USAID

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas authorized by the Congress in the Foreign Assistance Act.^[3] The Congress updates this authorization through annual funds appropriation acts, and other legislation. Although technically an independent federal agency, USAID operates subject to the foreign policy guidance of the President, Secretary of State, and the National Security Council. USAID's Administrator works under the direct authority and foreign policy guidance of the Secretary of State.

USAID seeks to "extend a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country." USAID's stated goals include providing "economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States". It operates in Sub-Saharan Africa; Asia and the Near East, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and Eurasia.

Organizational history of U.S. foreign aid

From the ECA to USAID

The U.S. Government has long provided foreign assistance for specific needs. In 1915, the Committee for Relief in Belgium headed by Herbert Hoover prevented starvation in Belgium after the German invasion.

After 1945, the USG institutionalized its foreign assistance with the creation of the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA). The ECA implemented the European Recovery Program championed by Secretary of State George Marshall (the "Marshall Plan") to help rebuild war-torn Western Europe.

The Marshall Plan was cut short on June 30, 1951 to re-direct foreign aid in light of the Korean War. On October 31, 1951, Congress passed the first Mutual Security Act and created the Mutual Security Agency (MSA) to manage foreign assistance. In 1953 at the end of the Korean War, the United States Foreign Operations Administration (FOA) was established as an independent government agency outside the Department of State to consolidate economic and technical assistance on a world-wide basis. Its responsibilities were merged into the International Cooperation Administration (ICA) one year later.

In 1961, the Congress approved the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 at President Kennedy's initiative, merging the ICA and other foreign aid entities into USAID as a new agency dedicated to development as a long-term effort requiring country-by-country planning and a commitment of resources on a multi-year basis.

Evolution

The organizational structure of U.S. civilian foreign assistance continues to evolve.

During the early 1970s, foreign aid became one of the focal points in Legislative-Executive differences over the Vietnam War. In September 1970, 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. The Congress did not act on the proposal and in 1973, Congress adopted a USAID proposal for "New Directions" in foreign aid. By amending the Foreign Assistance Act, the Congress provided that U.S. aid should emphasize "Basic Human Needs": food and nutrition; population planning and health; and education and human resources development. President Nixon signed the "New Directions" act into law (PL 93-189) in December 1973.

In 1978, legislation drafted at the request of Senator Hubert Humphrey was introduced to create a Cabinet-level International Development Cooperation Agency (IDCA). IDCA's intended role was to supervise USAID in place of the State Department. However, although IDCA was established by Executive Order in September 1979, it did not in practice make USAID independent.

In 1995, legislation to abolish USAID was introduced once again, this time by Senator Jesse Helms, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who aimed to replace USAID with a grant-making foundation Although the House of Representatives passed a bill abolishing USAID, the measure did not become law.

However, in order to gain Congressional cooperation for his foreign affairs agenda President 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), besides abolishing the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the United States Information Agency (which formerly maintained American libraries overseas), also abolished IDCA. Although the law authorized the President to abolish USAID, President Clinton did not exercise this option and USAID continued to manage the development budget.

In 2003, 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.^[10] Then, 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. 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. F's purpose is to ensure that foreign assistance is used as much as possible to meet foreign policy objectives. Under a Director with the rank of Deputy Secretary, 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 office responsible for overall budgeting and development policy.

The following year, USAID launched the "Development Leadership Initiative" to reverse the precipitous decline in USAID's Foreign Service Officer staffing, which had fallen to fewer than 1,000 worldwide. USAID's goal is to double the number of Foreign Service Officers by 2012. (USAID's total U.S. staff under career-length contracts, including Civil Service employees, started in 1962 at about 8,600 and was about 2,900 in 2009.)

On September 22, 2010, President Barack Obama signed a classified Presidential Policy Determination (PPD) on Global Development. As described by an unclassified fact sheet, the PPD promises 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 establishes an Interagency Policy Committee on Global Development led by the National Security Staff and adds to U.S. development efforts an emphasis on innovation.^[15] A few months later, on December 21, 2010, Secretary of State Clinton released the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), which reaffirms 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 will play in implementing U.S. assistance. In addition, it lays out a program for a future transfer of health sector assistance back from the State Department to USAID.

Consistent with this evolving policy environment, USAID re-created in mid-2010 a development planning office, the Bureau of Policy, Planning, and Learning, and on November 23, 2010, announced the creation of a new Bureau for Food Security to lead the implementation of President Obama's Feed the Future Initiative, which was formerly managed by the State Department.

Internal organization

USAID is organized around its headquarters in Washington, DC, and resident offices in developing countries ("missions").

Country development programs

USAID plans its work around individual country development programs tailored to the recipient countries. USAID missions reside in over fifty developing countries, consulting with each country's government and non-governmental organizations to determine the programs that will receive USAID's assistance. As part of this process, USAID missions conduct socioeconomic analysis, design projects, award contracts and grants, administer projects (including evaluation and reporting), and manage flows of funds.

As countries develop and need less assistance, USAID shrinks and ultimately closes its resident missions. Since USAID's founding in 1961, it has closed its missions in a number of countries including South Korea, Turkey, Tunisia, and Costa Rica.

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 a majority of the staff. The length of a foreign-service "tour" in most countries is four years, to give U.S. staff the opportunity to develop in-depth knowledge about the country. (Shorter tours of one or two years are permitted 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 USAID missions work in an unclassified environment with relative frequent public interaction, in many instances they have been located in independent offices in the business districts of capital cities. Since the passage of the foreign affairs consolidation law in 1998 and the bombings of U.S. Embassies in east Africa in the same year, USAID missions have gradually been moved into compounds alongside U.S. Embassy chancery buildings.

USAID's country programs are supported by USAID's headquarters in Washington, D.C., 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/Washington

USAID is headed by an Administrator appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The current USAID Administrator is Rajiv Shah, appointed by President Barack Obama.

USAID's headquarters in Washington, D.C. 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.

• Geographical bureaus:
• AFR—Sub-Saharan Africa
• ASIA—Asia
• LAC—Latin America & the Caribbean
• E&E—Europe and Eurasia
• ME—the Middle East
• OAPA—Afghanistan and Pakistan

• Functional bureaus:
• GH—Global Health
• EGAT—Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade
• DCHA—Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance
• BFS—Food Security

• Headquarter bureaus:
• M—Management
• LPA—Legislative and Public Affairs
• PPL—Policy, Planning, and Learning.

Independent oversight of USAID activities is provided by its Office of Inspector General. USAID OIG conducts criminal and civil investigations, financial and performance audits, reviews, inspections, and evaluations of USAID activities around the world.

USAID Staffing

USAID's global "direct-hire" staff—those with career contracts—includes Civil Service staff in Washington as well as U.S. Foreign Service Officers. The size of this staff was about 3,900 in 2012. An additional 400 U.S. staff work under contracts for shorter periods, typically two-to-three years. (By comparison, the State Department's U.S. workforce currently numbers about 19,000.)

USAID's host-country staff, who normally receive one-year contracts that are renewed annually, comprised fifty-seven percent of the Agency's global workforce in 2009.

USAID Foreign Service Officers, who currently number about 1,700 (compared to 13,000 in the State Department), are selected competitively for specific job openings on the basis of academic qualifications and experience in development programs.

USAID's goals

Among USG agencies, USAID has preeminent ability to administer programs in low-income countries through its decentralized network of resident field missions, making the Agency essential for managing USG programs in low-income countries. These USG programs serve a range of purposes.

• Disaster relief
• Poverty relief
• Technical cooperation on global issues
• U.S. bilateral interests
• Socioeconomic development
• Environment

Disaster relief

The U.S. Government's earliest foreign aid programs provided relief in crises created by war. In 1915, USG assistance through the Commission for Relief of 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. In our era, USAID leads USG relief efforts after wars and natural disasters through its Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance. Privately funded U.S. NGOs and the U.S. military also play major roles in disaster relief overseas.

Poverty relief

After 1945, many newly independent countries needed assistance to relieve the chronic deprivation afflicting their low-income populations. Since its founding in 1961, USAID has continuously provided poverty relief in many forms, including assistance to public health and education services targeted at the poorest. USAID has also helped manage agricultural commodity assistance provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, USAID provides funding to NGOs to supplement private donations in relieving chronic poverty.

Technical cooperation on global issues

Technical cooperation between nations is essential for addressing a range of cross-border interests like communicable diseases, environmental issues, trade and investment cooperation, safety standards for traded products, money laundering, and so forth. The USG has specialized agencies dealing with such areas, such as the Centers for Disease Control and the Environmental Protection Agency. USAID's unique ability to administer programs in low-income countries supports all USG civilian agencies' work on these vital global concerns.

U.S. bilateral interests

To support U.S. geopolitical interests, USAID is often called upon to administer exceptional financial grants to allies. 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 and thus to undermine insurgent support. In these circumstances, USAID may be directed by specially appointed diplomatic officials of the State Department, as in Afghanistan and Pakistan at present. USAID can also be called upon to support projects of U.S. constituents that have exceptional interest.

Socioeconomic development

When President Kennedy was still a Senator, his advisors persuaded him that low-income nations could achieve self-sustaining socioeconomic development if they improved management of their own resources. This became Kennedy's fundamental idea when as President he created USAID. USAID's assistance for socioeconomic development centers on providing technical advice, training, scholarships, commodities, and financial assistance. Other USG agencies and NGOs also participate in these efforts.

Environment

Since 1991 USAID has been providing environment assistance to up to 45 countries. As a federal agency, USAID must abide by the United States' environmental regulation laws. This ensures that programs sponsored by USAID should be at once economically and environmentally sustainable. USAID focuses on ensuring the protection of world resources that are currently most threatened and threatening for future generations. These resources include land and water and forests. USAID also focuses on managing and preparing people for the risks associated with global climate change.

USAID uses capacity building to address climate change in developing countries. Capacity building involves raising awareness about the impending threats caused by climate change. It also involves education, outreach and technical skills training as well as workshops that teach about clean energy, and sustainable agriculture.

USAID uses a capacity building technique because they have found that directly involved peoples carry out the most successful environmental campaigns. The direct involvement of trained stakeholders; means that projects will be continued even after USAID’s direct representatives have left.

Programs of the six 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 socio-economic development to the maximum extent possible.

Modes of assistance

USAID delivers foreign aid in two fundamentally different ways: technical assistance and financial assistance.

Technical assistance

Technical assistance includes technical advice, training, scholarships, construction, and commodities, which are contracted or procured by USAID and provided in-kind to recipients.

• Technical advice can draw on experts from other USG agencies as well as experts from the private sector under contract.

• Scholarships to U.S. universities are complemented by technical assistance to developing country universities, including establishing partnerships with U.S. universities, to strengthen professional training overseas.

• Commodity assistance takes diverse forms: for example, it is essential to disaster relief and it also is highly sought after for institutional development in the form of IT systems development and computer procurement.

The various forms of technical assistance are frequently coordinated as "capacity building" packages to support the institutional development programs of developing country leaders.

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.

In recent years, the USG has increased its emphasis on financial assistance in place of 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.

USAID Forward

Under Dr. Rajiv Shah's leadership, the agency has embarked on an ambitious reform agenda called USAID Forward  The reform agenda aims to change the way the Agency does business-with new partnerships, an emphasis on innovation and a relentless focus on results. It provides USAID the opportunity to transform its agency and unleash its full potential to achieve high-impact development. The USAID Forward package includes the following reforms in key areas: implementation and procurement reform, talent management, rebuilding policy capacity, strengthening monitoring and evaluation, rebuilding budget management, science and technology, and innovation.

• Implementation and Procurement Reform:
• USAID will alter its business processes by contracting with and providing grants to more and diverse local partners.
• Sets out to create partnerships and lasting conditions where aid is no longer necessary in the countries where USAID operates.
• In order to achieve this, USAID is streamlining its processes, increasing the use of small businesses, building metrics into its implementation agreements in order to achieve capacity building goals.
• Utilizes host country systems where appropriate to do so.
• Talent Management:
• USAID will explore ways to leverage the enormous talent that lies within the broader USAID family of foreign and civil service officers, and Foreign Service Nationals.
• To solve the world's biggest development challenges, it will improve and streamline processes so it can quickly align its resources to support the Agency's strategic initiatives.
• Will enhance hiring and training tools, as well as provide better incentives.
• USAID must attract and retain the appropriate and best individuals who reflect global diversity and are innovative problem-solvers.
• Rebuilding Policy Capacity:
• To make smart, informed decisions, USAID has created a new Bureau of Policy, Planning and Learning (PPL) that will serve as the intellectual nerve center for the Agency.
• PPL will promulgate cutting-edge creative and evidence-based development policies, which will leverage USAID's relationships with other donors.
• Utilize its strength in science and technology, and reintroduce a culture of research, knowledge-sharing and evaluation.
• Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation:
• USAID believes that learning by measuring progress is critical for high impact, sustainable development and therefore has incorporated this as an integral part of USAID's thought process from the onset of its activities.
• USAID is required to do a much better job of systematically monitoring its progress and evaluating its impact.
• This new monitoring and evaluating process will be part of these reform efforts, and USAID will be introducing it.
• Rebuilding Budget Management:
• USAID is rebuilding its budget capacity to allow for increased responsibilities and capacity to manage constrained budget resources and ensure the Agency will be able to align resources against country strategies, make difficult trade-offs, and re-deploy resources toward programs that are demonstrating meaningful results.
• In consultation with the Department of State, USAID has created an Office of Budget and Resource Management in the Office of the Administrator that will provide increased responsibilities over execution of its budget.
• With these increased responsibilities, USAID will have to propose difficult funding tradeoffs in order to continue robust funding of key operational and program priorities.
• Science and Technology:
• USAID has a history of transforming development through science & technology (S&T), from the successful use of oral rehydration therapies to the green revolution.
• As part of these reform efforts, USAID will upgrade its internal S&T capabilities, supporting the expansion of technical expertise and improving access to analytical tools like Geospatial Information Systems.
• It will also develop a set of Grand Challenges for Development, a framework to focus the Agency and development community on key scientific and technical barriers that limit breakthrough development progress.
• USAID will build Science and Technology capacity in developing countries through cooperative research grants, improved access to scientific knowledge, and higher education and training opportunities.
• Innovation:
• USAID is putting into place a structure for fostering innovative development solutions that have a broad impact on people, wherever they may arise.
• As part of these reform efforts, USAID is creating opportunities to connect its staff to leading innovators in the private sector and academia.
• USAID has created Development Innovation Ventures, where creative solutions can be funded, piloted and brought to scale.

Budgetary resources for foreign aid

Top 20 Benefiting Countries (Obligated Program Funds) for FY 2010
Nation	Billions of Dollars
Afghanistan	2.75
Pakistan	1.35
Haiti	0.70
Israel	0.59
Kenya	0.50
Sudan	0.46
West Bank/Gaza	0.38
Jordan	0.36
Ethiopia	0.35
South Africa	0.34
Georgia	0.33
Egypt	0.32
Tanzania	0.31
Nigeria	0.29
Uganda	0.26
Indonesia	0.26
Mozambique	0.23
Liberia	0.22
Colombia	0.22
Iraq	0.22

The U.S. Government's 150 Account funds the budgets of all International Affairs programs and operations for civilian agencies, including USAID. In FY 2009, the Bush Administration's request for the International Affairs Budget for the Department of State, USAID, and other foreign affairs agencies totaled approximately $39.5 billion, including $26.1 billion for Foreign Operations and Related Agencies, $11.2 billion for Department of State, and $2.2 billion for Other International Affairs.

The request under the FY2009 Foreign Operations budget, Foreign Operations and Related Agencies was:

• $2.4 billion to improve responsiveness to humanitarian crises, including food emergencies and disasters, and the needs of refugees
• $938 million to strengthen USAID’s operational capacity
• $2.3 billion to help Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and West Bank/Gaza achieve economic, democratic, security and political stabilization and to advance their overall development
• $2.1 billion for State Department and USAID programs in Africa to address non-HIV/AIDS health, economic growth and democratic governance needs and to help promote stability in Sudan, Liberia, Zimbabwe and Somalia in support of the President's 2005 commitment to double aid to Africa by 2010
• $4.8 billion for the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative, which directly supports the first year of the President’s new five-year, $30 billion plan to treat 2.5 million people, prevent 12 million new infections, and care for 12 million afflicted people
• $550 million to support the Mérida Initiative to combat the threats of drug trafficking, transnational crime, and terrorism in Mexico and Central America
• $1.7 billion to promote democracy around the world, including support for the President’s Freedom Agenda
• $385 million to support the President’s Malaria Initiative to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 target African countries by 2010
• $94 million for the President’s International Education Initiative to provide an additional 4 million students with access to quality basic education through 2012
• $64 million for the State Department and USAID to support the President's Climate Change Initiative to promote the adoption of clean energy technology, help countries adapt to climate change, and encourage sustainable forest management
• $4.8 billion for foreign military financing to the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and Eurasia, including $2.6 billion for Israel
• $2.2 billion for the Millennium Challenge Corporation to improve agricultural productivity, modernize infrastructure, expand private land ownership, improve health systems, and improve access to credit for small business and farmers^.

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). The United States never agreed to this target but remains – in real terms – the world's largest provider of official development assistance. However, relative to its economy, the U.S. is the second lowest provider with a 0.17% of GNI in aid. Only Greece, among the DAC countries, provides a lower percentage of GNI in the form of aid.

According to the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (DAC/OECD), the United States remains the largest donor of "official development assistance" at $23.53 billion in 2006. DAC/OECD reports that the next largest donor was the United Kingdom ($12.46b). The UK was followed (in rank order) by Japan ($11.19b), France ($10.60b), Germany ($10.43b), Netherlands ($5.45b), Sweden ($3.95b), Spain ($3.81b), Canada ($3.68b), Italy ($3.64b), Norway ($2.95b), Denmark ($2.24b), Australia ($2.12b), Belgium ($1.98b), Switzerland ($1.65b), Austria ($1.50b), Ireland ($1.02b), Finland ($0.83b), Greece ($0.42b), Portugal ($0.40b), Luxembourg ($0.29b) and New Zealand ($0.26b).

USAID contributed to relief in the 2010 Haiti Earthquake.

USAID BILATERAL ASSISTANCE IN THE NEWS

Haiti

Dr. Rajiv Shah became Administrator of USAID, shortly before the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. In response, USAID and other agencies, began working to help Haiti recover and rebuild. Together with the international community and the Government of Haiti, Dr. Shah led USAID to help 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.

Iraq

USAID has been a major partner in the United States Government's (USG) reconstruction and development effort in Iraq. As of June 2009, USAID has 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.

Rebuilding Iraq – C-SPAN 4 Part Series In June 2003, C-SPAN followed USAID Admin. Andrew Natsios as he toured Iraq. The special program C-SPAN produced aired over four nights.

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.

Bolivia

In 2008, the coca growers union affiliated with Bolivian President Evo Morales ejected the 100 employees and contractors from USAID working in the Chapare region, citing frustration with U.S. 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 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".

Horn of Africa

On September 19, 2011, Dr. Rajiv Shah, along with Dr. Jill Biden and Ad Council, launched the "FWD" campaign to raise awareness about the severe famine, war, and drought affecting over 13 million people in the Horn of Africa. Through televised and online PSAs, as well as social media initiatives, FWD encouraged Americans to spread awareness of the crisis, support the humanitarian organizations conducting the relief operations, and learn more about the solutions through President Barack Obama’s Feed the Future initiative to combat hunger and provide food security. Celebrities Geena Davis, Uma Thurman, Josh Hartnett, and Chanel Iman supported the campaign via a series of Public Service Announcements. Meanwhile, corporations like Cargill, General Mills, PepsiCo. and General Mills signed on to support the FWD campaign.

Controversies and criticism

Economic interests

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." However, 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.

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 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.

Political interests

Some critics^{[47][48][49][50]} say that the US government gives aid to reward political and military partners rather than to advance genuine social or humanitarian causes abroad. 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." 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.

Folha de São 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, the seminar was planned so as 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." 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.

In December 2009, Alan Gross, a contractor for USAID, was arrested in Cuba. He and US government officials claim Gross was helping to deliver internet access to the Jewish community on the island, however the head of the Jewish community in Cuba, Adela Dworin, denies any knowledge of Gross and says that recognized international Jewish organizations have provided them with legal Internet connections. Cuban officials have said that Gross remains under investigation on suspicion of espionage and importing prohibited satellite communications equipment (known as a BGAN) to Cuban dissidents.  Gross was convicted by Cuban courts and sentenced to fifteen years in prison for bringing communications equipment onto the island nation.

In 2012 ALBA members (Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia Nicaragua, San Vicente y las Granadinas, Dominica, Antigua y Barbuda) expelled USAID from their countries.

Influence United Nations

Several studies 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 UN Security Council can give a considerable raise of U.S. assistance.

In 1990 when the Yemeni Ambassador to the United Nations, Abdullah Saleh al-Ashtal, voted against a resolution for a US-led coalition to use force against Iraq, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Thomas Pickering walked to the seat of the Yemeni Ambassador and retorted: "That was the most expensive No vote you ever cast". Immediately afterwards, USAID ceased operations and funding in Yemen.