USAID Measuring Impact Conservation Enterprise Retrospective (Philippines; Kalahan Educational Found

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance.

Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998, USAID has implemented programs in global health, disaster relief, socioeconomic development, education, environmental protection, and democratic governance. With average annual disbursements of about $23 billion since 2001, USAID has been one of the world's largest aid agencies and accounts for most U.S. foreign assistance — the highest in the world in absolute dollar terms — with missions in over 100 countries, primarily in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

The Trump administration is attempting to fully close the agency, pending several court cases. In early March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that 83% of USAID programs would be cancelled. In late March, USAID executive Jeremy Lewin announced plans to fold the remaining programs into the State Department by July 1 "following congressional consultations".

Creation

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. The goal of this agency was to counter Soviet Union influence during the Cold War and to advance U.S. soft power through socioeconomic development. 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. USAID by law is placed under "the direct authority and policy guidance of the Secretary of State".

Congress established USAID as a functionally independent executive agency with the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, which gave the President 60 days to abolish or reorganize USAID. During that time, President Bill Clinton reorganized USAID and retained its independence from the U.S. Department of State.

Congress authorizes USAID's programs in the Foreign Assistance Act, 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, secretary of state, and the National Security Council.

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.

After his inauguration as president on January 20, 1961, John F. Kennedy 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, 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), as the successor to both ICA and the Development Loan Fund. 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.

Changes under the second Trump administration

On January 24, 2025, President Donald Trump ordered a near-total freeze on all foreign aid. In February, the administration placed most employees on administrative leave. The absence of authorization from Congress led to lawsuits against the Trump administration. Also in February, the administration made several allegations of wasteful spending and fraud, allegations which were generally reported to be false.

Several days later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver for humanitarian aid. Despite the waiver, there was still much confusion about what agencies should do. More than 1,000 USAID employees and contractors were fired or furloughed following the near-total freeze on U.S. global assistance that the second Trump administration implemented.

On January 27, 2025, the agency's official government website was shut down. On February 3, 2025, Elon Musk, who has been carrying out parts of Trump's cost-cutting agenda, announced that he and Trump were in the process of shutting down USAID, claiming it to be a "criminal organization" and that it was "beyond repair". USAID's Inspector General had previously launched a probe into Starlink, which is operated by Musk; this led to concerns that Musk's role in the agency's downsizing constituted a conflict of interest.

On February 3, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he had been appointed Acting Administrator of USAID by Trump and that the agency was being merged into the State Department. The legality of these actions is disputed given the mandate for the agency's creation in the Foreign Assistance Act.It was announced that on February 6, 2025, at 11:59 pm (EST) all USAID direct hire personnel would be placed on administrative leave globally, with the exception of designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs. By the evening of February 6, reports had emerged indicating that the total number of employees to be retained was 294, out of a total of more than 10,000. Trump declared that agency leaders were "radical left lunatics", while the State Department ordered them to halt virtually all their projects, even if that meant ceasing programs that helped to eradicate smallpox and prevented millions of HIV cases. The freeze in HIV relief programs, including PEPFAR, is estimated to jeopardize treatment access for 20 million people, including 500,000 children. This drastic action led to sudden pauses in over 30 clinical trials for ailments such as HIV, malaria, cholera, cervical cancer, and tuberculosis, leaving participants with medical devices in their bodies and cut off from researchers, likely going against the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.

It also led to a pause in other efforts such as wartime help in Ukraine, hospital assistance in Syria, education programs in Mali, and conservation efforts in the Amazon rainforest. On February 6, CBS News reported that due to the civil war in Sudan, often called the “Forgotten War” because it receives comparatively little attention compared to the Ukraine and Gaza, an estimated 3 million children under age 5 are suffering from acute malnutrition. The American Farm Bureau Federation stated, "AID plays a critical role in reducing hunger around the world while sourcing markets for the surplus foods America's farmers and ranchers grow".

Conservative criticism of President Trump

The action of the Trump administration also caused frustration among conservatives. Andrew Natsios, the administrator for USAID during the George W. Bush administration, told PBS that, "With all due respect, none of these people know anything about AID. What does Musk know about international development? Absolutely nothing. He has a bunch of young kids in their 20s. They don't know. They're techies. They don't know anything about international development. They don't know anything about the Global South. They don't know anything about these — the programs and policies of the agency. AID is the most pro-business and pro-market of all aid agencies in the world. I can tell you that categorically. I am a conservative Republican. I'm not a liberal. And I have served in repeated Republican administrations."

Michael Sobolik, a China analyst at the conservative Hudson Institute think tank and a former aide to Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), has stated, "Sure, USAID was doing some highly questionable stuff that’s worthy of review. But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Beijing is hoping we do exactly that."

Reduction to 17% of programs

On March 10, Rubio posted to X that the administration had concluded its review, and 83% of USAID's programs would be cancelled, involving approximately 5,200 contracts.

Gavi Foundation

On March 24, 2025, DOGE announced the termination of a $2.63 billion grant from USAID to the Gavi Foundation because the Gavi Foundation "prioritizes 'zero-dose' children who have not received a single vaccine shot as well as missed communities. The zero-dose agenda is also a key priority for the global community’s immunization agenda 2030, which was endorsed by the World Health Assembly in May 2020." DOGE stated the United States federal government saved $1.75 billion by cancelling the grant, which was 6.575% of the total USAID budget.

Some UN World Food Programme grants added back

On April 8, USAID announced it was making some exceptions to the recent announcement of cancelled participation in the UN’s World Food Programme. Specifically, USAID was restoring food aid to Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Iraq and Ecuador, and other countries for a total of 14 nations (plus the International Organization for Migration in the Pacific region). However, food aid was not restored to Yemen or Afghanistan with a State Department spokesperson saying this was “based on concern that the funding was benefiting terrorist groups, including the Houthis and the Taliban.”

Potential competition with China

As the United States cuts back on foreign aid, China may increase their efforts and funding as a way to gain influence. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) said, "I have felt for a long time that USAID is our way to combat the 1 trillionBelt and Road Initiative, which is China's effort to really gain influence around the world, including Africa and South America in the Western Hemisphere." In addition, China often completes such projects on the basis of loans, not grants. Since 2000, African countries have been the recipient of over $182 billion in Chinese loans, with interest rates averaging about 3% (higher than rates from the World Bank but lower than the 6–7% rates from private lenders.

Democrats on the House Select China Committee have put together talking points on how cutting aid too aggressively may give a win to China on the world stage.

In early February, China pledged an additional $4.4 million to de-mining efforts in Cambodia.

Regarding the March 28 Myanmar earthquake, a U.S. State Department spokesperson stated that the United States is working through local partners in Myanmar, and said, “The success in the work and our impact will still be there.” However, a former USAID mission head in Myanmar said, “This is the new normal. This is what it looks like when the United States sits on the international sidelines, when the United States is a weaker international player, when it cedes the space to other global players like China.”

Two experienced U.S. rescue teams were not able to travel to Myanmar because of lack of prompt financing and lack of experienced USAID employees to serve as guides. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said, “I would reject the premise that the sign of success is that we are physically there.” And in fact, a large part of the U.S. effort in previous disasters has been to support local clinics, businesses, and local and international relief organizations. Often, there are secondary crisis(es) from diseases such as cholera which can appear in the days and weeks following a disaster.

On April 4, the United States committed an extra $7 million to help with the Myanmar earthquake, thereby increasing its commitment from $2 to $9 million.

Lawsuits and legal action

American Federation of Government Employees v. Trump

A lawsuit was filed on February 6 by the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, requesting a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against the administration, claiming that it violated separation of powers, the Take Care Clause of the Constitution, and the Administrative Procedure Act and requesting that all attempts to shut down the agency be halted, all recent actions be reversed, and a new acting director be appointed. The following day, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, nominated by President Trump in 2019, stated from the bench that he would enter in a "temporary restraining order", pausing the plan to put thousands of employees on leave and pausing the accelerated removal of workers from their posts abroad.

On February 21, Judge Nichols cleared the way for the Trump administration to move forward with pulling thousands of USAID staffers off the job in the United States and around the world, as part of an administration plan to also provide those abroad with a 30-day deadline to move back to the U.S. at government expense. Nichols had previously argued that Trump's actions threaten the safety of USAID workers abroad because many are deployed in unstable regions.

AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition v. US Department of State

On February 10, the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and the Journalism Development Network filed suit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking a preliminary injunction that would prevent the enforcement of Executive Order 14169, along with an order reinstating foreign assistance funding.

On February 13, district court Judge Amir Ali granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) and told the government to pay $2 billion in funds that were owed to aid agencies. The government did not comply, leading the plaintiffs to return to court to seek enforcement, and Judge Ali gave the government until February 26 to comply. The Trump administration appealed that ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, also requesting a stay pending appeal; the stay was rejected. The administration then appealed to the US Supreme Court, asking the court to vacate the TRO and grant the stay while the appeal proceeded in the appeals court.

On March 5, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the government must pay for projects already completed. Voting in the majority were the 3 Democratic appointees, Chief Justice Roberts, and Justice Barrett; voting in the minority were the other 4 Republican appointees. However, Federal Judge Ali was ordered to proceed with "due regard for the feasibility of any compliance timelines." On March 6, Judge Ali ruled that at least some payments for completed work must be made by March 10. On March 10, Judge Ali ruled that the Trump administration must pay for projects completed by February 13 at the rate of 300 back payments a day, meaning four days for all 1,200 back payments. On March 11, ABC News reported that, until recently, no payments were being made because DOGE had disabled the payment system. On March 20, Reuters reported that the Trump administration is close to paying the $671 million owed to the organizations which sued.

Lawsuit which claimed Musk needed Senate confirmation

On March 18, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang ruled that Musk’s and DOGE’s actions in placing USAID employees on leave were likely unconstitutional. Judge Chuang issued a preliminary injunction against further employees being placed on leave, buildings being closed, or websites having their contents deleted.

On March 28, the three-judge 4th Circuit Court overruled Judge Chuang on the preliminary injunction, but not the merits. Judge Marvin Quattlebaum wrote, “And none of this is to say that plaintiffs will not be able to develop evidence of unconstitutional conduct as the case progresses. Time will tell.”

Bribery case

On June 12th, 2025, a USAID contracting officer plead guilty to bribery of a public official.

Plans for State Department to take over rest of functions by July 1

On March 28, former DOGE member and current USAID executive Jeremy Lewin announced plans to wind-down USAID by July 1 "following congressional consultations." The Trump administration would fully put USAID under the State Department and would reduce its staff to 15 statutorily required positions down from a total of roughly 10,000 positions, effectively eliminating the agency in all but name.

The United States State Department will then take over USAID’s remaining functions, presumably the approximately 20% Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously spoken about. Some employees will remain at USAID until September 2 to responsibly shut down the agency.

Secretary of State Rubio wrote, "Unfortunately, USAID strayed from its original mission long ago. As a result, the gains were too few and the costs were too high."

Representative Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, stated as an example of what he viewed as abrupt and irresponsible cost-cutting: “Thanks to DOGE, the men we paid to guard the most vicious ISIS terrorists in the world in Syria walked off the job.”

USAID employees won't be automatically transferred. Instead, the State Department will engage in a “separate and independent hiring process.”

Malaria

The President’s Malaria Initiative, started with help from George W Bush, has been cut an estimated 36% as of June 2025. A former USAID contract employee said, “One of the reasons that we don’t have malaria in the US is because we fund and track malaria worldwide.” A doctor with Doctors without Borders made the point that there can be overlapping effects because children who are already malnourished are more vulnerable to diseases such as malaria.

Purposes

USAID's decentralized network of resident field missions is drawn on to manage U.S. government programs in low-income countries for various purposes.

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

Disaster relief

Some of the U.S. government's earliest foreign aid programs provided relief in war-created crises. 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 Marshall (the "Marshall Plan") helped rebuild war-torn Western Europe.

Poverty relief

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 the 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 in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building resilience to the risks associated with global climate change. U.S. environmental regulation laws require that programs sponsored by USAID should be both economically and environmentally sustainable.

U.S. national interests

Congress appropriates exceptional financial assistance to allies to support U.S. geopolitical interests, mainly in the form of "Economic Support Funds" (ESF). USAID is called on to administer the bulk (90%) of ESF and is instructed: "To the maximum extent feasible, oprovide SFassistance ... consistent with the policy directions, purposes, and programs of evelopment assistance"

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.

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. American farms supplied about 41 percent of the food aid according to a 2021 report by the Congressional Research Service.

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 and 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 and financial assistance:

Technical assistance

Technical assistance includes technical advice, training, scholarships, construction, and commodities. USAID contracts or procures technical assistance and provides it in-kind to recipients. For technical advisory services, USAID draws on experts from the private sector, mainly from the assisted country's pool of expertise and from specialized U.S. government agencies. Many host-government leaders have drawn on USAID's technical assistance to develop IT systems and procure computer hardware 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' 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

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 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.

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. GFSI's work in benchmarking and standard harmonisation aims to foster mutual acceptance of GFSI-recognized certification programmes for the food industry.

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, D.C.

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. 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.

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.

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, Turkey, and 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. 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. 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.)

The mission director is a member of the U.S. Embassy's "Country Team" under the direction of the U.S. ambassador. 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 bombings of U.S. Embassy chanceries in East Africa in the same year, missions have gradually been moved into U.S. Embassy chancery compounds.

USAID/Washington

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. Under the Biden administration, the administrator became a regular attendee of the National Security Council.

USAID/Washington 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
** AFRAfrica
** ASIAAsia
** LACLatin America & the Caribbean
** E&EEurope and Eurasia
** MEthe Middle East
* Subject-area bureaus
** GHGlobal Health
*** Every year, the Global Health Bureau reports to the U.S. Congress through its Global Health Report to Congress. The Global Health Bureau also submits a yearly report on the Call to Action: ending preventable child and maternal deaths. This is part of USAID's follow-up to the 2012, where it committed to ending preventable child and maternal deaths in a generation with A Promise Renewed.
** E3Economic 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.
** LABU.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.
** RFSResilience and Food Security
* Headquarters bureaus
** MManagement
** OHCTMOffice of Human Capital and Talent Management
** LPALegislative and Public Affairs
** PPLPolicy, Planning, and Learning
** BRMOffice 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, D.C. headquarters (3,059). 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, D.C. (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. Formerly, host-country staff could be recruited as "direct hires" in career positions 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.

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. 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.)

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. 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.

Field missions

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.

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 monitoring, delivery of medical supplies including contraceptives, 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 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.

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

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