Statement by Assistant Administrator Nancy Lindborg
Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance
U.S. Agency for International Development
February 6, 2012

On February 3 the United Nations declared that famine is no longer present in Somalia.  This is great and welcome news to the humanitarian aid community.  The newly released data shows the positive impact of the massive international effort to rush life-saving assistance to millions of people in Somalia.  What we are doing is working, and it is saving lives.

The United States has provided over $210 million in aid for Somalia and played a key role in the international effort to save lives.  Since the crisis began, the international community has assisted 94 percent of the children estimated to be malnourished in southern Somalia, and we have vaccinated over 1.2 million children countrywide.  We have provided sustainable water access for more than 1.9 million people in Somalia, temporary access to safe drinking water for more than 2.9 million people, and sanitation facilities for approximately 1.1 million people.  We have also provided basic health care and hygiene materials and education to nearly 1.9 million people in Somalia.

For more than six months, since famine was first declared in July 2011, we have been focused on trying to save lives, particularly of the many children under five who are most vulnerable to famine.  With the support of many Americans, what we have been able to achieve is impressive, but we know this crisis is far from over.  Somalia is a country plagued by more than 20 years of conflict and insecurity, and it is precisely these conditions that allowed drought-affected areas in southern Somalia to spiral into famine in 2011.  Today nearly a third of the population in Somalia remain in crisis, unable to fully meet the most essential human needs.

This drought has focused all of us on the imperative of building resilience. We know we cannot prevent drought, but we can use improved and smarter programs to create greater resilience and improve food security.  We can make progress that ensures the next time a drought hits the Horn, communities will have the ability to withstand the worst affects without being pushed into crisis.

USAID, Disaster Assistance website

Humanitarian Organizations Working in the Disaster Region

The most efficient and effective way to help those affected by a disaster overseas is to make a monetary donation to a humanitarian organization that is implementing relief programs in the affected region. There are several different ways to go about identifying such organizations:

• The Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) will often have links to various lists of organizations that are responding to a disaster.
• InterAction, an association of non-profit humanitarian organizations, may have a list of responding members on its website. Check InterAction Members Respond: How You Can Help to see if the particular disaster is listed.
• Global Giving may have specific disaster-recovery projects listed that can be supported.
• Other organizations that may also have information on responding organizations include The Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance, The American Institute of Philanthropy, GuideStar, and Charity Navigator.
• News and search engine websites sometimes have lists of responding organizations. Check CNN, MSN, Google, Yahoo, or the website of your local newspaper or television station.
• The United Nations maintains a website called ReliefWeb, which is a repository of information, listed by disaster, submitted by responding humanitarian organizations.

Selecting a Humanitarian Organization to Support

There may be many organizations accepting donations for a particular disaster. Selecting which one to support is an important part of the donating process.

• See some questions to consider when deciding which organization to support.
• Research tax-deductibility issues.
• Review the issue of financial ratios.

Monetary Donations

Monetary donations are the most effective form of assistance because they allow humanitarian organizations to purchase (often within the affected region itself) the exact type and quantity of items needed by those affected by the crisis. Read about the advantages of monetary donations…

Commodity Contributions

While monetary donations are preferred to commodity contributions, there may be rare instances when a commodity contribution would be of value to relief operations.

• See a list of conditions which are necessary to ensure that a commodity contribution is appropriate…
• Read about handling appropriate commodity contributions…
• If a commodity collection has already been made, but there are problems identifying a need in the affected region for the commodities or an organization to accept them, read about some alternate ideas…

Drug Donations

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), donated drugs are often inappropriate for the emergency to which they are sent or level of care available. They may also be unfamiliar to local health-care professionals and may not comply with local policies. And they may even be dangerous. For more information, see WHO’s Guidelines for Drug Donations and drugdonations.org.

A Donations Message from the Humanitarian Community

View a message from the humanitarian community about the best way you can help those affected by an overseas disaster…

Volunteering

Volunteer opportunities in disaster settings are extremely rare, and are usually limited to people with prior disaster experience and technical skills (such as health, engineering, etc). To register your skills and experience for a possible volunteer opportunity, go to the Center for International Disaster Information’s registration page. For opportunities to volunteer overseas in non-disaster settings, visit USA Freedom Corps. Or read about Volunteers for Prosperity, a volunteer program managed by USAID. For more information on volunteering, visit InterAction.

For More Information

For more information on donations, see the following:

• Guidelines for Appropriate International Disaster Donations, produced by The Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI). CIDI can also be reached by telephone at (703) 276-1914.
• Tips on Charitable Giving, produced by the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance
• A Guide for Effective Aid, produced by the Pan American Health Organization
• Donor Information, produced by GuideStar
• Tips for Giving Wisely, produced by the American Institute of Philanthropy
• Tips and Resources, produced by Charity Navigator

Sale of Commodities or Transportation Services

All humanitarian commodities and services procured by USAID are carefully selected, in coordination with the affected countries and other humanitarian organizations, for maximum benefit to disaster-affected populations. Read about the sale of commodities or transportation services.

These rural schoolchildren participate in the USAID-funded Southern Sudan Interactive Radio Instruction project, which uses radio to broadcast interactive student lessons

Washington,
29 November 2011

The United States will host the International Engagement Conference for South Sudan December 14–15 in Washington to honor the new nation and begin a development and investment dialogue with the government of South Sudan.

The conference will outline South Sudan’s strategic development priorities and highlight opportunities for engagement with public- and private-sector partners, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said in a November 28 press release.

The conference will include officials from South Sudan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Turkey, the European Union, the United Nations, the African Union, the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the Corporate Council on Africa and InterAction.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah are scheduled to speak, as are foreign officials, development ministers, and private-sector and leaders of nongovernmental organizations.

The conference builds on the U.S. government’s long partnership with the people of what is now South Sudan. “As the lead donor of humanitarian and development assistance for decades, the United States has helped to support the people of South Sudan” as they work to build their nation, USAID said. South Sudan became an independent country on July 9, 2011.

The first day of the conference will focus on the development and policy priorities of the government of South Sudan. President Salva Kiir will articulate his vision for the development of his country, and Clinton will outline the U.S. government’s commitment to South Sudan and its ability to meet its development challenges.

Government, private-sector and civil-society members will discuss issues including the managing of oil revenues, delivering social services such as education and health care, strengthening government institutions, and building the country’s human capital, USAID said.

The second day of the conference will focus on private-sector and investment opportunities in South Sudan, in line with the priorities of the government. This will include discussions of high-priority sectors such as oil and renewable energy, agriculture and communications technology, USAID said.
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More loans to Ethiopian farming cooperatives, such as these women and children harvesting green beans for export, are one goal of new U.S. agreements with Ethiopian banks.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
25 November 2011

Help for smallholder farmers and more services for AIDS patients are two of the results expected from a new partnership between the U.S. government and Ethiopian banks.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and three Ethiopian private banks — the Bank of Abyssinia, NIB Bank and Zemen Bank — signed two new agreements November 22 that will offer greater access to credit for projects in agriculture and health.

“The partnerships we celebrate today will not only boost productivity and growth in the agriculture and health sectors, they will increase employment possibilities and generate income,” said USAID’s director in Ethiopia, Thomas Staal.

“They will build the capacity of banks to lend to nontraditional clients. I have no doubt that the loans will boost an already growing national economy,” Staal said.

The agreements, made through USAID’s Development Credit Authority (DCA), expand the U.S. loan financing program in Ethiopia to allow for up to $20.7 million in loans to private sector health enterprises and to smallholder farmers and farming cooperatives.

By sharing the risk and offering incentives, the Development Credit Authority encourages commercial banks to lend to nontraditional clients in sectors that may not have access to capital. The nontraditional clients, who are getting access to loans for the first time, have a chance to demonstrate their reliability as borrowers, possibly leading to future loans and ventures.

The first USAID DCA agreement in Ethiopia started in 1999 with Abyssinia Bank, supporting small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises. So far, USAID’s DCA program has helped leverage more than $47.8 million for more than 200 businesses in Ethiopia, improving agricultural exports and agroprocessing industries, and supporting diaspora- and female-owned businesses.

HELP FOR HOSPITALS AND CLINICS

The new health sector loan agreement with the Bank of Abyssinia and NIB Bank, funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), will provide up to $13.4 million in loans to private sector health enterprises outside of Addis Ababa, particularly those offering HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis services.

The loans will enable clinics, pharmacies and hospitals to make quality improvements and expand services that support public health goals.

FINANCING HELP FOR SMALLHOLDER FARMERS

The agriculture sector loan agreement with the Bank of Abyssinia and Zemen Bank makes it possible for smallholder farmers and farming cooperatives to purchase agricultural equipment and machinery — such as tractors, harvesters or irrigation systems — through lease financing arranged with the banks.

The agreement, worth approximately $7.3 million in potential loans, reduces collateral requirements by 50 percent and encourages partnerships between agricultural equipment suppliers and private commercial banks.

The program will benefit farmers and cooperatives operating in the 83 woredas (districts) targeted for expansion under Ethiopia’s Agricultural Growth Program and the U.S. Feed the Future initiative.

For more information, please visit: www.allchildrenreading.org

Washington, D.C.
November 18, 2011

The U.S. Agency for International Development, in partnership with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), and World Vision, today launched “All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development.” The partners expect to commit more than $20 million over several years to advance childhood literacy around the world.

“Teaching children to read in primary school translates to improved health outcomes and economic growth in developing countries,” USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah said. “Through this partnership, we are helping to promote scalable, sustainable, cost-effective innovations that will improve reading outcomes for millions of children in low-income communities.”

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the launch event’s keynote speaker, announced that the Department of Education will join as a new partner, collaborating with the founding partners as they work to dramatically improve world literacy.

“Supporting literacy and reading skills among young children can help instill a joy of learning and promote opportunities for millions of children around the world,” Secretary Duncan said. “Innovative approaches to reading instruction, tools and resources are needed to help promote reading and literacy among all of the world’s children to break the cycle of poverty.”

Additionally, the launch event introduced the Mobiles for Reading working group, which encourages individuals and organizations to apply mobile devices and applications to improve early grade reading performance. Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek served as master of ceremonies.

“Our goal is to help children, especially girls, gain access to excellent early childhood and primary education by strengthening community involvement and fostering an effective environment for learning,” said Kent Hill, Senior Vice President of International Programs at World Vision. “We are hopeful that All Children Reading will not only improve reading instruction, but will instill a passion for reading and a lifelong desire for learning among millions of children in developing nations.”

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd drew attention to the 67 million children around the world of primary school age who are not in school.

“Education is the flagship of Australia’s aid program because it is one of the most effective ways to address global poverty,” Mr. Rudd said. “Australia is pleased to be on the forefront of global education efforts along with the United States. The All Children Reading initiative is a practical example of our shared commitment to helping children worldwide to read and write.”

For more information, please visit: www.allchildrenreading.org.

A woman and child plow a field in Goz Beida, Chad

Washington,
21 October 2011

USAID and Swiss Re have announced a three-year partnership to help vulnerable communities in the Americas, Africa and Asia.

The new partnership will help fight hunger, build resilience to climate change, and reduce the costs of natural disasters, USAID said in an October 20 press release. The partnership combines the expertise of Swiss Re, a global reinsurance provider, with two initiatives of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

One USAID element is the Global Climate Change Initiative, which works to make communities more resilient to extreme climate events and accelerate the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy around the world. The other USAID element is the Feed the Future initiative, which tackles the root causes of hunger and malnutrition by helping countries develop more productive agricultural sectors.

The USAID–Swiss Re partnership will provide access to customized, market-based insurance for poor farmers. With better insurance, these farmers and their families will be more able to cope with the effects of droughts, floods and other severe weather events that may become increasingly common as the climate changes, according to USAID.

When farmers have better instruments to manage their risk, they can more easily get loans to buy new technologies that increase their yields and productivity, and they will have greater incentive to make such investments, knowing that they are buffered from extreme weather events.

“Private-sector involvement is crucial to USAID’s efforts to reduce poverty and foster long-term economic development in the countries where we work,” said USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah.

“Swiss Re has been an industry leader in the development of innovative new products to address weather-related risks,” Shah added. “We welcome this opportunity to join forces to develop affordable, market-based tools to reduce climate vulnerability in poor communities.”

This partnership follows USAID and Swiss Re’s recent announcement about joining Oxfam America and the World Food Programme to expand the R4 Rural Resilience Initiative from Ethiopia to Senegal.

It also builds on the two organizations’ previous collaborations under USAID’s Index Insurance Innovation Initiative, which invests in research and tests innovations that are improving USAID’s understanding of how the poor and vulnerable can best use insurance to manage risk.

“Building insurance capacity in developing countries is a critical step to limiting the vulnerability to extreme weather events that impact so many livelihoods,” said Walter Bell, chairman of Swiss Re America Holding Corporation.

“Swiss Re’s innovative solutions, combined with USAID’s technical expertise and extensive development experience, will bring advanced risk management solutions to the communities who need them most,” Bell said.

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A farmer in Tanzania waters crops she will take to market

By Kathryn McConnell
IIP Staff Writer
October 13, 2011

Washington — The Feed the Future program to increase agricultural production, raise rural incomes and improve nutrition in developing countries continues to make progress, two top U.S. agricultural development experts say.

Jonathan Shrier of the State Department and Greg Gottlieb of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) discussed the three-year-old program during a State Department webcast October 11. With funding from the U.S. government, the program invests in countries that have made plans to produce more food, improve the nutrition of their citizens, raise rural incomes and create strong markets.

Food security — or having a steady and accessible supply of food — is a challenge for countries needing assistance as well as for international donors, they said. One-sixth of the world’s population suffers from chronic hunger, and malnutrition is responsible for millions of child deaths every year, they said. Currently, across the Horn of Africa, 13.3 million people need emergency assistance due to severe changes in weather. “But people in the region are showing strong leadership in addressing the problem,” said Shrier, who is acting special representative for global food security. He said the Kenyan government recently hosted a meeting of leaders in the region to discuss medium- and long-term solutions to its food shortages over recent years. “There is change in the works.”

The webcast was in advance of a gathering of more than 1,000 global government and private sector leaders, and agricultural experts for the Borlaug International Symposium October 12–14 in Des Moines, Iowa. The meeting to address future needs in feeding people around the globe coincides with the award of the 25th World Food Prize. The webcast also was in honor of World Food Day, October 16.

A key feature of the $3.5 billion Feed the Future program is working with all sectors of society in its targeted 20 countries to draw up multiyear strategies for achieving sustainable agricultural growth and increased nutritional levels, especially for mothers and their young children, Shrier said. Additionally, donors work in partnership with private sector investors.

“We are going to work with fertilizer companies and seed companies to make sure that if they invest, we can invest with them to produce the long-term, sustainable results needed to supply farmers with the inputs they need,” Gottlieb said.

He cited the example of a three-way partnership announced in September among USAID, the PepsiCo Foundation and the United Nations World Food Programme to increase chickpea production and improve long-term nutritional gains and food security in Ethiopia, Africa’s largest chickpea producer.

Another feature of Feed the Future is support for more research to develop better seeds for crops that can resist drought, excessive heat, flooding and diseases such as the wheat stem rust Ug99 that has spread from eastern Africa to the Middle East, said Gottlieb, who works with USAID’s food security program.

Biotechnology, or genetic modification, is one technique for developing improved seeds in a much shorter period than if seeds are cross-bred conventionally, Shrier said. He added that transportation links also need to be upgraded so farmers and livestock herders can get their output to markets.

Feed the Future also aims to bring modern agricultural skills to farmers, especially women producers, through stronger extension services. “Women produce so much in the world,” Gottlieb said.

Read more about Feed the Future on the program’s website

A tuberculosis patient, right, takes medicine at a clinic near Johannesburg, South Africa, where the convergence of HIV and tuberculosis is a major health issue

By Charlene Porter,
IIP Staff Writer,
October 12, 2011
Washington — The number of deaths from tuberculosis and the number of new cases of this infectious disease are both on the decline, according to data released by the World Health Organization (WHO) October 11.

The number of TB deaths is moving steadily downward from 1.8 million in 2003 to 1.4 million in 2010. The number of people who fell ill came down from 9 million in 2005 to 8.8 million in 2010, WHO reported.

“In many countries, strong leadership and domestic financing, with robust donor support, has started to make a real difference in the fight against TB,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan. “The challenge now is to build on that commitment to increase the global effort.”

The United States has been among the donor nations that have helped to bring about the progress against this disease, which has plagued humankind since the dawn of history. On the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day last March, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States will sustain its commitment to combat the disease.

“In collaboration with existing TB programs and our partners throughout the world, the United States is uncovering new knowledge on prevention and treatment strategies; upgrading laboratory infrastructures; training the next generation of researchers and health care providers; and introducing new diagnostic and treatment tools,” Clinton said.

Health policymakers devoted new energies and resources to tuberculosis in the last decade when it was recognized as a principal cause of death for people with AIDS. Resources and partnerships devoted to quelling AIDS have also bolstered the campaign against TB, including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) enacted under the administration of George W. Bush; and now the Obama administration’s Global Health Initiative.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) works to contain and treat TB with $225 million earmarked for those efforts in 2010 and an anticipated $230 million in 2011.

“USAID is proud to support the critical work of domestic and international partners against TB,” said Ariel Pablos-Mendez, assistant administrator for USAID’s global health programs, at a Washington news conference unveiling the new WHO report. “We know that treating TB abroad saves lives while also saving money here at home.”

The international aid community hums with concern these days about whether its activities will undergo serious funding cuts due to the strain on government budgets in the United States and many other donor nations. Pablos-Mendez urged against cuts that might undermine efforts to improve global health.

“We know from past experience that continued vigilance is essential to maintaining gains and reaching our goals; failing to do so is likely to result in major outbreaks of drug-resistant TB, such as those seen in the United States in the late 1980s, the former Soviet republics in the early 1990s and Africa more recently,” Pablos-Mendez said.

Advances in technology are also cause for improvement in TB survival. New diagnostic methods can identify the disease in rural areas without the need for a sophisticated laboratory and technicians to process and analyze tissue samples. There are also new treatments coming into use that simplify what has been a long and sometimes uncomfortable drug regimen lasting up to six months.

These advances are important, but they are also balanced against the need for progress in the identification and treatment of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). Patient failure to properly complete the full six-month drug treatment has led to the emergence of a more deadly strain of the TB pathogen that does not respond to the usual drugs, and requires a more complicated and more expensive drug treatment.

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U.S. Agency for International Development
Fact Sheet #14
September 29, 2011

HORN OF AFRICA – DROUGHT

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

• On September 26, the Humanitarian Forum and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation brought together leading humanitarian organizations from Muslim donor and recipient countries to develop a shared action plan for Somalia. Participants discussed ways to improve coordination and promote networking within the humanitarian community. Emphasis was placed on the need to provide security and encouragement to humanitarian organizations operating in Somalia, according to U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

• As of September 27, an outbreak of dengue fever in Mandera District of northeastern Kenya had reportedly killed 4 people and affected more than 1,000 others, according to the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) and the Government of Kenya (GoK) Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation (MoPHS). WHO has authorized the release of pre-positioned essential drugs and other supplies necessary to stem the spread of this endemic disease. Relief agencies and the MoPHS have alerted neighboring districts of the outbreak and are encouraging people to seek early medical attention.

• The humanitarian community has grown increasingly concerned about the security situation along the Somalia– Kenya border, according to OCHA. Beginning on September 11, fighting broke out between forces loyal to the Somali administration and al-Shabaab insurgents in the Gedo Region of Somalia, near the border with Kenya. As of September 22, unconfirmed reports indicated that the fighting had displaced more than 34,000 people, according to OCHA. Many of the displaced had initially arrived in the area after fleeing famine-affected Bay and Bakool regions in search of humanitarian assistance.
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A boy crosses a sand dune in China's Gansu province, where overfarming has drained the water table so low that desert is overtaking farmland

By Charlene Porter
IIP Staff Writer
21 September 2011

Washington — Degradation of the land supporting human life and the food supply is an environmental threat that endangers the lives and livelihoods of more than 1 billion people worldwide. On September 20, world leaders met in a high-level U.N. forum for the first time to address desertification and drought.

“Land is life, and our life depends on land,” said U.N. General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar. Fully one-fourth of the planet’s land mass is on the verge of degradation and desertification, he said. “The economic, social and human cost of desertification is tremendous.”

Administrator Rajiv Shah of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) represented the United States at the session, and said that progress on long-standing international goals to eradicate poverty and hunger could be undermined by serious and widespread land degradation. He presented sustainability as the solution.

“Addressing desertification through long-term sustainable land management and agricultural development is one of the most effective tools we have to prevent the crises that result from a lack of available food and nutrition,” he said.

Crisis takes form today in the Horn of Africa, where 13 million people are facing severe malnutrition, largely because of crop failure brought on by drought and poor land management. Shah has been to the region and oversees an aid effort involving more than $600 million. He delved into U.S. history for a comparable event, pointing out that in the 1930s, the United States faced a humanitarian disaster brought on by poor land use, driving millions of people off eroded lands in search of food and opportunity elsewhere.

“We strengthened collaboration between local governments and farmers, invested in agricultural universities to foster innovations in farming practices and water management,” said Shah, “and embarked on larger-scale efforts to manage our production lands more sustainably.”

Luc Gnacadja, executive secretary of the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, said the occurrence of drought worldwide has doubled from the 1970s to the early 2000s. “In the drylands, due to drought and desertification, 12 million hectares are transformed into new man-made deserts. That is an area with the potential to produce 20 million tons of grain each year.”

Lee Don Koo, minister of South Korea’s forest service, said his nation is shifting its economic development strategy from one that is growth driven to one based on “green growth.” Recognizing that land sustains decent lives, Lee said his government now works to achieve expanded development through successful forestry practices.

The humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Horn of Africa was repeatedly cited in the U.N. discussion as an example of the worst consequences of land degradation and desertification, providing international leaders with enormous incentive to take action to move toward sustainable land use.

“And though the American people will always provide aid in times of urgent need, emergency assistance is not the most efficient or lasting solution,” said Shah. “The reality is we must do more to prevent these crises in the first place.” The Obama administration’s Feed the Future initiative aims to help vulnerable nations create more resilient agricultural sectors and food systems, Shah said, to prevent the famine and desperate migration that has beset East Africa today.

The U.N. Convention on Desertification was signed in 1994 and took effect in 1996. Today, almost 200 countries are parties to the agreement. The results of the U.N. discussion will be presented at the next conference of parties to the convention, to be held in South Korea in October.