USAID project sign. Date: Feb 21, 2025. (Credit: P.H.B.).
BEIRUT — The Trump administration’s decision to impose a 90-day suspension on almost all foreign aid in late January, pending an administrative review, has sent shockwaves worldwide and upended international aid. A U.S. federal judge ordered a temporary lifting of the freeze on all USAID funding on Feb. 13, but this only extends until the end of the review period. And Lebanon was not spared.
“Hundreds of USAID employees in Lebanon have also been furloughed, and received no benefits,” said Ayyad El Masri, an expert in resource mobilization in the humanitarian field.
How much money is at stake today?
The U.S. provided 22 percent of Lebanon’s total aid in 2024, putting it on top of the donor list ahead of the European Union, according to an aid tracking report published by the U.N. in Lebanon. Aid disruptions could thus leave a big gap to fill.
“Lebanon is in a very critical situation, especially post-conflict. Funding was already scarce, and tensions are still very high. The loss of humanitarian aid is another added pressure on the country’s marginalized communities,” said El Masri.
Over $250 million were disbursed by all U.S. agencies including $225 million by the USAID alone in 2024, the U.S. foreign assistance tracker website showed. On the other hand, around $240 million were obligated the same year, with about $220 coming from USAID. Obligated amounts refer to those pledged for projects that could run for several years.
“USAID projects are usually executed over five years, with the possibility of extension based on program needs and objectives. While each project has a predetermined fixed budget, these are not necessarily equally allocated across each year of the project duration,” explained investment expert Danny Maalouly. For example, The Community Support Program (CSP), a $100-million USAID initiative, is designed to deliver essential services and enhance opportunities through a series of projects across the North, South and the Beqaa regions. This project has been running from 2018 to 2025. However, a detailed yearly spread could not be provided.
Which institutions are affected?
Numbers published on Foreign Assistance give an idea of the amount disbursed by USAID, namely through projects in key Lebanese sectors like education, water supply and sanitation, agriculture and health, with funds also disposed towards emergency response. Programs that were allocated the most funds in 2024 include Emergency Food Assistance, Humanitarian Assistance and the education project Quality Instruction Towards Access and Basic Education Improvement Program (QITABI). All projects have been frozen following Trump’s stop-work order.
“When a USAID project is launched, the funds go to an implementing body – typically an international development or consultancy firm based in the U.S. – who will then be in charge of the project’s execution. It will then disburse those funds to relevant beneficiaries like businesses, education institutions, NGOs and other organizations,” Maalouly explained.
The agency’s top implementing partners in Lebanon included U.N. Agencies like the World Food Program, international development firms like Chemonics International, Development Alternatives Inc., global education institutions like World Learning Inc. and local ones such as the Lebanese American University (LAU) and the American University of Beirut (AUB).
The Lebanese Army Forces (LAF), one of the biggest beneficiaries of American aid, will unlikely be impacted by this decision. In early January, the U.S. had pledged $95 million to support the army. But it is unlikely that the funds be affected as those have “already been notified to Congress and are irreversible. It is a separate support initiative that does not fall under the Pentagon's aid program," Joe Macaron, a researcher and Middle East specialist, previously said to L’Orient-Le Jour.
Institutions will not be proportionately affected. While some organizations are reporting up to 80 percent in loss of funds, according to El Masri, others like LAU, for example, received USAID funding worth 4 percent of their total budget in 2021.
Other U.N. agencies like the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stand to be significantly affected by the aid halt but the full impact cannot yet be determined.
How many people could be impacted?
“If we estimate that at least 10 projects were simultaneously running in 2024, and each project requires around 40-50 contractors, that’s over 500 employees are at risk of losing their jobs,” Maalouly added. “But the number could be much higher in fact. Additionally, these projects usually create and sustain jobs within the organizations they support, which will also be impacted, putting these employment opportunities at risk.”
El Masri said some organizations let go up to 85 percent of staff in a single day.
Since 2000, USAID has provided over 10,000 scholarships to students in Lebanon and nearly 87,000 students have benefited directly or indirectly through school renovations aimed at enhancing infrastructure and improving the classroom learning environment, according to the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon’s website.
Launched in 2023, USAID had pledged $96 million for its five-year project QITABI 3 to improve literacy and promote education countrywide. According to the U.S. embassy website, the program aimed to “improve the learning outcomes of roughly 350,000 learners, enhance instructional practices for 25,000 teachers and increase retention rates across 1,200 public and low-cost private schools.” To that end, hundreds of thousands of students could feel the impact of aid disruptions.
At LAU and AUB, several scholarships are threatened too. If we assume a yearly scholarship of $20,000 to $30,000 depending on the benefits received, “we’re talking about a loss of around $1.5 million in scholarship funds, with at least 600 students affected just in LAU and AUB, that is not including smaller scholarship programs,” El Masry estimated.
“An aid halt might jeopardize their ability to continue pursuing their education and force them to return to the disadvantaged areas they came from,” he added.
“There are entire Public Health Centers (PHC) establishments that were similarly halted and closed on the day of the freeze announcement.” Funded by the USAID, and managed by the Public Health Ministry (MoPH), those usually make healthcare accessible to those in need.
“The staff were let go and were denied their rights and contracts, without even receiving compensation for the remainder of the month,” El Masri told L’Orient Today.
Rural communities are expected to be affected by the potential halt too. “Huge investments in the agriculture sector and livelihood programs were planned for over $60 million between 2023 to 2024, set to benefit around 35,000 rural households. These projects were expected to generate close to $100 million in income for agriculture businesses in the long run,” he indicated.