Former USAID Senior Safeguarding Analyst, Protection from Sexual Exploitation & Abuse

July 2025

“I’m a single mom, and my kids’ dad also worked for USAID and was laid off. So both parents, now in two different households, are dealing with unemployment, job searches, and cutting finances at the same time.

It was immobilizing for a couple of months, just trying to process what was really happening. It wasn’t feasible for me at the time to just pick up and start looking for jobs. My entire sector is gone. I have to go through a whole career change at the same time. It was just very overwhelming.

I had to go through the process of letting it sink in before I could pick the pieces up enough to figure out what I was going to do. The bills are still coming and I’ve got kids to support and a mortgage to pay. Fortunately, I’ve had very supportive friends and family, and a supportive community of other USAID colleagues and neighbors.

My role as a safeguarding analyst focused on strengthening protections for the people receiving foreign assistance. We looked specifically at preventing sexual exploitation and abuse, child abuse, sexual harassment, and trafficking in persons — especially among the most vulnerable populations, like women and children. Our job was to make sure that aid meant to help people didn’t end up putting them at further risk.

There’s this perception that U.S. taxpayer dollars are being wasted on foreign assistance. What’s been so hard to accept about that argument is that the world we live in is interconnected, and we have a moral responsibility to treat people with dignity. When safeguards and support disappear, the people who are already most vulnerable don’t become safer — they become even more at risk.”