United Nations to cut humanitarian operations office staff by 20%

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will reduce its global workforce by 20 percent, citing a severe funding shortfall driven largely by recent cuts from the United States, its chief confirmed in a letter to staff seen on Friday.

In a message addressed to OCHA’s approximately 2,600 employees, the agency’s head Tom Fletcher described the situation as "the toughest it has ever been" for the UN’s humanitarian coordination body. The letter, sent Thursday and later excerpted on the agency’s website, attributed the cuts to "a wave of brutal reductions," including the US decision to slash humanitarian funding under the Trump administration.

"The humanitarian community was already underfunded, overstretched and literally under attack," Fletcher wrote. "Now, we face a wave of brutal cuts."

For fiscal year 2025, OCHA had budgeted around $430 million but is now contending with a nearly $60 million deficit. The United States, traditionally the largest contributor to OCHA’s program budget—providing about $63 million annually—has sharply reduced its support, creating ripple effects across the global humanitarian system.

Since February, OCHA has taken internal austerity measures to save $3.7 million but warns that these efforts fall short. "We will reduce bureaucracy and reporting layers," Fletcher said, noting that senior positions will be substantially cut, though the agency will aim to maintain robust operations in priority areas.

As part of the restructuring, OCHA will scale back its operations in several countries, including Cameroon, Colombia, Eritrea, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkey, and Zimbabwe. The agency currently operates in more than 60 countries, responding to crises from Ukraine and Gaza to Sudan.

The funding crisis has intensified since the Trump administration’s earlier move to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID) this year, slashing 83 percent of its humanitarian programs. USAID had an annual budget of $42.8 billion, representing around 42 percent of total global humanitarian aid.

Fletcher emphasized that the staffing cuts and program reductions did not reflect a decrease in global humanitarian needs. "I know that none of this is easy. We believe passionately in what we do, with good reason," he said. "But we cannot continue to do it all."

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has also signaled an impending "significant reduction" in its workforce due to similar funding shortfalls, a reflection of the broader challenges confronting international aid organizations.