2018–2019: Seeding Coaching at USAID

• USAID Leadership recognizes the importance of coaching and evaluated the need and return on investment of providing coaching to USAID staff. USAID begins to build a coaching culture.

• Most coaching is provided by external coaching firms.

2020–2022: Coaching Programs Expand

• 2021: USAID creates an internal coaching program recognizing the benefit of providing internal coaching services to the global workforce. 

• 2022-2024: USAID partners with Georgetown University to train three cohorts of USAID coaches.

• 2023-2024: USAID partners with Brown University and ACT to train USAID’s local staff through a Leadership and Performance Coaching Certification Program targeting staff in Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia. 

• Internal Capacity Building: USAID partners with Georgetown University’s Leadership Coaching program and Brown University to provide additional development and certification for staff, including training on team coaching.

• Middle East and North Africa Regional Coaching Pilot launches 

• Coaching Advisory Group forms, composed of internal USAID coaches, to continue building the internal coaching program and embed coaching into leadership development and performance support.

• Diverse cadre of coaches deliver coaching across USAID, including through Bureau-led and regional initiatives.

2023–2024: Scaling and Institutionalization

• Coaching becomes recognized as a key component of leadership development and employee resilience across USAID.

• The Middle East Regional Platform, El Salvador, and Southern Africa Missions support regional coaching programs.

February 2025: Sudden Disruption

• USAID coaching coordinators terminated with 1-day notice as part of government-ordered shutdown.

• The Coaching Advisory Group pivots into action, organizing peer support for all staff.

March–June 2025: Coaching in Crisis

• USAID begins phased closure and program terminations).

• Advisory group launches pro bono, human-centered and trauma-informed coaching for affected staff.

• USAID Coaches develop Career Transition Coaching Series offered through Middle East Regional Platform:

  • 6-part virtual program delivered to 800+ laid-off USAID employees.

  • Focus on career planning, identity rebuilding, social emotional and psychosocial support, AI-supported job search tools, and resume building and online tool utilization.

• Over 60 certified USAID coaches provided over 1,300 individual sessions covering a range of trauma, career transition, life, and leadership coaching.

• The USAID Coaches have provided between $330,000 and $400,000 of free services to our fellow development professionals.

Summer 2024: USAID Closes

• Coaching community expands support to clients in the UN, private sector, NGOs, and beyond.

• The initiative is rebranded as USAID Coaching, maintaining legacy and purpose-driven identity.

July–December 2025: Rebuilding and Reimagining

• Coaching community formalizes external outreach and internal coordination structure.

• Coaches begin offering services beyond USAID:

  • Leadership coaching, job transition support, and team coaching for civil society, humanitarian, private sector, and global development clients.

Looking Ahead: 2026 and Beyond

• Expansion of programming for global development leaders.

• Continued human-centered, equity-centered coaching to help humanitarians, development professionals, public servants and changemakers lead through complexity.