USAID's mission in Kenya supports efforts at community reconciliation to prevent conflict. Soccer (“football”) is one way to build trust among youth. Since 2009, USAID partners have formed 150 ethnically mixed teams in Eldoret, enabling 3,000 young people plus spectators to appreciate intergroup teamwork. Photo: Donatella Lorch, USAID Kenya
At USAID, a central tenet of our efforts is the belief that developing nations must take the lead on implementing innovative solutions to improve their economies and the lives of their countrymen in order for development to be effective in the long term.
This principle was on prominent display at the second African Diaspora Marketplace (ADM II) at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., held June 22 and 23, where participants showcased their promising ideas for businesses to create employment and strengthen trade in emerging markets in sub-Saharan Africa. The event, sponsored by USAID, the Western Union Company and the Western Union Foundation, was an opportunity for 44 finalists selected from a pool of 495 applicants to display their entrepreneurial prowess in a wide variety of sectors, including agribusiness, renewable energy, and information and communication technology.
Photo of the organic “Ashanti” pineapple that is created and shipped from Ghana to the U.S. and sold in select Whole Foods Market. Photo credit: Lisa Hibbert-Simpson, USAID
The U.S.-based applicants were competing for up to $50,000 in matching grants and/or up to $20,000 in technical assistance to advance the businesses that support their African communities.
“The African Diaspora Marketplace is a great example of the type of public-private partnership we want to see more of at USAID,” said Dr. Maura O’Neill, Chief Innovation Officer and Director of the Office of Innovation and Development Alliances at USAID. “By supporting African diaspora entrepreneurs who are looking to create innovative, sustainable businesses in their country of origins, we are building the foundation for inclusive economic growth critical to sustaining long-term development. USAID is proud of our partnerships with diaspora communities—from the ADM II to our ongoing work with the International diaspora Engagement Alliance (IdEA)—and we wish the winners great success in their business endeavors.”
Michael Griffin, CEO of produce importer Sardis Enterprises International, discussed the work his company was doing in Ghana to provide opportunity for fruit growers.
Kwaku Kyei with “Ghana Bamboo Bikes” explaining how environmentally friendly the bamboo bikes are and the spur of economic growth its impacting on rural famers and health workers that use them. Photo credit: Lisa Hibbert-Simpson, USAID
“One of the biggest things is that we have a co-op,” he said. “The cooperative farms for us. Without us bringing the product in [to the U.S.], they don’t get to take their product to the export platform. … The main thing is that we help them in building some type of finance for themselves.”
Another eye-catching display at the market belonged to the Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative, which creates durable bicycle frames from bamboo.
“Most of the bikes that are imported into the country are of poor quality, they are very expensive, and they are not designed for rough roads that run in the country,” said Kwaku Kyei, a global strategist at the organization. “So we decided to come out with these bamboo bicycles which are multipurpose and affordable for our target groups, especially for farmers and people from the rural areas.”
David Bariho, the Technical Director for ORIBAGS Innovations, highlighted the dual benefits of his business, which produces paper and customized reusable shopping bags from agricultural waste in Uganda.
Display of the hand-made paper “Oribags Innovations Uganda Ltd.” that is made from 100% recycled agricultural waste. Photo credit: Lisa Hibbert-Simpson
“Our aim is to increase production, fulfill the market, give our clients what they need, and increase employment for people, mostly women and youth,” he said. “These are people who give us materials, so we need to give back. … Our product, really, provides both social and environmental benefits for the community and for all people.”
This year’s 17 winners, and the innovative approach of the ADM II will be recognized at the Secretary’s Global Diaspora Forum on July 25-26. Hosted by the U.S. Department of State, USAID, and IdEA, the Global Diaspora Forum celebrates the contributions of America’s diaspora communities to development and encourages greater partnership between diasporas, the U.S. Government, the private sector, and civil society.
Dr. Emmanuel Njeuhmeli is the Senior Biomedical Prevention Advisor with USAID and Co-Chair of PEPFAR’s Male Circumcision Technical Working Group.
VMMC reduces the risk of female-to-male transmission by more than 60 percent. Credit: USAID Photo
Scientific advances in the treatment and prevention of HIV infection over the past years have created unprecedented optimism that the fight against the HIV/AIDS. Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) for HIV prevention is one such intervention that has enormous potential to alter the course of the epidemic.
Three clinical trials have definitively demonstrated that VMMC can reduce female to male transmission of HIV by approximately 60%. This means that if brought to scale to achieve a coverage of 80% of adolescents and men, VMMC could prevent 3.4 million new HIV infections and save countries in East and Southern Africa US$16.5 billion in care and treatment costs between now and 2025.
With tens of thousands of people who work in the field of HIV in Washington, D.C. —political leaders, public health experts, activists, people living with HIV—all equally committed to achieving a future free of AIDS, the time is now to examine possibilities to rapidly scale up comprehensive VMMC services. Key African political and traditional leaders from some of the hardest hit countries of East and Southern Africa will participate in a satellite session tonight to discuss challenges and solutions to accelerating VMMC scale up in 14 priority countries.
These leaders understand very well the urgency of bringing this intervention to scale. Mr. Blessing Chebundo, a member of Zimbabwe’s Parliament, was publicly tested and circumcised last month in an amazing show of leadership. I was fortunate enough to be in Zimbabwe that day and witness 44 members of Parliament in a makeshift tent at Parliament House stepping up to inspire other men in their country to do their part for HIV prevention. It was a moment I will never forget.
We know that with strong leadership, commitment and coordination this is doable. We’ve seen Kenya’s successful VMMC program where more than 400,000 voluntary medical male circumcisions have been administered since 2008. Government leadership and program flexibility have been key. In Iringa, Tanzania, local leaders and officials, with PEPFAR support, overcame human resource and infrastructure constraints and managed to exceed their targets, performing more than 100,000 VMMC since 2010. Thirty-one thousand circumcisions were performed during an eight-week campaign. Based on modeling estimates, they’ve already prevented over 14,000 new HIV infections. Surely other countries can do this too.
Preventable HIV infections occur every day among uncircumcised men in the countries of East and Southern Africa. Each day that this proven prevention method is not brought to scale represents a lost opportunity to change the course of the epidemic.
There is no time to waste, now, it’s time to act.
About six months into my tenure as Director of Food for Peace, in July 2011, I remember calling Nancy Lindborg, the Assistant Administrator of our Bureau, to let her know that famine had been officially declared in Somalia. It was with an air of both sadness and disbelief that I myself absorbed the news that we had actually reached this point. I had left the world of humanitarian aid for development and governance work in the mid-1990s, shortly after one of the most intense periods of my working life, responding to the 1991 Somalia famine. I was in the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) in those years, and we broke records by mounting the largest-ever (at that time) Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) in the office’s history and spending more on a single disaster in a short span of time than the office ever had before. As a member of USAID’s DART in Somalia, I witnessed the crisis firsthand. I traveled with Fred Cuny, a great humanitarian, as he shared his insights into the nature of famine and the challenges of response. As the months unfolded and relief operations ramped up with the support of the U.S. military, names of towns like Belet Huen, Baidoa, Merca and Kismayo all became commonplace, as did the terrible images of starving children and sprawling graveyards.
USAID supports women's milk cooperatives in the Somali Region of Ethiopia to increase family incomes. Photo credit: Nena Terrell, USAID
We learned a lot from that famine response, and looking back I can say that we played it smarter this time around. Recognizing that mortality rates often spike due to outbreaks of preventable diseases, USAID prioritized health and hygiene programs such as vaccination campaigns and providing clean water and hand washing soap before the rainy season, when disease rates are known to spike. Much improved early warning systems gave us a clear picture of both nutritional needs and market prices. Based on this information, we prioritized cash and voucher programs that allowed people to stay in their villages and buy food and other supplies in their local markets. We found that markets did indeed respond to the increase in demand, inflation was kept at bay, and traders brought goods to areas that were off limits or too dangerous for aid workers.
The in-kind food distributions we supported through the United Nations World Food Program WFP) were also smarter. Thanks to the early warnings received from the experts at Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) and Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU), our food aid was already pre-positioned in the region. WFP largely set aside general food distributions, which are often chaotic at best and violent at worst. Instead WFP focused on more efficiently reaching those in need by working together with health facilities to provide families with food aid, and if needed, supplementary nutrition. For many years USAID has been providing funds for partners to purchase ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) to help those in crisis, but for the first time ever, Food for Peace provided an RUTF that it helped create. And we now have RUTF in our stockpiles.
While the food security conditions in Somalia have improved, our response this past year reflects our understanding of the fragility of the situation: Along with our partners, we are continuing to provide assistance that saves lives while also protecting and advancing livelihoods.
Last night I attended a celebration in honor of Senator George McGovern’s 90th birthday. He was feted with toasts that acknowledged his extraordinary contributions to feeding hungry children around the world. As an American citizen and public servant, I am proud to be part of the U.S. government effort that stays true to the spirit of Senator McGovern’s vision. In far flung and difficult places, including Somalia, we make a difference and make evident every day the compassion and generosity of the American people.
On July 20, 2011, I got a call from Dina Esposito, USAID’s Director of the Office of Food for Peace, alerting me of the official declaration of famine in Somalia. That moment, more than a year ago, is still deeply, vividly and painfully with me.
Famines are entirely man-made and have become increasingly rare. In my confirmation hearing, I quoted Amartya Sen’s famous words that famines don’t happen in democracies. So as the worst drought in 60 years gripped the Horn of Africa last year, it was only in Somalia, racked by 20 years of conflict and instability, and with limited access for humanitarian action, that famine was declared. The United States’ commitment and long-term work with Ethiopia, Kenya, and many of their neighbors have reduced the populations’ vulnerability to crises like this one and greatly reduced the need for emergency assistance.
In the humanitarian community, famine is a very specific technical term to describe only those most severe food crises that reach three clear sets of conditions. In famine, more than 30 percent of children are acutely malnourished; at least 20 percent of the population consumes fewer than 2,100 calories of food a day; and the mortality rate exceeds two deaths or four child deaths per 10,000 people on a daily basis.
This translates into unforgivable conditions in any country at any time — yet at this time last year, in parts of southern Somalia, the mortality rate reached as high as six deaths per 10,000 people with one child death estimated to occur every six minutes. These are staggering numbers — and this marked a tragic, unacceptable, unnecessary loss of life.
Because of lessons learned during the last Somalia famine in the early 1990s, we were able to mount a smart and effective response. Our disaster experts from the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and Food for Peace used market prices and nutritional data to chart a strategy that focused on highly targeted cash and vouchers, attention to market dynamics. We also kept a focus on health programs, knowing that the leading cause of death for children in famines is preventable disease.
USAID worked around the clock in the region and in Washington to ensure strategies, supplies and partners were in place, including creative approaches to address the limited humanitarian access in many parts of Somalia.
By February, famine conditions had abated, thanks to a massive humanitarian mobilization and decent winter rains. However, the situation remains tenuous in Somalia and underscores that as natural disasters continue to strike, it is imperative to address the need for a stable, legitimate government that can meet the needs of the Somalia people. This is a priority of the U.S. government and our international partners.
Learn more about our response in the Horn of Africa and our Productive Safety Net Program.
USAID’s Development Credit Authority designs and delivers investment alternatives that unlock private financing in support of U.S. development objectives.
Originally published to the Huffington Post.
Earl Gast, Assistant Administrator for Africa
One year ago, the world welcomed South Sudan to the community of nations after a referendum supported by USAID gave the people of this war-scarred land the opportunity to choose their future through a peaceful, democratic process.
Those of us who watched this process closely knew that South Sudan’s independence would not resolve its longstanding disputes with Sudan, including agreement on their shared border and a key question that has brought the economies of both countries to a standstill — how much should South Sudan pay Sudan to use its pipeline to export oil?
When South Sudan seceded, three-quarters of the greater Sudan’s oil fields went with it, but South Sudan is a landlocked nation with no oil pipeline, and the only existing pipeline it can access is through Sudan. The disagreement over revenue sharing of this key resource has escalated into a war of attrition that is putting the economic well-being of the 44 million people in these two nations at risk.
As South Sudan celebrates the first anniversary of its independence on July 9, the new nation is taking stock of what it has accomplished over the past year.
A midwife in Tambura County, Western Equatoria state, South Sudan, vaccinates a child. Photo: Erin Polich/Management Sciences for Health
After suffering through civil war for most of its history (since before Sudan’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1956), South Sudan remains one of the world’s least developed nations. Part of this underdevelopment stems from the fact that South Sudan had an informal health system during the war, which was supplemented heavily by relief agencies. With a lack of skilled health professionals, vast distances between service delivery points, and a dearth of basic health education, the world’s newest country has some of the worst global health indicators, including one of the world’s highest rates of maternal mortality.
Originally published in the Huffington Post.
It is the lean season in the Sahel, a spine of arid and dry lands that runs from Senegal to Chad in western Africa, and once again we are seeing the devastating images of children gaunt with hunger. This is a region that faces high childhood malnutrition and underdevelopment even under the best of circumstances so one poor harvest can push millions of the most vulnerable into severe risk. In the aftermath of poor rains, and with food prices stubbornly stuck on high since the food crisis of 2008, some 18.7 million people across eight affected countries in the Sahel are at risk of food insecurity this year alone. At least 8 million people are already in need of emergency assistance.
A little girl stands beside her family's harvested rice. USAID developed the infrastructure to make this lowland flooding possible, facilitated these farmers’ access to input credit, and has delivered production and marketing technical assistance to the producers. As a result, families benefit from improved food security and increased income from sales of surplus grains. Photo by Ryan Vroegindewey, USAID/Mali
At USAID, we are determined to get ahead of these kinds of chronic crises. We know that millions of Africans living in the dry lands of the Horn and Sahel regions need new solutions. Last year, the worst drought in 60 years ravaged the Horn of Africa, driving 13.3 million people into crisis. And this summer, families in the Sahel are feeling the peril of depleting food supplies, high food prices, and rising malnutrition.
We can’t prevent what appears to be increasing cycles of drought, but we can and are working to create better solutions and build greater resilience among the most vulnerable.
Every crisis is complex, and the Sahel is no exception. A regional drought has been overlaid with instability stemming from the coup in Mali and conflict in the northern part of that country where armed militant groups have forced the suspension of critical relief operations. More than 184,000 refugees have fled to communities in neighboring countries that are already deeply stressed from drought. Though still functioning, local and regional markets have been disrupted, driving food prices even higher. And as of mid-June, swarms of locusts from southern Algeria and Libya had arrived in northern Mali and Niger; now expected to move southward, these infestations could result in crop destruction exacerbating an already worsening situation.
Earlier this week, Administrator Shah administered the Oath of Office to Peter Malnak, USAID’s new Mission Director to Rwanda. As USAID works to build a more inclusive agency, Mr. Malnak’s swearing-in took on special significance as it marked the first time a same-sex partner of a new Mission Director participated in the event by holding the copy of the U.S. Constitution. Mr. Malnak referenced the importance of the occasion in his remarks, portions of which are excerpted below:
Administrator Shah administers the Oath of Office to USAID Mission Director to Rwanda Peter Malnak as his partner John Palmucci holds a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Credit: USAID
I would like to thank Administrator Shah and Deputy Administrator Steinberg for their leadership over the past two and half years. Their vision for reform, and commitment to inclusive leadership, has made us a stronger organization that helps more people than ever before.
I would also like to acknowledge Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for her commitment to inclusive leadership and tireless support for the LGBT community.
The story [of how I joined the Foreign Service] offers an example of the importance of personal leadership, how using your moral compass can change the lives of others, and provides a glimpse into how USAID has changed over the past twenty years by creating a more diverse, inclusive and global workforce.
When I joined the Foreign Service in 1992, Europe had just broken down internal barriers, and the dramatic changes in the former Soviet Union were still unfolding. Socially, there were important issues society continued to grapple with. One was gay rights. Being gay in 1992 was something many people didn’t speak about. That’s not surprising as being gay in almost all states was grounds for dismissal from your job, removal from housing and within the federal workforce, in many cases, rejection of a clearance, based on security. With the AIDS epidemic in the backdrop, significant bias continued.
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