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USAID is committing to a one-year trial period of the nationwide resumption, during which we will continuously monitor and evaluate the efficacy of the reforms put in place by USAID, implementing partners, and the Government of Ethiopia.

U.S. humanitarian assistance is a vital lifeline for millions of people in need around the world facing drought, food insecurity, conflict, and violence. We place the highest priority on ensuring we and our partners use funds wisely, effectively, and for their intended purpose. 

Today, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced the United States is providing nearly $524 million in critical humanitarian assistance for the Horn of Africa crisis, at the “High-level Pledging Event to Support the Humanitarian Response in the Horn of Africa.” This includes $416 million in USAID funding and nearly $108 million from the Department of State. The impacts of the current drought – the most severe in the Horn of Africa in recorded history – continues to leave 23 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia facing grave hunger. 

​​​​​​​We have made the difficult decision to pause all USAID-supported food assistance in the Tigray region until further notice. 

There’s an old Irish ballad, written during the Great Hunger in 1848, about a starving child who asks his mother if he can eat three grains of corn, found in the pocket of an old jacket. “What has poor Ireland done,” he asks in the song, “that the world looks on and sees us starve, perishing one by one?”