“The stop-work order and rapid terminations have brought my 400+ person organization to the brink of collapse in less than a month. We are rapidly shutting down…projects across 8 countries...”

“There are clinics in both Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya, that I have worked with that provide support and antiviral medication for thousands of people with HIV/AIDS. These clinics are unable to provide these medications to people with HIV, and the local employees of these clinics have no pay. Most significantly, HIV-positive pregnant mothers who take the medication to prevent transmission to their baby in pregnancy do not have access to this life-changing medication for their babies due to the freeze.”

“My company has furloughed 70% of our US staff—hundreds of employees—and is not able to pay foreign staff. The government owes my company $100 million for work that was completed in 2024.”

“I’ve worked in global health for 15 years, including for implementing partners and as a consultant for USAID directly supporting data visualization and storytelling. In January, I was set to start a new project with one of the regional health offices that meant a $30k loss of income unexpectedly. While I’m more concerned about my colleagues who have lost their full time jobs, there are also a number of us who are consultants with massive disruptions in our work and loss of income.”

“I am a consultant and have been working with humanitarian aid to Sudan. The stop-work order resulted in cash transfers being halted to 25,000 famine-stricken and displaced households. These are people who were registered for aid and prepared to receive it. ”

“I am an IT Project Manager. I am also a military spouse who took this job because it was remote, and I could maintain a career while my husband served his country. I was working on IT projects, implementing better security, and upgrading to newer technologies. This is going to affect military families throughout this country. We already have a high unemployment rate, and this is going to add to the military stress. We have families, and some can barely make ends meet on military pay. ”

“The stop-work order has canceled my project that increases two way trade and investment between Africa and the United States. This means the cancellation of hundreds of sub-contracts and grants that will lead to the direct loss of jobs for both Africans and Americans, the loss of millions of dollars worth of investment from the United States in Africa, and the loss of millions of dollars worth of exports from Africa to the United States and the United States to Africa.”

“I am affected by [the] stop-work order on foreign assistance and provide expertise in the security sector. I work for a veteran-owned small business which furloughed all of its staff last Friday.”

“I work for a university on ... capacity-strengthening activities for TB researchers. We train and mentor early-stage investigators (clinicians and researchers) so that they can run programs to detect, prevent, treat, and monitor TB. As you can see in the news in the US, there are several TB outbreaks in the US, so this is not an ‘over there’ issue. We had just recruited our third cohort of young TB researchers and clinicians when the stop-work order crossed our desks. ”

“The stop-work order has prevented me from completing a Gender-Based Violence Country Level analysis in Ukraine that would be used to ensure Gender-Based Violence was further considered in humanitarian aid programming.”

“The stop-work order has disrupted our work with private sector partners about to install solar panels at hospitals and clinics in sub-Saharan Africa. The panels would’ve allowed for continuous access to light and power for thousands of patients accessing services, including at TB clinics and maternity wards. The panels are now stuck in storage overseas, collecting daily storage fees and at risk of damage. ”

“The stop work order halted an upcoming training for 50 people in the Caribbean on how to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters in six Caribbean countries—with a focus on addressing and considering the vulnerable people in these efforts.”

“The stop-work order means that women in agriculture and local entrepreneurship in seven regions in Malawi will not benefit from a new program designed to reduce the daily gender-based violence and harassment they face in transportation and at nearby markets. In Kenya, women will lose access to a planned program designed to keep them safe and address violence against women in public transport. ”

“The stop-work order has stopped USAID-funded work to support improved food regulatory systems, trade, and food security projects across the African continent in partnership with experts within the African Union. By the time the 90-day pause is over, these animal health, plant health, and food safety experts may no longer have a job. Further, the U.S. will be seen as less of a reliable partner, allowing the EU and China to fill the gap.”

“My previous job helped stop the spread of Ebola—preventing it from leaving Liberia through providing hand-washing stations, providing information on how to stop the spread of Ebola, and even helping bury victims in a safe and dignified way to prevent further disease spread. The reason that Ebola did not spread to the U.S. in 2014-2016 is because USAID stopped it abroad first.”

“The stop-work order has prevented me and my project from providing women in Jordan with job skills training and support, which will limit Jordan’s economy since not supporting the employment of over half of the workforce will lead to a diminished economy and a worse trade and political partner in the Middle East.”

“The stop-work orders hit the majority of our projects across the world...we’ve gotten almost no explanation on whether our work falls under any waivers. We’ve now been told that unless the country pays us what we are owed and immediately provide clarity on waivers, many of my organization of about 1,500 people will be laid off. We were explicitly told to ‘start looking at unemployment.’”

“Overnight, countless colleagues, peers, and friends in the international development sector have lost their jobs. Many are now scrambling to pay rent or mortgages while trying to figure out how to support their families—and themselves—as an entire sector teeters on the brink of collapse.

The nonprofit I work for has managed to cover 50% of salaries for one month, but after that, layoffs will begin. Even with these measures, our survival beyond a few months remains uncertain. Meanwhile, those who relied on our assistance face an even harsher reality.”

“The stop-work order has cut off my work with local experts who were gathering crucial, impartial data on environmental and energy crises across Latin America and the Caribbean to make sure that our programs were effective. Without this information, USAID can’t effectively support these communities, leaving a dangerous gap that China is ready to fill and jeopardizing our own safety and influence.”

“The stop-work order has left hundreds of at my company without work. The company (about 3,000+) is undergoing significant financial stress. The stop-work order halted publications, done and ready to be shared, which are aimed at helping equip providers with critical information to make preganncy and labor safer for women and newborns. ”

“ On January 30, with one week’s notice, I received a letter notifying me that I was being placed on furlough as a result of a stop-work order for the contract.

My salary was our family’s primary source of income and also provided health insurance for us (my husband, daughter, aged 7, and son, aged 12 months). We will lose our health insurance starting March 1 or have to go on COBRA.

The cancellation of this contract has also resulted in the furlough of nearly 40 other contractors as well as the closing of an office building for workspace for USAID employees, which was under a lease agreement.”

“I’ve worked, along with incredible colleagues, to expand access to and improve the quality of education for Deaf children in many countries, including Rwanda, Morocco, and the Philippines. I will never forget sitting in front of a Deaf mother in Morocco, whose Deaf child received better sign language instruction because of USAID support. She was sobbing, telling us how meaningful it was to have someone recognize that her child deserves education just like any other child, something she didn’t get to experience when she was young.

Many Deaf children do not receive right-fit education in their countries and are either marginalized into special education classrooms without sign language instruction or are entirely excluded from the education system. USAID programs have helped get these children into schools, raise awareness of the importance of their education with Ministries of Education, and help teachers, parents, and the broader education system recognize that they can learn and deserve to learn, just like any other child.”

“The stop-work order prevented me from continuing to develop and implement a newly-funded program for anti-corruption and human rights leaders. Because of the stop-work order, I lost my job at the non-profit organization where I worked. While I had been working there for nine months, I had just started my full-time position in January 2025. I lost my income and health insurance overnight.”

“The stop-work order prevented implementation of USAID’s perinatal mental health work which was going to be introduced globally. Perinatal suicide is the leading cause of death in the year following birth. The stop-work order is preventing a critical intervention to prevent maternal mortality globally. ”

“Our entire careers, our colleagues, and, most of all, the communities we work with—gone in an instant. I think it’s hard for people to understand. Not only did we lose everything, but we are also being disparaged as “radical lunatics” and “fraudulent.” Every time I traveled for work, I was a representative for “the American people.” It was branded on everything. I felt proud of that. Patriotic. And now, I’m called a fraud by the very government I represented.”