For those who missed the live webcast of USAID Administrator Dr. Shah’s big announcement this morning, we’ll hopefully have video soon (the event is still live-streaming here). In his remarks, Dr. Shah stressed the importance of establishing and expanding food security in the developing world and broadly outlined the “Feed the Future” initiative. He also echoed President Obama’s commitment in L’Aquila that called for increased investment in agriculture and rural development.
The Feed the Future site was also launched this morning, which you can check out at www.feedthefuture.gov. They outline the initiative as such:
Feed the Future is part of our determined strategic and analytical approach to accelerate progress toward the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and suffering from hunger by 2015. FTF also reflects our tradition of innovation and entrepreneurship. We innovate by finding new ways to leverage science and technology, creating a focused vision, and encouraging new kinds of collaboration as we build flexible partnerships with a broad range of partners, including the private sector.
For a more detailed look at this initiative, you can begin skimming the Feed the Future Guide by clicking the image below:
My colleagues Beth Adler and Emily Alpert are at the event right now, and they’ll be checking in shortly with more updates. Finally, for the latest breaking news, I recommend following the hashtag #globalag on Twitter where folks are tweeting the latest from the event.
In today’s “What We’re Reading” we flagged a new initiative headed by USAID called the Food, Agribusiness, and Rural Markets (or FARM) program. According to a USAID press release, the program will:
initially focus on select counties in southern Sudan’s ‘green belt zone,’ which spans Western, Central, and Eastern Equatoria states, and where conflict destroyed much of the local capacity for agricultural production during Sudan’s civil war. This area has high agricultural potential and will soon be connected through new road construction to fast-growing markets for farm goods. The FARM program will provide technical assistance and related support to the GOSS Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, as well as state ministries of agriculture.
Dr. Rajiv Shah has actually been in Sudan for the last few days, and is blogging about the trip along with other USAID staff at their new blog here.
Have a minute? Why not head over to IMPACTblog, the new blog just launched by USAID. According to their announcement, the blog will help foster greater transparency and a place where “you can get to know the thousands of development entrepreneurs who make up USAID’s talented staff, the work of our partners, and the beneficiaries of America’s support around the world.”
Dr. Rajiv Shah has one of the inaugural entries in advance of his coming trip to Africa. Please join me in welcoming IMPACTblog!
Today is World Tuberculosis Day, and to commemorate the occasion, Dr. Rajiv Shah– USAID Administrator– recorded a video discussing the new US Government’s Global Tuberculosis Strategy. He describes the plan as a “blueprint for expanded treatment and control over the next five years.”
You can watch the video (transcript included) here.
On the Today Show this morning, newly confirmed USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah discussed the US’s response to the disastrous earthquake in Haiti and what the public can do to help. You can read more about USAID’s efforts here.
In today’s Roll Call, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) urges the Senate to confirm Dr. Rajiv Shah as the new USAID administrator without delay for three key reasons.
The first half of his op-ed is below. You can read the full piece on the Roll Call site.
In most years, Senate deliberations over a nomination for administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, which leads American efforts to fight poverty and disease in the developing world, would pass without note.
Bill Frist, Special to Roll Call This year is different. American efforts to improve the lives of the world’s poorest people have never been so important. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted last week to refer the nomination of Dr. Rajiv Shah for USAID administrator to the floor for a full vote, which is expected soon. Dr. Shah should be confirmed without delay for three key reasons.
First, successful outcomes to our most pressing national security challenges, including the war in Afghanistan and instability in Pakistan, depend just as much on our ability to provide health services and economic opportunity to struggling people as on our combat operations or diplomatic efforts. Both President Barack Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy and the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Pakistan aid package make substantial new commitments based on this idea.
Second, the global fights against HIV/AIDS and other deadly diseases have reached a turning point. U.S.-led programs such as former President George W. Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, have helped poor families and communities move from a moment of crisis toward a moment of opportunity. We need to work twice as hard to maintain and build on this progress.
Third, the Obama administration and bipartisan Congressional leaders are in the midst of a transformative debate about how to make U.S. foreign assistance more effective and accountable. The unprecedented momentum in this debate is on the side of those who believe we need a new development strategy and a more efficient foreign assistance system that produces greater returns for recipients and taxpayers alike.
Read former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s full op-ed here.
Right now, some of the world's biggest oil companies are fighting to keep some of their deals with foreign governments secret. Let's tell big oil we won't be bullied.
Cuts to poverty-fighting programs won't balance the budget, but they will set back progress on Canada's development priorities and risk jeopardizing existing investments.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
