USAID
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|
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | November 3, 1961 |
| Preceding agency | |
| Headquarters |
Ronald Reagan Building Washington, D.C. |
| Employees | 3,893 career U.S. employees (FY 2016) |
| Annual budget | $27.2 billion (FY 2016 Budgetary Resources) |
| Agency executive | |
| Website | usaid.gov |
| Footnotes | |
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the United States Government agency which is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid.
President John F. Kennedy created USAID from its predecessor agencies in 1961 by executive order. USAID's programs are authorized by the Congress in the Foreign Assistance Act, which the Congress supplements through directions in annual funding appropriation acts and other legislation. Although it is technically an independent agency, USAID operates subject to the foreign policy guidance of the President, Secretary of State, and the National Security Council. USAID operates in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
Responding to President Barack Obama's pledge in his 2013 State of the Union Address to "join with our allies to eradicate extreme poverty in the next two decades," USAID has adopted as its mission statement "to partner to end extreme poverty and to promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing the security and prosperity of the United States."
USAID's decentralized network of resident field missions is drawn on to manage U.S. Government (USG) programs in low-income countries for a range of purposes.
Some of 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.
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