I. Public Benefit
The United States' commitment to humanitarian response demonstrates the country's compassion
for victims of armed conflict, landmines, forced migration, human rights violations, widespread
health and food insecurity, and other threats. The strength of this commitment derives from both
the United States' common humanity and responsibility as a global leader. In addition to saving
lives and alleviating human suffering, humanitarian programs support the objectives of the U.S.
National Security Strategy by addressing crises with potential regional (or even global)
implications, fostering peace and stability, and promoting sustainable development and infrastructure
revitalization.
Through USAID efforts, the United States is the leader in international efforts to prevent and
respond to humanitarian crises. It provides substantial resources and guidance through international
organizations and NGOs for worldwide humanitarian programs, with the objective of increasing access
to protection, promoting burden-sharing, and coordinating funding and implementation strategies.
USAID's leadership and humanitarian support to disasters and complex emergencies provide a positive
standard for the donor community and hope for a better future for the people suffering as a result
of natural or manmade disasters.
II. Resources Invested
III. Selected Performance Trends
IV. Illustrative Example of Significant Achievement
Asian Tidal Wave Kills 150,000
A young Indonesian boy watches the humanitarian relief efforts at Sultan
Iskandar Muda Air Force Base in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
Photo: Jacob J. Kirk, U.S. Navy
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A post-Christmas earthquake and tidal wave killed at least 150,000, injured 500,000, and
left millions homeless in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand, setting off an immediate
USAID relief effort.
Within hours of the tidal waves, USAID set up and dispatched a 21-member Disaster Assistance
Response Team (DART) to quickly assess needs and help with sanitation, health, and other kinds
of relief supplies. DART soon added 20 search and rescue specialists from Los Angeles and Fairfax,
VA county fire departments.
In recent years, USAID and the wider foreign aid community have accepted that the best way to
move people toward independent lives after a disaster is to help them rebuild. "So a lot of U.S.
aid is to provide people with livelihoods," said Ken Isaacs, head of the Office of Foreign Disaster
Assistance (OFDA), "such as jobs cleaning up debris and fixing roads in exchange for pay."
About 150 USAID staff from missions in affected countries worked on tsunami relief. Another 50
members of DART continued to assess needs and supply quick funding to relief projects.
As time went by, more of the U.S. aid effort shifted from relief to reconstruction from OFDA to
the Bureau for Asia and the Near East (ANE), which has the benefit of established missions in
Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the countries most in need of help. Thailand and India have largely been
able to cope with relief on their own.
Food Rushed to Niger, Other African Countries
After drought and a wave of locusts left parts of Niger and its neighbors short of food, USAID
and other aid agencies moved supplies to the region in August to avert hunger. At the same time,
even larger aid shipments were being readied for food crises in the Horn and southern Africa.
USAID sent DART to Niger to assess the situation there and in surrounding countries.
About $133.9 million in U.S. food aid has already been provided in 2005 for the 65 million people
in the Sahel, which extends from West Africa to Chad and Sudan. Niger alone has already received
$18.9 million in aid.
As early as January 21, USAID's Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) sounded the alarm
on Niger, warning that food stocks were running out. After additional warnings in February and
March, FEWS NET declared an emergency on June 15, noting deteriorating conditions and "extreme food
insecurity." It concluded that 2.5 million people in Niger would need emergency assistance.
The food emergency was in part heightened after a BBC report in which the word "famine" was used.
The fear of famine, coupled with regional trade restrictions, led neighboring countries to sharply
curtail exports of food and prompted merchants to increase prices.
At the same time, the hunger season set in earlier than usual, forcing Niger's rural residents to
head for the towns after their crops failed and their livestock died. There they found shops flush
with food, but at prices beyond their means.
USAID chartered jumbo planes to airlift high-energy food to feed thousands of
the country's malnourished children. Photo: Alexandra Riboul, USAID/DCHA
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Emergency food shipments soon began to pour into Niger. On August 5, USAID airlifted 206 metric
tons of special, high-nutrient food supplements to Niger to treat 34,000 children through UNICEF.
Another 16,000 tons of food had already been sent. In 2004, to fight locusts, USAID provided
$10 million to the region.
The food shortages in the Sahel region are likely to be dwarfed by larger crises in other parts
of Africa in 2005.
In August USAID sent an additional 73,500 tons of food to southern Africa through the UN World
Food Program (WFP). The bulgur wheat, cornmeal, sorghum, vegetable oil, peas, and beans will
sustain approximately five million to six million people for one month, and is valued at $51.8 million.
This donation brings U.S. food assistance to southern Africa this year to 143,000 tons.
The United States has delivered more than one million tons of food since 2002, including this
contribution, and is the biggest donor to WFP's operations in southern Africa. WFP is currently
appealing to the international community for $410 million to feed eight million people until
the spring harvest in March 2006.
USAID Launches System for Determining Humanitarian Needs
USAID launched an interagency, comprehensive system called the Standardized Monitoring and
Assessment of Relief and Transitions (SMART) at the international meeting (June 23, 2005)
hosted by UNICEF Executive Director, Ann M. Veneman. The new system is expected to save
needless deaths and suffering in emergencies by improving assessment capabilities. "We
are pleased to announce a major step forward in understanding of the real needs of populations
in crisis situations," said Ms. Veneman in her remarks.
The core component of the system is a new standardized, epidemiological assessment tool
for measuring and monitoring death rate, nutritional status, and food security —three data
points essential for determining humanitarian need and for measuring the effectiveness
of response. In partnership with UNICEF and the Canadian International Development Agency
(CIDA), USAID led the two-year work in research and development with an expert team drawn
from several organizations. The assessment tool includes a new analytical software program
with a standardized reporting format that is expected to harmonize and reform the humanitarian
system. With all humanitarian organizations adopting this standardized tool, it will enable
donors to compare need for the first time, and prioritize resources to benefit the most
vulnerable people in crises around the world. The SMART method, designed to correct current
deficiencies in assessments, will (1) produce accurate data, (2) obtain and report data
rapidly in real time, (3) be easy to understand and apply in acute emergencies, and (4)
report data in a standard, transparent manner that will give policymakers confidence for
decision-making.
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