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.

The Memorandum of Understanding with Poland is part of USAID's continuing effort to expand its partner base to help endangered, displaced, and persecuted religious and ethnic minorities return home and restore their communities across the Middle East, particularly in Northern Iraq and parts of Syria liberated from the tyranny of the so-called Islamic State.

The Memorandum of Understanding will allow USAID and Government of Poland to increase cooperation and through sharing knowledge, experience, and resources to develop projects in fields that include private-sector growth, housing, service-delivery, conflict-mitigation, religious freedom and other human rights, and pluralism.

As Administrator Green noted during the signing, "We are blessed to give to those who are besieged, especially those who are besieged for their faith." USAID looks forward to adding additional public-and private-sector partners to advance this important effort.