USAID Impact Photo Credit: Nancy Leahy/USAID

Archives for Humanitarian Assistance

Three Things You Should Know about the U.S. Government’s Work in Haiti

Posted by  on Thursday, June 24th 2010     

submitted by Anna Gohmann

Responding to Haitians’ Questions A daily radio program for earthquake-affected communities recently broadcast its 100th program. “News You Can Use” (“Enfomasyon Nou Dwe Konnen”), produced by Internews and supported by USAID, reaches more than 3 million Haitians via 27 local radio stations and addresses topics including shelter and settlement; health; food, water and sanitation; and disaster risk, assessment and damage. The programs are based on listeners’ questions – 100 daily on average – submitted via text message and ongoing surveys.

Raising Public Awareness USAID, in coordination with the Haitian government, is supporting TV and radio public information campaigns aimed at addressing gender-based violence, security and health. “Stop the Rape” (“Kwape Kadejak”) PSAs are airing on large screens in many of Haiti’s spontaneous settlements during the World Cup and on other popular TV programs.  The PSAs, which are produced with USAID funding by the Pan-American Development Foundation and Population Services International, inform audiences about reporting and prosecuting rape and other violence; preventing HIV and malaria; and hygiene and family planning.

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REBUILDING SCHOOLS AND LIVES IN PORT-AU-PRINCE THROUGH THE CLEARS PROJECT

Posted by  on Monday, June 21st 2010     

submitted by Anna Gohmann

Before - College St. Pierre

Before - College St. Pierre

Images of the first few weeks after the earthquake in Haiti are seared indelibly into all of our memories. But for USAID, the international community, and the Government of Haiti, our work continues even when there are no cable news cameras to capture it.

Alongside hundreds of other projects, we’re supporting CHF International to clear damaged buildings and help rebuild many of the hundreds of community schools that the earthquake destroyed in and around Port-au-Prince. CHF’s Emily Lynch shared the below story and photos of College St. Pierre, which collapsed in the earthquake and was cleared away through the USAID-funded CLEARS project:

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USAID In The News

Posted by  on Monday, June 21st 2010     

The 2010 World Food Prize ceremony was held in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, June 16th celebrating the winners of the prestigious $250,000 award honoring accomplishments that have improved the global food supply. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Dr. Rajiv Shah, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack were the keynote speakers helping celebrate the fight to end global hunger.

Dr. Shah travelled to Dakar, Senegal to speak at the opening ceremony of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Food Security Investment Forum.

A meeting was held in Washington, D.C. hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars where the topic of discussion was finding business solutions for nutrition problems. Dr. Rajiv Shah explained that USAID will be making some changes regarding investments focusing more on aligning investments in grain storage, market information systems, and feeder roads. Dr. Shah also mentioned that President Obama has committed to spending at least $3.5 billion over three years for agricultural development and food access.

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Why Family Planning Matters

Posted by  on Friday, June 18th 2010     

USAID is a global leader in the effort to provide voluntary family planning services and programs that allow couples to choose how many children to have, and when to have them. When men and women are given the knowledge and the right tools to plan their family, most couples choose to have fewer children.  In countries where families have fewer children, women are more likely to be educated, there is a higher paid female population, and women are increasingly involved in activities outside the home because they are not tied to the traditional household role.

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Got Milk?

Posted by  on Wednesday, June 16th 2010     
Dr. Raj Shah and Head of Kirene Alexandre Alcantara

Alexandre Alcantara, Managing Director of Kirène, Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator for USAID and James Billings, Chief of Party for USAID's Economic Growth Project in Senegal shake hands after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding during Dr. Shah's visit.

Bringing together local communities and private enterprise is what makes for a sustainable and mutually profitable partnership.  Just ask Alexandre Alcantara, head of Kirène, a leader in the local production of mineral water, fruit juice, milk and milk-based products here in Senegal. Alexandre has been giving me a tour of his factory located about 80 kilometers outside the capital city of Dakar. USAID/Senegal and Kirène are working together to create jobs and increase rural incomes by targeting local milk farmers to supply the raw materials for their milk products. Kirène imports most of its raw milk in powdered form. Through Feed the Future, USAID is partnering with the firm to increase the

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Football – More Than a Game

Posted by  on Wednesday, June 16th 2010     

submitted by Karen Towers

Football - not just a game

Kids playing football in the Nike Foundation provided stadium in Pretoria

Wherever you are on earth, it’s only a matter of time before you will come across children playing football. Across every continent, football is a common language and a culture shared: a joy, a passion, an escape and an affirmation of identity understood and celebrated by children and their parents in every country on earth. The frenzy surrounding the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, makes it clear that soccer is not just a game, but a source of national pride and a representation of human ability on and off the field.

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Natural Disasters Strike Guatemala

Posted by  on Monday, June 14th 2010     

submitted by LaToya Butler

On May 26, 2010 heavy rainfall marked hurricane season’s first occurrence, Tropical Depression (TD) Agatha, began in Guatemala and El Salvador causing enormous sink holes in downtown Guatemala City and triggering floods and mudslides in two thirds of the country’s municipalities. Many public schools were converted into temporary shelters for the homeless.

Late on the afternoon of May 27 – Pacaya Volcano, one of the three active volcanoes, erupted 25 miles south of Guatemala City and spread ash, sand, gravel and fist-sized rocks for miles. The volcanic eruption covered the City with up to an inch of debris.

These incidents provide a good overview of what happens in a disaster: U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala Stephen G. McFarland issued a disaster declaration and requested emergency humanitarian assistance from USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). The United States was one of the first nations to pledge support with $100,000 that USAID’s Guatemala Mission used to locally purchase emergency relief supplies including food rations, fuel for emergency response vehicles and

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Partnering with West African Countries to Fight Global Hunger

Posted by  on Monday, June 14th 2010     
Partnering with West African Countries to Fight Global Hunger

Administrator Shah adresses the Opening Session of the CAADP/ECOWAS High Level Event

Food security is the order of business this week.  I’m here at the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) / Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) high level event in Dakar, Senegal for its review of national and regional investment plans in agriculture for West African countries. President Obama pledged $3.5 billion for agricultural development and food security over three years and a central part of that approach includes investing in country-owned plans. The United States is making a significant contribution to support the country plans for several West African countries at this review.

Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative, renews our commitment to invest in combating the root causes of chronic hunger and poverty.  In Senegal, where

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USAID in the News

Posted by  on Friday, June 11th 2010     

submitted by Jessica Scott

In an interview with The Washington Post, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah discussed the Feed the Future Initiative, an Obama Administration program that USAID is leading to ensure food security and end hunger worldwide. Just after taking part in a food security conference in Dhaka that will play a key role in implementing the program in Bangladesh, Dr. Shah noted that US officials have been working at a high level with the Bangladeshi government, civil society and private sector. Feed the Future will focus on improving the agricultural systems of at least 20 countries and is expected to benefit 40 million people over a decade.

This week Dr. Shah officially announced the formation of USAID’s policy planning staff. Lawrence (Larry) Garber has been chosen to head up the effort as the acting assistant to the administrator for the brand-new Bureau of Policy Planning and Learning. Garber will be one of two deputy assistant administrators in the bureau.

During a visit at the White House with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, President Barack Obama announced that $400 million of aid will be sent to Gaza and the West Bank. The majority of the funds will be distributed through USAID for housing, education and infrastructure.

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BRINGING MOBILE BANKING TO HAITI

Posted by  on Thursday, June 10th 2010     

submitted by Anna Gohmann

One of the lesser-known victims of Haiti’s devastating earthquake last January was the country’s financial system. Banks were closed for more than a week. Remittances through Fonkoze, a leading transfer agent, ground to a halt and were only restored when a U.S. inter-agency effort flew in more than $2 million. But even as the US, the international community, and the Government of Haiti help these traditional institutions get back on the feet, a critical roadblock to progress remains: less than 10% of Haitians have ever used a commercial bank.

That’s why we’re thrilled to announce today an innovative partnership with The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to incentivize the development of financial services by mobile phone in Haiti. In short, these services are quicker, safer, and cheaper than traditional banking and could play a major role in helping to lift Haitians out of poverty and facilitating the country’s rebuilding process.

As part of the program, our friends at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will provide $10 million for a fund to provide cash awards to companies that initiate mobile financial services in Haiti. USAID will offer technical and management assistance and other funding totaling approximately $5 million through one

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