USAID Operating Expenses

Description

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Operating Expenses focus on advancing critical and effective foreign assistance programs and ensuring prudent stewardship and accountability of U.S. taxpayer dollars.

What does it buy?

The Operating Expenses account funds USAID’s overseas and domestic operations expenses, including salaries and benefits, overseas mission activities, staff training, physical security, and information technology (I.T.). Most of the funding supports overseas operations.

Why is it important?

• USAID leads international development and humanitarian efforts to save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance, and help people progress beyond foreign assistance to self-reliance.
• USAID is an evidence-based and results-oriented organization. Its programming helps communities lift themselves out of poverty by reducing the reach of conflict, preventing the spread of pandemic disease, and counteracting the drivers of violence, instability, transnational crime, and other security threats.
• Qualified and well-trained staff, secure USAID missions, and adequate I.T. systems are critical to the achievement of USAID’s mission and taxpayer dollars’ proper stewardship.

Why should Americans care?

• USAID operating expenses support the global engagement of USAID staff. USAID staff promote prosperity through expanding markets for exports; creating a level playing field for U.S. businesses; and, supporting more stable, resilient, and democratic societies.

COVID-19 Impacts

• USAID requires additional funds to prevent, prepare for, and respond to COVID-19 to continue to protect its employees and their families.
• Over the course of the pandemic, USAID Operating Expenses covered evacuation costs for two-thirds of its Foreign Services Officers overseas. Funding was also needed to cover the continuity of operations in both Washington D.C. and internationally, including for I.T., cleaning, and personal protective equipment for U.S. Direct-Hire employees and their families.

What more could be done?

• As USAID works to increase and expand partnerships, including with local organizations, it will need additional staff and training to improve its capacity to work with new partners and provide appropriate oversight and technical assistance.
• Additional funding could project a more significant U.S. presence in developing countries, increasing the U.S.’s ability to counter Russian and Chinese influence.
• Additional investments in USAID’s financial and information management systems would improve its ability to carry out its mission and better ensure effective stewardship and transparency of federal funds.