WOCCU Stops Work on U.S.-Funded Projects Overseas

WOCCU and Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions headquarters in Madison, Wis.

President Donald Trump’s freeze of overseas grants led the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) to stop work this week on the three projects that help credit unions in Ukraine, Guatemala, Peru, Kenya and other countries.

Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order led the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to issue 90-day stop-work orders this week for all three international development projects that WOCCU implements on its behalf through credit unions. As a result, the Madison, Wis.-based nonprofit said Thursday it has suspended work on:

• The USAID GROW Project in Ukraine;
• The USAID Economic Inclusion Project (EIP) in Peru and Ecuador; and
• The USAID Cooperative Development Program’s (CDP) Accelerating Growth and Inclusion in Lending for Credit Unions (AGIL4CU) Project in Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Kenya and Senegal.

In a statement issued Thursday, WOCCU said it “welcomes the review of foreign aid programs and the effective use of all the funding it receives from the U.S. Government, just as we would from our private donors, investors and members.