Addis Abeba — The United States Embassy in Addis Abeba has announced that, effective 01 July 2025, the U.S. Department of State has assumed select functions of USAID and oversight of bilateral assistance agreements with the Ethiopian government. Key programs, particularly those focused on humanitarian aid, global health, and food security, will now operate under newly restructured frameworks within the State Department.
"Bilateral assistance agreements with the Ethiopian government, as well as core programs including humanitarian aid, global health, and food security, will continue under new structures within the State Department. USAID's regional operations will be transferred to corresponding State Department bureaus to maintain regionally focused and responsive aid delivery," the Embassy said in a statement.
In a press briefing held last month, U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ervin J. Massinga, explained that the Trump administration had opted for what he described as a fundamentally different approach to foreign assistance compared to previous administrations. "All assistance, both humanitarian and non-humanitarian, will now fall under the State Department umbrella," the Ambassador said, emphasizing a streamlined approach prioritizing life-saving initiatives and programs aligned with U.S. strategic interests.
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Ambassador Massinga stated that 89% of humanitarian aid programs previously programmed for Ethiopia have been restored. "In the Ethiopian context, the vast majority of the humanitarian assistance that was previously programmed will continue," he said. In addition to humanitarian aid, development funding- including support for health and agriculture - remains available. "At the end of the day, about 77% of the previously allocated funding for development and humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia is available to us now," he added.
The suspension of USAID programs in 2023 had triggered widespread concern among humanitarian organizations, which warned of a worsening malnutrition crisis, particularly affecting children and lactating women. A report released by the Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC) in March revealed that acute malnutrition rates in several regions had "surpassed the critical threshold of 15%," signaling a dire emergency.
Aid agencies were also forced to downsize operations, with several NGOs terminating employment contracts due to funding shortfalls.
Ambassador Massinga also hinted at a broader policy shift in U.S. engagement, signaling a move away from aid programming toward a private sector-led development model. "We are going to be very fundamentally making a shift away from programming towards the focus on the private sector as the engine of growth," he said. "Just like it is in our country... the government has a certain role in creating an enabled environment, but it's the private sector that is and will continue to be the engine of growth - both in my country and around the world. And we know that the vision here in Ethiopia is the same."
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