US aid cuts force Swiss NGO to lay off 100 staff
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US aid cuts force Swiss NGO to lay off 100 staff
The relief organisation of the Swiss Protestant Reformed Church (HEKS) will lay off more than 100 employees following a freeze on humanitarian aid by the United States.
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The staff are deployed in Ukraine, Ethiopia and the DRC for projects funded by USAID, which is being dismantled by US President Donald Trump.
+ Foreign aid cuts: where does Switzerland stand?
“HEKS will close its humanitarian projects in these three countries, which are financed solely by the American agency,” said a spokesperson. More than 800,000 aid recipients will also be affected, he added.
+ Swiss children’s charity loses $10 million USAID funding
The projects in question involve the distribution of food, drinking water and hygiene kits. HEKS activities on the ground have not come to a complete halt, however, as the organisation can count on other funding.
The freeze by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will result in a shortfall of CHF7.5 million. This represents 6% of HEKS’s budget.
“The future of the organization is not in jeopardy, but it is an enormous loss of income”, said a HEKS spokesperson. In addition, last year’s USAID funds have not yet been disbursed.
The Lausanne-based NGO Terre des hommes announced earlier that it had lost $10 million in annual contributions following the freeze on US humanitarian aid. Projects in nine countries are affected and around 1.5 million beneficiaries will lose “vital support”, said the children’s aid organisation.
Translated from French with DeepL/mga
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