The United Nations\u2019 emergency and disaster response agency will reduce its global workforce by 20% and scale back operations in nine countries, as it confronts a severe funding crisis and escalating global needs, it announced on Friday. <\/p>\n
In sobering letter to staff shared on the agency\u2019s website, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) head Tom Fletcher outlined \u201cbrutal cuts\u201d driven by a nearly $60 million funding shortfall for 2025, compounded by rising humanitarian demands. <\/p>\n
OCHA will withdraw or adjust operations in Cameroon, Colombia, Eritrea, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey, and Zimbabwe, and aim to prioritize \u201cdynamic and full responses\u201d in remaining locations where it operates. <\/p>\n
OCHA plans to lay off approximately 500 staff members from its workforce of about 2,600 employees across over 60 countries with a more concentrated presence in fewer locations, according to Najwa Mekki, Director of Communications at OCHA citing a separate letter Fletcher wrote. <\/p>\n
The cuts follow months of austerity measures, including a hiring freeze and travel restrictions, which saved $3.7 million. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe humanitarian community was already underfunded, overstretched and literally, under attack. Now, we face a wave of brutal cuts,\u201d Fletcher wrote, emphasizing that the reductions stem from financial constraints rather than diminished needs. <\/p>\n
Fletcher stressed the agency\u2019s pivot toward a \u201clighter, faster\u201d model focused on core priorities: crisis response, sector reform, and humanitarian leadership. The moves align with the UN\u2019s broader \u201cHumanitarian Reset\u201d \u2013 a ten-point plan agreed upon in February by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) \u2013 and Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres\u2019 UN80 reform initiative. <\/p>\n
Fletcher defended the decisions, insisting OCHA must \u201ccoordinate, not replicate\u201d efforts to preserve lifesaving work. \u201cWe believe passionately in what we do,\u201d Fletcher wrote, \u201cbut we cannot continue to do it all.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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