THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2026 37 Victoria Mitchell Avdiu, then deputy director for international communications at USAID, facilitates a coaching training session for the Frankfurt Leadership Lab at U.S. Consulate Frankfurt in May 2024. U.S. CONSULATE FRANKFURT Today, AID Coaching has nearly 65 certified coaches and has added 290 clients since the rebranding. In late July, the International Coaching Federation named AID Coaching as one of the finalists for the 2026 IFC Coaching Impact Awards. AID coaches agree to provide three pro bono coaching sessions for up to three clients a year. Clients may be former USAID employees or other mission-driven professionals. After three sessions, coaches and clients may opt to continue coaching and negotiate rates on their own. Many of these clients are navigating deep grief and confusion about what happened to the agency and the futures they had planned. They are processing the loss of professional identities built over years or decades of service. Alongside that emotional work, they are seeking concrete tools for job searching and career transition, support that blends traditional coaching with career consulting to meet them where they are. Lessons Learned USAID was building an internal capacity to help its professionals tackle the world’s most complex development challenges with greater self-awareness, resilience, and adaptability. That institutional investment was cut short. But our experience offers several lessons for any agency or organization considering building similar internal coaching capacity. First, market the program relentlessly so that demand matches supply and invest in your coaches’ continuing education and professional development from the outset. Also, build data collection and impact measurement into the program from day one, establish coaching supervision and quality assurance structures early, and don’t scale the supply of coaches ahead of demonstrated demand. Ultimately, though, this story is about what endures. USAID invested in its people, and that investment has outlived the institution. The skills, the relationships, and the commitment to service didn’t disappear when the agency did. They found a new form in AID Coaching, which exists because dozens of professionals refused to let that capacity atrophy when their colleagues needed it most. Former USAID Foreign Service Officer Jaime Oberlander, in partnership with OneAID, conducted a study aimed at documenting the human impact of the dismantling of USAID and found that more than a year later, just 40 percent of survey respondents reported securing full-time employment (see article on page 29). That is why AID Coaching continues to show up, offering support to development professionals. To learn more about AID Coaching or request a coach, go to https://www.aidcoaching.com/. n
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