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Trump defunds USAID programs in Albania, full list revealed

2025-03-12 11:57:51Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Donald Trump and Elon Musk

The Trump administration has shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), eliminating the vast majority of the agency's programs, while the remainder will be transferred to the Department of State.

The sweeping cuts will affect tens of billions of dollars in aid that the United States provides to developing countries.

USAID has been the world's largest foreign aid agency, with projects worth about $43 billion by 2023.

Albanian Post reviewed a copy of a 368-page document showing the most extensive list to date of thousands of USAID programs and contracts that have been canceled.

This comes after President Donald Trump on January 20 announced a sweeping freeze on nearly all US foreign aid to ensure that funding was consistent with his "America First" policy.

On March 10, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had officially canceled 83 percent of USAID contracts and that the State Department would administer its approximately 1,000 remaining programs.

Pete Marocco, the Trump administration appointee placed in charge of USAID, said in court documents filed on February 26 that 5,800 USAID programs were cut and 500 were maintained, noting a discrepancy between Rubio's and Marocco's figures.

Which USAID programs have been discontinued in Albania?

The first program affected by the outage is the USAID Critical Infrastructure Digitalization and Resilience (CIDR) program, which provides cybersecurity penetration testing services in Albania.

The amount of the terminated contract is 29 million, 997 thousand, 925 dollars.

Another project that includes our country is the one titled Connect for Growth (C4G), which improves energy security in Southeast Europe, including Albania.

The amount of the terminated contract is 24 million, 994 thousand, 550 dollars.

Among the discontinued programs, there are also three contracts of the Regional IDIQ Support Program (indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity – ed.).

This is IDIQ from the USAID Regional Office of Acquisition and Assistance (ROAA) at the USAID Mission in Kosovo.

This IDIQ provided program support services to USAID missions in the Balkan region, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

Two of the contracts were worth $20 million (each) while the third was worth $50,000.

Another USAID activity that supported vulnerable communities through a comprehensive approach will be discontinued, according to a document from US authorities.

These are local institutional response mechanisms (resistance centers), which are supported to promote and protect the rights, safety and inclusion of marginalized women and men… including support for survivors of all forms of gender-based violence.

The amount of the terminated contract is $3 million.

Another project that has been halted is that of Disability Inclusive Disaster Action (DIDA) in Albania, previously funded by USAID.

The overall goal of the activity was to strengthen the comprehensive system of management and response to climate change disasters at central and local levels with a special focus on Persons with Disabilities.

The amount of the terminated contract is 900 thousand dollars.

US authorities have also terminated a $50,000 contract, which helped Albania's public sector "improve internal financial controls, prevent corruption through better contract enforcement, and increase accountability and transparency in public procurement."

SPAK funds in the hands of the State Department?

The document does not mention the Special Anti-Corruption Structure (SPAK), which has had very broad and strong support from the US administration since its creation, receiving both financial and logistical assistance.

"Each program underwent a review with the aim of restructuring assistance to align with the administration's policy priorities," a State Department spokesperson previously told the Albanian Post.

"Programs that serve our nation's interests will continue. However, programs that do not align with our national interest will not continue," the State Department official concluded.

It was precisely the International Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), which supported the creation of a Specialized Anti-Corruption Structure and the vetting of all judges and prosecutors.

"With INL assistance implemented by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training (OPDAT) and the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP), SPAK combats high-level corruption and organized crime and helps change the long-standing culture of impunity in Albania," reads one of the official State Department documents.

In 2020 alone, this agency within the State Department has allocated $5.3 million dedicated to SPAK, from funds coordinated with USAID for justice reform. (Albanian Post)


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