Close to 30 per cent of the staff of Irish aid agency Goal are set to lose their jobs amid a financial crisis brought about by international funding cuts.
It said more than 900 personnel across the world could be affected by job cuts. Goal chief executive Siobhán Walsh told The Irish Times there were 28 employees in Ireland “whose roles are at risk of redundancy”.
In its first comprehensive public comments on the implications of the funding crisis, Goal said “life-saving projects” in some areas were now “on hold”.
“In Ethiopia we have many programmes focused on providing critical, life-saving care for children suffering from moderate and severe acute malnutrition. Because of the cuts we are already receiving reports of children under five years of age participating in therapeutic feeding programmes dying due to interruptions and suspensions of the feeding programme,” Ms Walsh said.
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“We are also receiving reports of children under five years who have deteriorated from moderate to severe acute malnutrition, putting them at risk of further complications and death. Stabilisation centres have already exhausted their allocated supplies of therapeutic milk, which has further exacerbated the situation and put thousands of children at significant risk.”
Ms Walsh said Goal was assessing the full impact of the financial crisis on its global operations but recognised there would be “profound implications” for thousands of families who relied on humanitarian assistance for food, water, shelter, and its longer-term mitigation work.
She said in response to the funding crisis it had “informed staff whose jobs may be affected by these abrupt funding cuts across our global operations in Africa, Middle East, Latin America, and Caribbean”.
“To date over 900 staff in total have been impacted globally.”
Goal has a total global workforce of 3,250 personnel, most of whom are recruited locally across the 14 countries in which it operates. It also has about 170 staff “associated with” its head office in Dublin.
Goal has been significantly exposed financially by cuts to funding allocated by giant US government aid agency USAid following a review by the Trump administration.
Goal’s annual report for 2023 describes USAid as its “largest donor”. The report said Goal received €103 million in 2023 “which equates to 54 per cent of the total portfolio”. In 2022, Goal received €113 million from the US agency.
However, the international aid sector is also facing cuts by several other governments.
In March, another Irish agency Concern Worldwide said nearly 400 staff had been made redundant.
Ms Walsh said that like many international humanitarian organisations Goal was “deeply concerned about the impact of the significant and sudden cuts to overseas development assistance, which were announced in February and March of this year”.
“These cuts come at a time when there are more than 120 million people displaced worldwide, and humanitarian needs are at their highest levels in decades.”
In 2024, Goal directly supported over 11 million people. “Sadly the consequence of these cuts means our ability to reach millions of vulnerable families is impacted.”
Aside from the US funding reductions, she said: “the Netherlands has slashed 30 per cent of its aid budget, redirecting funds to projects that ‘directly contribute to Dutch interests.’ Belgium has cut aid by 25 per cent, while France has reduced its budget by 37 per cent.
“More recently the UK made a dramatic move, cutting foreign aid by 40 per cent. The unprecedented scale of these cuts is placing an indescribable toll on the entire humanitarian systems, and millions of lives are on the brink.”
