}</ref>

==By region==

===Haiti===
Following the January 2010 earthquake in [[Haiti]], USAID helped provide safer housing for almost 200,000 displaced Haitians; supported vaccinations for more than 1 million people; cleared more than 1.3 million cubic meters of the approximately 10 million cubic meters of rubble generated; helped more than 10,000 farmers double the yields of staples like corn, beans, and sorghum; and provided short-term employment to more than 350,000 Haitians, injecting more than $19 million into the local economy. USAID has provided nearly $42 million to help combat cholera, helping to decrease the number of cases requiring hospitalization and reduce the case fatality rate.

===Afghanistan===
With American entry into Afghanistan in 2001, USAID worked with the Department of State and Department of Defense to coordinate reconstruction efforts.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Spoko|first=John|date=2013|title="Afghanistan Reconstruction: Lessons from the Long War."|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26803228.|journal=PRISM|volume=8|issue=2|pages=26–39|jstor=26803228|via=JSTOR}}</ref>

===Iraq===
{{Main|Reconstruction of Iraq}}

The interactions between USAID and other U.S. government agencies in the period of planning the Iraq operation of 2003 are described by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction in its book ''Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience''.<ref>{{cite web | title = Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience | publisher = US Special Inspector General – Iraq Reconstruction | url = http://www.sigir.mil/files/HardLessons/Hard_Lessons_Report.pdf | access-date = 2014-08-07 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130516012407/http://www.sigir.mil/files/HardLessons/Hard_Lessons_Report.pdf | archive-date = 2013-05-16 }}</ref>

Subsequently, USAID played a major role in the U.S. reconstruction and development effort in Iraq. {{as of|2009|June}}, USAID had invested approximately $6.6 billion on programs designed to stabilize communities; foster economic and agricultural growth; and build the capacity of the national, local, and provincial governments to represent and respond to the needs of the Iraqi people.<ref>{{cite web | title = Assistance for Iraq | publisher = [[USAID]] | url = http://usaid.gov/iraq/accomplishments/ | access-date = 2014-08-07 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111114202247/http://usaid.gov/iraq/accomplishments/ | archive-date = 2011-11-14 }}</ref>

In June 2003, [[C-SPAN]] followed USAID administrator [[Andrew Natsios]] as he toured Iraq. The special program C-SPAN produced aired over four nights.<ref>{{cite news | title = Rebuilding Iraq | publisher = [[C-SPAN]] | url = http://www.c-span.org/iraq/iraq_rebuild.asp | access-date = 2014-08-07 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080517044150/http://www.c-span.org/iraq/iraq_rebuild.asp | archive-date = 2008-05-17 }}</ref>

===Lebanon===
USAID has periodically supported the [[Lebanese American University]] and the [[American University of Beirut]] financially, with major contributions to the [[Lebanese American University]]'s Campaign for Excellence.<ref name="Lebanese American University (LAU) Campaign for Excellence">{{cite web|title=The Legacy and the promise (Lebanese American University)|url=http://campaign.lau.edu.lb/index.php|access-date=2018-12-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120301053141/http://campaign.lau.edu.lb/index.php|archive-date=2012-03-01|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Cuba===
A USAID subcontractor was arrested in Cuba in 2009 for distributing satellite equipment to provide Cubans with internet access. The subcontractor was released during Obama's second presidential term as part of the measures to improve relations between the two countries.<ref name="guardian030821">{{cite web |last1=Augustin |first1=Ed |last2=Montero |first2=Daniel |title=Why the internet in Cuba has become a US political hot potato |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/03/why-the-internet-in-cuba-has-become-a-us-political-hot-potato |website=the Guardian |access-date=15 September 2021 |language=en |date=3 August 2021}}</ref>

USAID has been used as a mechanism for "hastening transition", i.e. [[regime change]] in Cuba.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/122217408/USAID-DAI-Contract|title=USAID DAI Contract - United States Agency For International Development - Cuba|website=Scribd}}</ref> Between 2009 and 2012, USAID ran a multimillion-dollar program, disguised as humanitarian aid and aimed at inciting rebellion in Cuba. The program consisted of two operations: one to establish an anti-regime [[social network]] called [[ZunZuneo]], and the other to attract potential dissidents contacted by undercover operatives posing as tourists and aid workers.<ref name=TheGuardianCuba>{{cite news|title=USAID programme used young Latin Americans to incite Cuba rebellion|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/04/usaid-latin-americans-cuba-rebellion-hiv-workshops|work=The Guardian|date=4 August 2014|access-date=5 August 2014}}</ref><ref name="guardian030414">{{cite news |title=US secretly created 'Cuban Twitter' to stir unrest and undermine government |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/03/us-cuban-twitter-zunzuneo-stir-unrest |access-date=30 July 2020 |work=the Guardian |agency=AP |date=3 April 2014 |language=en}}</ref>

USAID engineered a subversive program using social media aimed at fueling political unrest in [[Cuba]] to overthrow the Cuban government. On 3 April 2014 the Associated Press published an investigative report that revealed USAID was behind the creation of a social networking text messaging service aimed at creating political dissent and triggering an uprising against the Cuban government.<ref name="Associated Press">{{cite news|title=US secretly created 'Cuban Twitter' to stir unrest|url=https://apnews.com/article/technology-cuba-united-states-government-904a9a6a1bcd46cebfc14bea2ee30fdf|access-date=16 February 2023}}</ref> The name of the messaging network was ZunZuneo, a Cuban slang term for a hummingbird's tweet and a play on '[[Twitter]]'. According to the AP's report, the plan was to build an audience by initially presenting non-controversial content like sports, music and weather. Once a critical mass of users was reached the US government operators would change the content to spark political dissent and mobilize the users into organized political gatherings called 'smart mobs' that would trigger an uprising against the Cuban government.<ref name="Associated Press"/>

The messaging service was launched in 2010 and gained 40,000 followers at its peak. Extensive efforts were made to conceal the USAID involvement in the program, using offshore bank accounts, front companies and servers based overseas.<ref>{{cite news|title=White House denies 'Cuban Twitter' ZunZuneo programme was covert
|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/03/white-house-cuban-twitter-zunzuneo-covert|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=5 April 2014}}</ref> According to a memo from one of the project's contractors, Mobile Accord:
"There will be absolutely no mention of United States government involvement," 
"This is absolutely crucial for the long-term success of the service and to ensure the success of the Mission."<ref name="Associated Press"/>
ZunZuneo's subscribers were never aware that it was created by the US government or that USAID was gathering their private data to gain useful demographics that would gauge their levels of dissent and help USAID 'maximize our possibilities to extend our reach.'<ref name="Associated Press"/>

USAID officials realized they needed an exit strategy to conceal their involvement in the program, at one point seeking funding from [[Jack Dorsey]], the Twitter co-founder, as part of a plan for it to go independent.<ref name="Associated Press"/> The service was abruptly closed down around mid-2012, which USAID said was due to the program running out of money.<ref>{{cite web|title=US government harassed Castro with a fake Twitter service|url=https://www.theverge.com/2014/4/3/5577254/us-created-cuban-twitter-to-fuel-anti-castro-dissidence-ap|website=The Verge|date=April 3, 2014|access-date=5 April 2014}}</ref>

The ZunZuneo operation was part of a program that included a second operation which started in October 2009 and was financed jointly with ZunZuneo. In the second operation USAid sent Venezuelan, Costa Rican and Peruvian youngsters to Cuba to recruit Cubans into anti-regime political activities. The operatives posed as traveling aid workers and tourists. In one of the covert operations, the workers formed a [[HIV prevention]] workshop, which leaked memos called "the perfect excuse" for the programme's political goals. ''The Guardian'' said the operation could undermine US efforts to work toward improving health globally.<ref name=TheGuardianCuba />

The operation was also criticized for putting the undercover operatives themselves at risk. The covert operatives were given limited training about evading Cuban authorities suspicious of their actions. After [[Alan Gross]], a development specialist and USAID subcontractor was arrested in Cuba, the US government warned USAID about the safety of covert operatives. Regardless of safety concerns, USAID refused to end the operation.<ref name=TheGuardianCuba />

In light of the AP's report, [[Rajiv Shah]], the head of USAID, was scheduled to testify before the Senate Appropriations State Department and Foreign Operations Subcommittee on 8 April 2014.<ref>{{cite web|title=US agency that created 'Cuban Twitter' faces political firestorm|date=April 4, 2014|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/04/us-agency-that-created-cuban-twitter-faces-political-firestorm|publisher=ArsTechnica|access-date=5 April 2014}}</ref>

===Bolivia===
{{see also|Bolivia–United States relations}}
{{More citations needed|subsection titled "Bolivia"|date=February 2009}}
In 2008, the [[coca]] growers union affiliated with [[Bolivia]]n President [[Evo Morales]] ejected the 100 employees and contractors from USAID working in the [[Chapare Province|Chapare]] region, citing frustration with U.S.<ref>Andean Information Network, 27 June 2008, [http://ain-bolivia.org/2008/06/bolivian-coca-growers-cut-ties-with-usaid/ "Bolivian coca growers cut ties with USAID"]</ref> efforts to persuade them to switch to growing unviable alternatives. From 1998 to 2003, Bolivian farmers could receive USAID funding for help planting other crops only if they eliminated all their coca, according to the [[Andean Information Network]]. Other rules, such as the requirement that participating communities declare themselves "terrorist-free zones" as required by [[Law of the United States|U.S. law]] irritated people, said [[Kathryn Ledebur]], director of the organization. "Eradicate all your coca and then you grow an [[orange tree]] that will get fruit in eight years but you don't have anything to eat in the meantime? A bad idea," she said. "The thing about kicking out USAID, I don't think it's an anti-American sentiment overall but rather a rejection of bad programs".

President [[Evo Morales]] expelled USAID from Bolivia on May 1, 2013, for allegedly seeking to undermine his government following ten years of operations within the country.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bolivian President Evo Morales expels USAID|publisher=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22371275|date=May 1, 2013|access-date=January 29, 2020}}</ref> President Morales explained that the expulsion was because USAID's objectives in Bolivia were to advance American interests, not to advance the interests of the Bolivian people. More specifically, President Morales noted the American "counter-narcotic" programs that harms the interests of Bolivian coca farmers who get caught in the middle of American operations.

Following the [[2019 Bolivian political crisis]] that saw [[Jeanine Áñez]]'s assumption of power, Ms. Áñez invited USAID to return to Bolivia to provide "technical aid to the electoral process in Bolivia."<ref>{{cite web|title=Interim Bolivian president Añez calls Indigenous citizens "savages"|publisher=People's World|url=https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/interim-bolivian-president-anez-calls-indigenous-citizens-savages/|date=January 28, 2020|access-date=January 29, 2020}}</ref>

===East Africa===
On September 19, 2011, USAID and the [[Ad Council]] launched the "Famine, War, and Drought" (FWD) campaign to raise awareness about that year's severe [[2011 East Africa drought|drought in East Africa]]. Through TV and internet ads as well as social media initiatives, FWD encouraged Americans to spread awareness about the crisis, support the humanitarian organizations that were conducting relief operations, and consult the Feed the Future global initiative for broader solutions. Celebrities [[Geena Davis]], [[Uma Thurman]], [[Josh Hartnett]] and [[Chanel Iman]] took part in the campaign via a series of Public Service Announcements. Corporations like [[Cargill]], [[General Mills]], [[PepsiCo.]] and [[General Mills]] also signed on to support FWD.<ref>[http://adage.com/article/goodworks/psas-fwd-awareness-horn-africa-crisis/230640/ "New PSAs: 'FWD' Awareness About the Horn of Africa Crisis"]. [[Ad Age]]. October 26, 2011</ref>

===Palestinian territories===
USAID ended all its projects in the [[West Bank]] and [[Gaza Strip]] on January 31, 2019.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/USAID-to-end-all-Palestinian-projects-on-Jan-31-former-director-says-577797|title='USAID to end all Palestinian projects on Jan. 31,' former director says - Arab-Israeli Conflict - Jerusalem Post|website=jpost.com|date=January 17, 2019 }}</ref> On November 10, 2023, more than 1,000 employees of USAID signed an open letter calling for an immediate ceasefire in the [[2023 Israel–Hamas war|Israel–Hamas war]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pamuk |first1=Humeyra |last2=Lewis |first2=Simon |title=Over 1,000 USAID officials call for Gaza ceasefire in letter |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/over-1000-usaid-officials-call-gaza-ceasefire-letter-2023-11-10/ |publisher=Reuters |date=10 November 2023 }}</ref>

== Public–Private Partnerships ==

In April 2023, USAID and the [[Global Food Safety Initiative]] (GFSI) announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to improve [[food safety]] and [[sustainable food systems]] in Africa.<ref>{{cite web |title=USAID Signs Partnership with the Global Food Safety Initiative |url=https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/apr-25-2023-usaid-signs-partnership-global-food-safety-initiative |website=usaid.gov |date=April 26, 2023 |publisher=United States Agency for International Development}}</ref> GFSI's work in benchmarking and [[harmonization (standards)|standard harmonisation]] aims to foster mutual acceptance of GFSI-recognized certification programmes for the food industry.

==Controversies and criticism==
USAID and U.S. foreign economic assistance in general have been the subject of debate, controversy, and criticism continuously since the 1950s.

===Non-career contracts===
USAID frequently contracts with private firms or individuals for specialist services lasting from a few weeks to several years. It has long been asked whether USAID should more often assign such tasks to career U.S. government employees instead. United States government staff directly performed technical assistance in the earliest days of the program in the 1940s. It soon became necessary for the federal government technical experts to plan and manage larger assistance programs than they could perform by themselves. The global expansion of technical assistance in the early 1950s reinforced the need to draw on outside experts, which was also accelerated by Congress's requirement of major reductions of U.S. government staffing in 1953. By 1955, observers commented on a perceived shift toward re use of shorter-term contracts (rather than using employees with career-length contracts).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Richardson|title=Partners in Development|pages=13–14, 37}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Butterfield|title=U.S. Development Aid|pages=25–26}}</ref>

===Financial conflicts of interest===
USAID states that "U.S. foreign assistance has always had the twofold purpose of furthering America's foreign policy interests in expanding democracy and free markets while improving the lives of the citizens of the developing world." Non-government organization watch groups have noted that as much as 40% of aid to Afghanistan has found its way back to donor countries through awarding contracts at inflated costs.<ref>Richard Norton-Taylor [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/25/afghanistan.internationalaidanddevelopment1 40% of Afghan aid returns to donor countries, says report] ''guardian.co.uk'' 25 March 2008</ref>

Although USAID officially selects contractors on a competitive and objective basis, watch dog groups, politicians, foreign governments and corporations have occasionally accused the agency of allowing its bidding process to be unduly influenced by the political and financial interests of its current presidential administration. Under the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]], for instance, it emerged that all five implementing partners selected to bid on a $600 million Iraq reconstruction contract enjoyed close ties to the administration.<ref>Barbara Slavin [https://www.usatoday.com/money/world/iraq/2003-04-17-iraqdeal_x.htm Another Iraq deal rewards company with connections] ''USA Today'' 4/17/2003</ref><ref>{{cite web | first1=Mark | last1=Tran | url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2003/mar/31/iraq.usnews | title=Halliburton misses $600m Iraq contract | work=The Guardian | date = 31 March 2003}}</ref>

===Political operations abroad===
[[File:USAID We dont need your aid criticism.jpg|thumb|Critical [[graffiti]] on a USAID Advertisement saying "We dont need your aid", [[West Bank]], Jan 2007]]
[[William Blum]] has said that in the 1960s and early 1970s USAID has maintained "a close working relationship with the [[CIA]], and Agency officers often operated abroad under USAID cover."<ref>William Blum, ''[https://archive.org/details/pdfy-q0ULBH2DJICRS3Vg Killing hope : U.S. military and CIA interventions since World War II]'' Zed Books, 2003, {{ISBN|978-1-84277-369-7}} pp.[https://books.google.com/books?id=-IbQvd13uToC/page/n141 142], [https://books.google.com/books?id=-IbQvd13uToC/page/n199 200], [https://books.google.com/books?id=-IbQvd13uToC/page/n233 234].</ref> The 1960s-era [[Office of Public Safety]], a now-disbanded division of USAID, has been mentioned as an example of this, having served as a front for training foreign police in counterinsurgency methods (including torture techniques).<ref>Michael Otterman, ''American torture: from the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and beyond'' (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2007), p. 60.</ref>

''[[Folha de S.Paulo]]'', Brazil's largest newspaper, accused USAID of trying to influence political reform in Brazil in a way that would have purposely benefited right-wing parties. USAID spent $95,000 US in 2005 on a seminar in the Brazilian Congress to promote a reform aimed at pushing for legislation punishing party infidelity. According to USAID papers acquired by Folha under the [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]], the seminar was planned to coincide with the eve of talks in that country's Congress on a broad political reform. The papers read that although the "pattern of weak party discipline is found across the political spectrum, it is somewhat less true of parties on the liberal left, such as the [ruling] [[Worker's Party (Brazil)|Worker's Party]]." The papers also expressed a concern about the "'indigenization' of the conference so that it is not viewed as providing a U.S. perspective." The event's main sponsor was the [[International Republican Institute]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/brasil/ult96u424786.shtml |title=''EUA tentaram influenciar reforma política do Brasil'' |publisher=.folha.uol.com.br |access-date=2013-05-27}}</ref>

In 2008, Benjamin Dangl wrote in ''[[The Progressive]]'' that the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]] was using USAID to fund efforts in Bolivia to "undermine the [[Evo Morales|Morales]] government and coopt the country’s dynamic social movements—just as it has tried to do recently in Venezuela and traditionally throughout Latin America".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dangl |first1=Benjamin |title=Undermining Bolivia |url=http://www.progressive.org/mag_dangl0208 |website=Progressive.org |access-date=1 April 2024 |language=en-us |date=1 February 2008}}</ref>

From 2010 to 2012, the agency operated a social media site similar to [[Twitter]] in an attempt to instigate uprisings against the Cuban government. Its involvement was concealed in order to ensure mission success. The plan was to draw in users with non-controversial content until a [[Critical mass (sociodynamics)|critical mass]] is reached, after which more political messaging would be introduced. At its peak, more than 40,000 unsuspecting Cubans interacted on the platform.<ref>{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=2014-04-03 |title=US secretly created 'Cuban Twitter' to stir unrest and undermine government |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/03/us-cuban-twitter-zunzuneo-stir-unrest |access-date=2024-09-06 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

In the summer of 2012, [[Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas|ALBA]] countries ([[Venezuela]], [[Cuba]], [[Ecuador]], [[Bolivia]], [[Nicaragua]], [[Saint Vincent and the Grenadines]], [[Dominica]], [[Antigua]] and [[Barbuda]]) called on its members to expel USAID from their countries.<ref name="NBC News 2014">{{cite web | title=After More Than 50 Years, USAID Is Leaving Ecuador | website=NBC News | date=2014-10-01 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/after-more-50-years-usaid-leaving-ecuador-n215621 | access-date=2021-10-11}}</ref>

===Influence on the United Nations===
Several studies{{Which|date=April 2016}} suggest that foreign aid is used as a political weapon for the U.S. to elicit desired actions from other nations. A state's membership of the [[United Nations Security Council|U.N. Security Council]] can give a considerable raise of U.S. assistance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/membship/electedmembers/2006/1101aid.htm |title=Security Council Seat Tied to Aid |publisher=Globalpolicy.org |date=2006-11-01 |access-date=2011-03-12}}</ref>

In 1990 when the [[Yemen]]i Ambassador to the United Nations, [[Abdullah Saleh al-Ashtal]], voted against [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 678|a resolution for a U.S.-led coalition to use force against Iraq]], U.S. Ambassador to the UN [[Thomas R. Pickering|Thomas Pickering]] walked to the seat of the Yemeni Ambassador and retorted: "That was the most expensive No vote you ever cast". Immediately, USAID ceased operations and funding in Yemen.<ref>Hornberger, Jacob" [https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/foreign-aid-bribery-blackmail-extortion-theft/ But Foreign Aid ''Is'' Bribery! And Blackmail, Extortion, and Theft Too!]" September 26, 2003</ref><ref>U.S. State Department, [https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35836.htm#relations ''Country Fact Sheets – Background Note: Yemen'']. 12 March 2012</ref>

===State Department terrorist list===
USAID requires NGOs to sign a document renouncing [[terrorism]], as a condition of funding. Issam Abdul Rahman, media coordinator for the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations' Network, a body representing 135 NGOs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said his organization "takes issue with politically conditioned funding". Also, the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]], listed as a terrorist organization by the US Department of State, said that the USAID condition was nothing more than an attempt "to impose political solutions prepared in the kitchens of Western intelligence agencies to weaken the rights and principles of Palestinians, especially the right of return."<ref>{{cite web|last=Sterman |first=Adiv |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-ngos-slam-eu-for-conditioning-funding-on-normalization/ |title=How dare you make us cooperate with Israel, Palestinian NGOs protest to EU |publisher=Timesofisrael.com |date=2013-01-31 |access-date=2013-05-27}}</ref>

===Renouncing prostitution and sex trafficking===
In 2003, Congress passed [[President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief|a law]] providing U.S. government funds to private groups to help fight [[AIDS]] and other diseases all over the world through USAID grants. One of the conditions imposed by the law on grant recipients was a requirement to have "a policy explicitly [[Anti-prostitution pledge|opposing prostitution]] and sex trafficking".<ref>{{cite news|author = [[Adam Liptak|Liptak, Adam]] |title = Justices Say U.S. Cannot Impose Antiprostitution Condition on AIDS Grants|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/us/court-finds-aids-programs-rules-violate-free-speech.html|access-date = 25 June 2013|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 20 June 2013}}</ref> In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in ''[[USAID v. Alliance for Open Society (2013)|Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc.]]'' that the requirement violated the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment's]] prohibition against compelled speech.<ref>{{cite web|author=[[John Roberts|Roberts, John]]|title=AGENCY FOR INT'L DEVELOPMENT v. ALLIANCE FOR|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/12-10#writing-12-10_OPINION_3|work=[[Legal Information Institute]]|publisher=[[Cornell Law School]]|date=20 June 2013|access-date=17 July 2013}}</ref>

=== Involvement in Peru's forced sterilizations ===
{{Main|Forced sterilization in Peru#Foreign Involvement}}

During the 1990s, USAID was implicated in the forced sterilization of approximately 300,000 indigenous women in [[Peru]] as part of the country's [[Plan Verde]]. Population control guidelines promoted by international bodies, including USAID, the [[United Nations Population Fund|United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)]] and the [[Nippon Foundation]], supported the Fujimori government's sterilization efforts.<ref name="McMaken-2018">{{Cite web|last=McMaken|first=Ryan|date=2018-10-26|title=How the U.S. Government Led a Program That Forcibly Sterilized Thousands of Poor Peruvian Women in the 1990s {{!}} Ryan McMaken|url=https://fee.org/articles/the-us-government-led-a-program-that-forcibly-sterilized-thousands-of-peruvian-women/|access-date=2021-08-04|website=[[Foundation for Economic Education]]|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Congress of Peru-2002">{{Cite web|date=June 2002|title=Informe final sobre la aplicación de la anticoncepción quirúrgica voluntaria (AQV) en los años 1990-2000|url=http://www.trdd.org/PERU_Informe_Final_AQV.pdf|website=[[Congress of Peru]]}}</ref> Investigations by Peru's congressional subcommittee found a causal correlation between increased USAID funding and the number of sterilizations performed.<ref name="Congress of Peru-2002" /> These sterilizations were part of a global strategy by the United States government to reduce birth rates in developing countries for political and economic stability.<ref name="Congress of Peru-2002" />

Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act revealed that USAID effectively took control of Peru's national health system from 1993 to 1998, during the period of forced sterilizations. It was concluded that it would be virtually inconceivable for these sterilization abuses to have occurred systematically without the knowledge of USAID administrators in Peru and Washington.<ref name="McMaken-2018" /><ref name="Congress of Peru-2002" />

Under pressure from investigations by the [[Population Research Institute (organization)|Population Research Institute]], USAID ceased funding for sterilizations in Peru in 1998. The forced sterilizations continued until President Fujimori fled to Japan in 2000.<ref name="BBC News-2002">{{Cite news|date=2002-07-24|title=Mass sterilisation scandal shocks Peru|language=en-GB|work=[[BBC News]]|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2148793.stm|access-date=2021-08-04}}</ref> The policy resulted in a generational shift, creating a smaller younger generation unable to provide economic stimulation to rural areas, thus increasing poverty in those regions.<ref name="BBC News-2002"/>

=== Office of Inspector General investigation into alleged terror-linked funding ===
According to a February 2024 report, the [[Office of Inspector General, U.S. Agency for International Development|USAID's Office of Inspector General]] launched an investigation in 2023 into the agency for awarding $110,000 in 2021 to Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD), a charity in [[Michigan]] that Republicans on the [[United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs|House Foreign Affairs Committee]] have accused in recent years of sharing ties to terrorism organizations in South Asia.<ref name="Kaminsky">{{Cite web |last=Kaminsky |first=Gabe |date=2024-02-28 |title=USAID watchdog began investigating tax dollars to a terrorism-tied NGO. Then Biden sent it more cash - Washington Examiner |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/foreign-policy/2865305/usaid-watchdog-tax-dollars-terrorism-tied-ngo-biden-sent-more-cash/ |access-date=2024-03-10 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=McCaul Demands Answers From USAID on Alarming Failure to Address $110K Grant to Terrorist-Linked Nonprofit |url=https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/press-release/mccaul-demands-answers-from-usaid-on-alarming-failure-to-address-110k-grant-to-terrorist-linked-nonprofit/ |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Committee on Foreign Affairs |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Walker |first=Jackson |date=2024-02-28 |title=Biden admin sent cash to non-profit under investigation for terrorism links, report says |url=https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/biden-admin-sent-cash-to-nonprofit-under-investigation-for-terrorism-links-report-says-helping-hand-for-relief-and-development-us-agency-for-international-development-usaid |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=The National Desk |language=en}}</ref> In August 2023, USAID's Vetting Support Unit cleared HHRD to receive the grant.<ref name="USAID letter">{{Cite web |date=2023-08-16 |title=Letter from USAID Vetting Support Unit to Helping Hand for Relief and Development.|url=https://perma.cc/9MLL-U3A6 |access-date=2024-03-28 |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2024, researchers at George Mason University reported that allegations against HHRD were part of a campaign targeting large American Muslim charities based on the manipulation of poorly-sourced information.<ref name="Fitzgerald">{{Cite web |last=FitzGerald |first=Gerald |date=January 2024 |title=Mapping Anti-Muslim Discrimination and Information Manipulation, and its Impact on Humanitarian Aid and Development.|url=https://jliflc.com/resources/fitzgerald-mapping-anti-muslim-discrimination/ |access-date=2024-03-31 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|United States}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[African Development Foundation]]
* [[Chemonics International]]
* [[Development Alternatives Incorporated|Development Alternatives Inc.]]
* [[Development Experience Clearinghouse]]
* [[Feed the Future Initiative]]
* [[Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition]]
* [[Hard Choices (Moore book)|''Hard Choices'']]
* [[John Granville (diplomat)|John Granville]]
* [[List of development aid agencies]]
* [[Office of Transition Initiatives]]
* [[POPLINE]]
* [[Strengthening Emergency Response Abilities (SERA) Project]]
* [[The INFO Project]]
* [[United States foreign aid]]
* [[United States military aid]]
}}

==Notes==
For sources with short references, see "References" below for full source citations.
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
* {{cite web|last1=Andrews|first1=Stanley|title=Oral History Interview with Stanley Andrews|url=https://www.trumanlibrary.org/oralhist/andrewss.htm|publisher=Harry S. Truman Library|access-date=15 June 2017|date=1970}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Bollen|first1=Kenneth|last2=Paxton|first2=Pamela|last3=Morishima|first3=Rumi|date=June 2005|title=Assessing international evaluations: An example from USAID's Democracy&nbsp;and&nbsp;Governance Programs|journal=American Journal of Evaluation|volume=26|number=2|pages=189–203|doi=10.1177/1098214005275640|s2cid=146522432}}
* {{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=William Adams Jr. |last2=Opie |first2=Redvers |title=American Foreign Assistance |date=1953 |publisher=Brookings Institution |location=Washington, DC}}
* {{cite book|last1=Butterfield|first1=Samuel Hale|title=U.S. Development Aid – An Historic First: Achievements and Failures in the Twentieth Century|date=2004|publisher=Praeger|location=Westport, CN|isbn=0-313-31910-3}}
* {{cite web|last1=Center for American Progress|title=U.S. Aid to Afghanistan by the Numbers|url=https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/news/2008/08/14/4774/u-s-aid-to-afghanistan-by-the-numbers/|access-date=13 June 2017|date=August 14, 2008}}
* {{cite web|last1=Center for American Progress|title=U.S. Aid to Pakistan by the Numbers|url=https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/security/news/2008/08/21/4821/u-s-aid-to-pakistan-by-the-numbers/|access-date=13 June 2017|date=August 21, 2008}}
* {{cite web|last1=Congressional Research Service|title=The New Directions Mandate and the Agency for International Development|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pcaac420.pdf|website=Development Experience Clearinghouse|publisher=USAID|access-date=10 September 2017|location=PC-AAC-420|date=July 13, 1981}}
* {{cite web|last1=Dwight D. Eisenhower Library|title=Documents relating to foreign aid, 1948–90: Deposited by Albert H. Huntington Jr.|url=https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Finding_Aids/pdf/Huntington_Albert_Documents.pdf|access-date=13 June 2017|date=August 2001|archive-date=April 12, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412082932/https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Finding_Aids/pdf/Huntington_Albert_Documents.pdf|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book|last1=Glick|first1=Philip M.|title=The administration of technical assistance: Growth in the Americas|date=1957|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Hayes |editor-first1=Samuel J.  |title=The Beginnings of American Aid to Southeast Asia: The Griffin Mission of 1950 |date=1971 |publisher=Heath Lexington Books |location=Lexington, MA}}
* {{cite web|last1=Johnston|first1=Jake|last2=Main|first2=Alexander|title=Breaking Open the Black Box: Increasing Aid Transparency and Accountability in Haiti|date=April 2013|url=http://cepr.net/documents/publications/haiti-aid-accountability-2013-04.pdf|website=cepr.net|publisher=Center for Economic and Policy Research|access-date=13 June 2017}}
* {{cite book|last1=Kaufman|first1=Burton I.|title=Trade and aid : Eisenhower's foreign economic policy, 1953–1961|date=1982|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore, MD|isbn=0-8018-2623-3|url=https://archive.org/details/tradeaideisenhow00kauf_0}}
* {{cite web|last1=Koehring|first1=John W.|display-authors=etal|title=A.I.D.'s In-Country Presence: An Assessment|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnaax260.pdf|publisher=USAID|access-date=15 June 2017|location=PN-AAX-260|date=October 1992}}
* Millikan, M. F, & Rostow, W. W. (1957). ''A proposal : key to an effective foreign policy''. New York: Harper & Bros.
* {{cite news|last1=Moseley|first1=William G.|title=America's lost vision: The demise of development|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/opinion/08iht-edmoseley.2420617.html|access-date=13 June 2017|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 8, 2006}}
* {{cite book|last1=National Research Council|title=Improving Democracy Assistance: Building Knowledge Through Evaluations and Research|date=2008|publisher=The National Academies Press|location=Washington, DC|isbn=978-0-309-11736-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/improvingdemocra0000unse}}
* {{cite web|last1=Nowels|first1=Larry Q.|title=Economic Security Assistance As a Tool of American Foreign Policy: The Current Dilemma and Future Options|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pcaab992.pdf|website=Development Experience Clearinghouse|publisher=USAID|access-date=20 June 2017|location=PC-AAB-992|date=1987}}
* {{cite book|last1=Richardson|first1=John M. Jr.|title=Partners in Development: An Analysis of AID-University Relations 1950–1966|date=1969|publisher=Michigan State University Press|location=East Lansing, MI|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnabt529.pdf|access-date=13 June 2017}}
* {{cite book
|last1=Ruttan|first1=Vernon W.
|title=United States Development Assistance Policy: The Domestic Politics of Foreign Economic Aid|pages=xxiv+657|year=1996|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press
|isbn=0-8018-5051-7}}
* {{cite web|last1=Shah|first1=Arup|title=Foreign Aid for Development Assistance|url=http://www.globalissues.org/article/35/foreign-aid-development-assistance|website=Global Issues|access-date=13 June 2017|date=September 28, 2014}}
* {{cite web|last1=Tarnoff|first1=Curt|title=U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID): Background, Operations, and Issues|url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R44117.pdf|publisher=Congressional Research Service|access-date=13 June 2017|date=July 21, 2015}}
* {{cite web |last1=USAID (Agency for International Development) |title=Distribution of Personnel: As of June 30, 1948 thru 1976 |url=https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADT574.pdf |access-date=26 February 2019 |location=PN-ADT-574 |date=April 1977}}
* {{cite web|last1=USAID|title=Historical Bibliography of the United States Agency for International Development|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNABU368.pdf|access-date=13 June 2017|location=PN-ABU-368|date=April 1995}}
* {{cite web |last1=USAID |title=Policy Framework for Bilateral Foreign Aid |url=https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/201mam.pdf |access-date=25 February 2019 |ref=201mam_080411 |date=2011 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412083154/https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/201mam.pdf |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite web|last1=USAID|title=Operational Policy (ADS)|url=https://www.usaid.gov/who-we-are/agency-policy|access-date=21 June 2017}}
* {{cite web |last1=USAID |title=Supporting the USAID Mission: Staffing and Activities from Inception to Present Day |url=https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADM027.pdf |access-date=26 February 2019 |location=PN-ADM-027 |date=November 27, 2007}}
* {{cite web|last1=USAID|title=USAID Primer: What We Do and How We Do It|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACG100.pdf|access-date=13 June 2017|location=PD-ACG-100|date=January 2006}}
* {{cite web |last1=USAID |title=USAID Staffing Report to Congress |url=https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/2016_USAID_Staffing_Report_to_Congress.pdf |access-date=26 February 2019 |date=June 2016 |archive-date=May 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170503155112/https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1868/2016_USAID_Staffing_Report_to_Congress.pdf |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite web |last1=USAID |title=U.S. Foreign Aid: Meeting the Challenges of the Twenty-first Century (White Paper) |url=https://rmportal.net/library/content/highlevel_whitepaper/view |access-date=25 February 2019 |date=2004 |archive-date=March 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200306161805/https://rmportal.net/library/content/highlevel_whitepaper/view |url-status=dead }}
* {{cite book|last1=USAID|title=U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants: Obligations and Loan Authorizations, July 1, 1945 – September 30, 2015|url=https://explorer.usaid.gov/reports.html|access-date=13 June 2017|archive-date=June 27, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170627180644/https://explorer.usaid.gov/reports.html|url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book|last1=U.S. Department of State|title=Highlights of President Kennedy's New Act for International Development|date=June 1961|url=http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PCAAB618.pdf|location=PC-AAB-618|access-date=13 June 2017}}
* {{cite web|last1=U.S. Government|title=Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (Public Law 187-195), as amended through May 5, 2017|url=https://legcounsel.house.gov/Comps/Foreign%20Assistance%20Act%20Of%201961.pdf|date=1961|access-date=21 June 2017|archive-date=15 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815101734/https://legcounsel.house.gov/Comps/Foreign%20Assistance%20Act%20Of%201961.pdf|url-status=dead}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|United States Agency for International Development}}
* {{Official website|https://www.usaid.gov/ }}
* [https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/agency-for-international-development Agency for International Development] in the [[Federal Register]]
* [https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/agency-for-international-development Agency for International Development] on [[USAspending.gov]]
* [https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/286.html Records of the Agency for International Development (AID)] in the National Archives
* [https://www.usaid.gov/div USAID Development Innovation Ventures]
* [https://dec.usaid.gov/dec/content/search.aspx USAID's Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC)]
* [https://dec.usaid.gov/dec/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=KERvY3VtZW50cy5Eb2N1bWVudF9UaXRsZTooZnJvbnRsaW5lcykp&qcf=ODVhZjk4NWQtM2YyMi00YjRmLTkxNjktZTcxMjM2NDBmY2Uy FrontLines—the employee news publication of USAID]
* [http://www.emdat.be EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database]
* [http://www.cedat.be CE-DAT: The Complex Emergency Database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815130034/http://www.cedat.be/ |date=August 15, 2020 }}

{{International development agencies|state=expanded}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:United States Agency For International Development}}
[[Category:United States Agency for International Development| ]]
[[Category:1961 establishments in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Civil affairs]]
[[Category:Foreign relations agencies of the United States]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1961]]
[[Category:Independent agencies of the United States government]]
[[Category:International development agencies]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Washington, D.C.]]