The World Food Program (WFP) and other United Nations agencies will have to reduce jobs due to financing reductions, mainly from the United States, said officials, warning that reductions will seriously affect assistance programs worldwide.
It is according to the internal service notes obtained by the Associated Press and verified by two UN officials who spoke under the cover of anonymity to discuss the decisions of the internal staff.
Other organizations such as UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Agency and the OCHA, the humanitarian agency, have also announced or planned to announce reductions that would have an impact on 20% of the staff and global budgets.
The Cups to the UN agencies underline the impact of President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from his World Donor position.
Trump gave Billionaire Tech's Musk ally and his new power from the Ministry of Government Effectiveness (DOGE) to rework the magnitude of the federal government, emphasizing the reduction of foreign aid.
Even before the moving of the administration, many donor countries had reduced humanitarian spending and United Nations agencies found it difficult to achieve financing objectives.
World Food Program
PAM, the world's largest humanitarian organization, obtained 46% of its United States funding in 2024 and is expected to reduce up to 30% of its staff.
A PAM official qualified the “most massive” cuts seen by the agency in 25 years and that, consequently, the operations will disappear or be reduced.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that secretary general Antonio Guterres was “deeply disturbed by the drastic reduction in funding”.
Asked about the planned discounts, the organization said in a statement that “in this difficult donor environment, the Hierarchire PAM its limited resources on vital programs which provide urgent food aid to 343 million people who are hungry and famine.”
The internal memo said that staff discounts “will have an impact on all geographies, divisions and levels” in the agency.
He suggested that more workforce reduction may be necessary and said the agency would examine its “program portfolio”.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The UN refugee agency provides help with some 43.7 million refugees worldwide, as well as others among the 122 million people driven out of their homes by conflicts and natural disasters.
The head of the agency said that he would reduce his head offices and regional offices to reduce costs by 30% and reduce higher levels by 50%.
In a statement, the agency said it will have to “considerably reduce our workforce”, in particular the reduction in the staff of the head office and regional offices.
ADVERTISEMENTThe UNHCR has said that some country offices will be closed, but it has not given an immediate figure in the number of staff members.
“The impact of this funding crisis on the life of refugees is already devastating and will get worse,” said the agency. Programs providing food, drinking water, medicines, an emergency shelter and other services “will reduce or stop”.
For example, he said, a reduction in financing will reduce access to clean water for at least half a million people displaced to Sudan, increasing the risk of cholera and other diseases of disease.
The cuts “will affect our operations, the size of our organization and, the most worrying, the very people that we are called to protect,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT“It is essential that we prioritize, as we have always done, the well-being and safety of refugees and displaced and stateless people.”
The UNHCR office in Lebanon, which houses a million refugees from Syria, is only funded 15%, said its spokesperson Lisa Abu Khaled.
This month, he had to stop cash assistance at 347,000 refugees and the funding of the other 200,000 will only last June, she said.
He also interrupted primary health services for some 40,000 refugees.
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The United Nations Children's Agency declared at AP in a statement that TI provides that its funding will be at least 20% less in 2025 compared to 2024.
“Hardly won earnings and future progress for children are threatened due to a global funding crisis in which some donors strongly decrease their financial support to UNICEF and our partners, as well as their contributions to international aid more widely,” said a UNICEF spokesperson.
The organization has said that even if it had already implemented efficiency measures, “additional costs of cost reduction will be necessary”.
Officials examine “every aspect” of their tentacular operations in more than 190 countries and territories, which focus on the supply of the safeguard and humanitarian aid of life and the defense of policies that promote children's rights.
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The United Nations agency said last month that it had been struck by a 30% drop in financing of the year, mainly due to American discounts.
He said he ended the programs that affect 6,000 people and reduced his staff at 20%headquarters.
