United States Agency for International Development (USAID), independent federal agency, chartered in 1961 by John F. Kennedy as part of the Foreign Assistance Act (1961), whose mission is to manage economic and humanitarian assistance programs to foreign countries. USAID works to support sustainable development—economic and social growth that builds indigenous capacities and can maintain itself without exhausting resources or damaging the economic, cultural, or natural environment. USAID coordinates programs in Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and the successor states of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The agency works with individuals, governments, and other organizations to improve the assisted countries' development in several areas.

USAID is the chief U.S. agency for disaster relief abroad. It provides food aid and emergency humanitarian assistance. The agency also supports such health-care programs as vaccination and immunization, AIDS prevention, child and maternal nutrition, and family-planning services.

The agency promotes economic growth using local resources and skills. It sponsors development that is environmentally sensitive and works to prevent such problems as air pollution, deforestation, global warming, pollution of groundwater, and oceanic dumping. USAID also works to support free and fair elections and to teach the skills of democratic governance.

Reviewed by: United States Agency for International Development