COVID-19
Speeches Shim
On behalf of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), I would like to congratulate Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, on the substantial progress made in the first two years of its 2016-2020 Strategy, as highlighted in the Mid-Term Review (MTR) that is taking place in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, from December 10-11, 2018. By then, funding from Gavi will have helped the world's poorest countries immunize 700 million people, which has helped to save 10 million lives since the Alliance's establishment in 2000.
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia Brock Bierman will travel to U.S. European Command, Azerbaijan, and Armenia from December 11 - December 20.
On this International Human Rights Day, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) reaffirms our commitment to promoting and advancing human rights and human dignity around the world. As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims, the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family are the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world. On behalf of the American people, USAID works to advance those ideals each day. As we strive to promote democratic values abroad, and advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world, we recognize that support for the human rights of all is critical towards advancing our mission.
In the aftermath of the horrors of World War II, the global community came together to recognize genocide formally as a crime under international law and an affront to the values of a civilized world. On this day of remembrance, we honor the memory of the victims of these unspeakable crimes by recommitting to ourselves to what should always be a shared ethos of "Never Again."
Let's be clear. There are two very different competing models of development and relief in the world. One approach, the authoritarian approach, is really predatory lending dressed up as assistance. It lures borrowers with promises of easy money but then straddles them with unsustainable debt. It ties up strategic assets. It ties up resources for years to come. Some have called it debt diplomacy. Others have called it loan-to-own assistance.
Our approach, the American approach, on the other hand, moves countries from being recipients to partners to fellow donors. It's based upon the notion of a hand-up not a hand-out, and it helps position countries to grasp their own future. The authoritarian approach treats assistance as it does all else, a state secret, so they have ribbon cuttings that are very public for those buildings and roads, but all that glitters is not gold. Ask about the fine print, or meeting engineering codes, or impact on habitat, and they'll simply turn the other way. Of the 45 nations assessed by the AID Transparency Index, China finishes dead last. Our approach is built on transparency. MCC releases its score cards. USAID releases our self-reliance road maps, and nearly all USG assistance can be seen on foreignassistance.gov.
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Acting Assistant Administrator Eddy Acevedo will travel to Bogota, Colombia December 3-7. His visit is a follow-up to Administrator Green's July meetings with the Colombian Government. Acting Assistant Administrator Acevedo will meet with Colombian government officials to discuss the U.S.-Colombian partnership and ongoing efforts to support Venezuelans fleeing the Maduro regime.
Today, on behalf of the global USAID team, I wish to express my heartfelt condolences to the Bush family on the passing of President George H.W. Bush. Throughout his long life, President Bush represented the very best of the American spirit, a spirit of both humble generosity as well as indomitable resolve in the face of tyranny.
Tomorrow, on World AIDS Day, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will celebrate the 15th anniversary of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief - PEPFAR. USAID has been a proud implementer of PEPFAR since President George W. Bush launched it in 2003.
First off, thanks to Dan and CSIS for bringing us all together. I think we all recognize that this is a crossroads moment in the community of the Americas.
The United States Agency for International Development, represented by Administrator Mark Green, and the Government of the Republic of Poland, represented by the Minister-Member of the Council of Ministers, the Honorable Beata Kempa, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Monday, November 26, 2018, that will increase coordination on helping communities in the Middle East recover from genocide and persecution.
This week, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo announced the United States is providing nearly $131 million in additional emergency food assistance to the people of Yemen, who are suffering from the world's largest humanitarian crisis and food-security emergency. This brings the total U.S. humanitarian assistance for the Yemen response to more than $697 million since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2018.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Mark Green will deliver short remarks, followed by a moderated panel discussion with Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and President of the National Endowment for Democracy Carl Gershman.
Before PEPFAR or the Global Fund, the world had no path for conquering or even containing the terrible AIDS pandemic. We offered no hope at all to those who were afflicted. Countless people who were struck by this terrible disease were condemned to the choices that that poor Tanzanian mother faced. The phrase "living with HIV" made no sense. It held no meaning. It could not be.
But 15 years ago, the world awakened. We saw the human tragedy unfolding in communities all across Africa, all across the Caribbean, all across the world. Our hearts were broken. We mobilized unprecedented levels of funding. As precious as taxpayer dollars were and are, we also knew that without the money to buy medicine or build clinics or train healthcare workers, many of the fires that were burning all across the world couldn't be extinguished.
Well, you know, I've made clear, I like to talk about it as a journey to self-reliance. What I've said is, where countries are willing to make the tough choices, and the tough decisions that are inherent in that model of promoting self-reliance, we'll walk with them along the way. Now remember, many of these countries aren't looking for traditional assistance. What they're looking for is self-sufficiency and an opportunity to have private investment. They want to have an enterprise driven future. They want to be able to create jobs for their people, particularly young people in countries. Much of the developing world as you know, demographically, they're very young, and so they're looking at a young citizenry who are hungry for economic opportunities. That's what they want. So, what we try to do is to help them, again, take on challenges, but really create the enabling environment that will allow for private investment, private enterprise to grow, to stimulate opportunities for their own people. So, I don't see a conflict in -- so far, the countries that we're working with, they don't see a conflict either.
On November 16, 2018, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) convicted former Khmer Rouge senior leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan of genocide, crimes against humanity, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949. The court's guilty verdicts are the first official acknowledgement that the regime's crimes constitute genocide as defined under international law. Up to two million people are believed to have died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979.
No country can be self-reliant. No country can be -- can have sustainable growth if it doesn't have an educated workforce, if it doesn't have educated mothers who can make those right choices for their families, so it really is the key to everything else that we do.
On Wednesday, U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green met with Slovak Republic Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák to sign two memorandums of understanding (MOU) to strengthen local governance in Moldova and explore future strategic opportunities for collaboration. Through the two MOUs, the Slovak Republic will contribute $300,000 to a USAID project designed to boost the quality of services provided by local government representatives to Moldovan citizens. The MOUs will also formalize the development partnership between USAID and the Slovak Foreign Ministry.
Well first, I think a lot of it does come out of the READ Act and the great work that Congresswoman Nita Lowey has been doing over the years to really raise the profile of international education and the role that we, the U.S. government and the American people, can play in that. Also, I think Senator Rubio has been very strong in pushing it forward. So, we've had great champions who have really brought us to this point. A number of things are new. First off, the USG strategy on international education really takes in every aspect of the U.S. government -- it's across the administration. USAID is designated as the lead, and Julie is designated as the senior coordinator and has a single-minded focus on making this a reality. So, that approach, that commitment, I think, is new
Today, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced a new education policy to guide the Agency's investments in international education. This new policy will focus resources on programs that produce measurable learning outcomes for students.
The U.S. Agency for International Development, Land O'Lakes International Development, and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research announced the six winners of the Feed the Future Fall Armyworm Tech Prize at the AfricaCom conference in South Africa today.
Pages
Comment
Make a general inquiry or suggest an improvement.