Termination of activity on expiring US grants
On Friday, January 31, the NPA started terminating activity in three countries on three different US grants set to expire during the announced US review of foreign aid. Amongst other measures, notification of termination of certain contracts is being issued.
Some grants in Iraq, Palau and Tajikistan were set to expire during the announced US review period, and we have now received confirmation that no grant amendments can be made during the suspension period, as part of the enacted freeze in costs related to US development aid. Measures are taken to terminate costs on these grants where future costs will not be covered by donor. Affected staff will receive salary and benefits in the termination period according to their contracts.
We want to emphasize that this is a decision particular to the situation where funding expires before the review period is concluded. Other projects in these countries will continue, until any other notice is given. The NPA regularly adjusts staffing in accordance with donor grants and their terms.
We regret having to issue termination notices to our competent and motivated staff, and hope that the current freeze in our U.S funded activity in mine action is resolved quickly and that the affected staff can be brought back onto NPA contracts.
We are in active contact with U.S authorities, but are still awaiting more information on the further process.
While we are still awaiting further clarification about the general terms of US funding during the review period, we are at this point unfortunately still not able to say how other countries and/or programs funded by US authorities will be impacted.
The NPA management is preparing for different scenarios and is working closely with country offices to develop plans to reduce the impact of disruptions and ensure timely and relevant measures are being implemented in affected programs.
In this challenging period, NPA's focus is to take care of all our staff.