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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
In this section:
More Food Aid to Guatemala
Study: Zinc Safe for HIV-Infected Kids
Malawi Food Assistance Grows
MCC Names Eligible Countries for 2006
More Americans Volunteering Overseas
Media Campaign to Tell Egyptians, Indonesians
of U.S. Aid
Promoting Grils' Education in Djibouti
More Food Aid to Guatemala
WASHINGTON—USAID’s Food for Peace program
has given the U.N. World Food Program an additional $2 million
to help feed Guatemalans still reeling from the effects of
Hurricane Stan. This is on top of $2 million already provided
in response to the emergency, doubling the U.S. contribution
in Guatemala.
The money will be used for the urgent food needs of 285,000
people whose crops, homes, and livelihoods were destroyed
or damaged by the flooding and subsequent mudslides. USAID
has also provided another $5 million in emergency aid to Guatemala
for relief supplies, transportation, healthcare, water, and
sanitation activities.
Hurricane Stan struck the region in early October; heavy
and sustained rains caused severe flooding.
Study: Zinc Safe for HIV-Infected Kids
BALTIMORE—Researchers at Johns Hopkins University’s
Bloomberg School of Public Health say zinc-deficient children
who are also HIV-positive can safely be given zinc supplements
without it speeding up the progression of their disease.
The research, which was funded by the university and USAID,
was published in the Nov. 26 issue of The Lancet.
Researchers conducted the trial at an urban hospital in
South Africa with 96 children who were infected with HIV.
The study concluded that no increase in viral loads occurred
in the children, and that the zinc supplements decreased cases
of diarrhea. Adequate levels of zinc in healthy children have
been shown to decrease the frequency of diarrhea and pneumonia.
“Not only did we learn that zinc is safe for these
children, but we also realized that this may be a low-cost
intervention to reduce morbidity in HIV-infected children
who don’t have access to antiretroviral therapy or are
not eligible for treatment,” said Dr. William J. Moss,
an assistant professor at Hopkins and the senior author of
the study.
Malawi Food Assistance Grows
WASHINGTON—USAID announced Dec. 5 it would provide
nearly $840,000 to Catholic Relief Services to provide food
aid in drought-ridden Malawi. This comes on top of $400,000
the Agency’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance
committed to the United Nations Children’s Fund to monitor
the nutritional status of children in the country. The latest
money will be used to purchase seeds and fertilizer for 30,000
smallholder farming households.
Since June 2005, USAID has provided 51,960 metric tons of
emergency food assistance valued at more than $36.1 million
to the U.N. World Food Program. It also provided more than
$44 million in humanitarian aid to Malawi in fiscal 2005 and
2006.
Poor rainfall across Malawi in February and March 2005,
combined with inadequate supplies of fertilizer, adversely
affected the country’s maize crop, the primary staple
food. As a result, Malawi produced approximately 36 percent
less maize than the recent five-year production average.
MCC Names Eligible Countries for 2006
WASHINGTON—The Millennium Challenge Corporation
(MCC) has selected 23 countries as eligible to apply for Millennium
Challenge Account (MCA) assistance for fiscal year 2006.
The countries from the “low income” category are
Armenia, Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, East Timor, The Gambia,
Georgia, Ghana, Honduras, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia,
Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania,
and Vanuatu. The countries from the “lower middle income”
category are El Salvador, Namibia, and Cape Verde. In making
its selection, the board considered the policy performance
of candidate countries in three areas: ruling justly, investing
in people, and encouraging economic freedom. The board also
considered factors such as the opportunity to reduce poverty
and generate economic growth and to have a transformational
impact in the country.
“While selection is an essential first step towards
achieving compact assistance from the MCC, selection does
not guarantee funding,” said MCC CEO John Danilovich.
“Newly eligible countries will now begin a broad-based
consultative process to develop proposals that address the
country’s barriers to poverty reduction and economic
growth. MCC will collaborate with all of the MCA-eligible
countries as they chart their own course to help lift their
citizens out of poverty.”
The MCC already identified six threshold countries this
year: Malawi, Honduras, Cape Verde, Madagascar, Nicaragua,
and Georgia. USAID will be working with these countries to
help them meet further MCA eligibility.
More Americans Volunteering Oversea
WASHINGTON—Some 60 percent more highly skilled
Americans—such as doctors, nurses, and engineers—donated
their time to work in developing countries through USAID’s
Office of Volunteers for Prosperity (VfP) this year, according
to that office’s 2005 annual report. “The VfP initiative
is fulfilling the promise envisioned by President Bush when
he announced its creation just two years ago, as a vehicle
to promote international voluntary service by skilled American
professionals in support of the nation’s global health
and prosperity agenda,” said Jack Hawkins, the VfP director.
Nearly 54,000 American professionals worked with international
development organizations, up from 34,000 during 2004. Americans
deployed to developing countries totaled about 12,000, up
from 7,000 the previous year, the report says.
During the past year, the VfP Office also helped governments
affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami, and worked with key
organizations to create new channels for international volunteerism
by American professionals, as well as new ways for VfP partners
to generate resources for volunteer programs. The report can
be viewed at www.volunteersforprosperity.gov.
Media Campaign to Tell Egyptians, Indonesians of U.S. Aid
USAID missions in Indonesia and Egypt are preparing to launch
public awareness campaigns with TV, radio, and print ads telling
about U.S. aid to ordinary people in those countries.
The ads are modeled on recent paid media campaigns in Jordan
and the West Bank and Gaza, which made millions of people
aware that the clean water, health, roads, power, and other
benefits they enjoyed were provided by U.S. foreign assistance.
The campaigns target people who benefit from U.S. aid but
are largely unaware of American assistance to their countries.
In outreach campaigns in the West Bank and Gaza, a poll
conducted last year found that just 5 percent of Palestinians
reported that they are aware of USAID projects. A survey conducted
in July 2005, after a public awareness campaign, found that
the awareness level had gone up to 54 percent.
In Indonesia, the USAID mission’s development outreach
and communications officer (DOC), Betina Moreira, hired a
local film crew to prepare television ads interviewing local
people who benefit from U.S. aid programs.
The mission also commissioned public opinion polling by
the Jakarta-based Polling Center to determine what percentage
of Indonesians currently are aware of U.S. aid programs. Follow-up
polls after the media campaign will indicate how many more
people became aware of U.S. aid.
The mission also hired Jakarta-based Yayasan Visi Anak Bangsa
to help create the campaign and ensure that the media is placed
to reach the intended audience.
For the last year and a half, Ellen Yount of the Bureau
for Legislative and Public Affairs has been working with more
than 65 DOCs worldwide to undertake paid media campaigns,
target local messages, and ensure that USAID effectively measures
the results through public opinion polls.
Yount led several outreach conferences overseas in 2005
to train the communications staff to carry out more innovative
outreach efforts.
“In Banda Aceh, it was truly amazing to film alongside
men and women working on the road under a hot, Indonesia sun,”
said Yount. “Later, we were knee-deep with our Indonesian
film crew in the crowded market with the mosque right over
our shoulders. Not only were the people and images beautiful,
but there’s such warmth towards us as Americans. However,
I think there’s so much more we can and should do to
tell all the people of Indonesia about the generosity of the
American people.”
The ads were to be unveiled December 23 and aim to reach
non-traditional audiences such as youth.
In addition, tone and language must be culturally appropriate.
In Indonesia, for instance, the media campaign will include
aid will buy air time on Kiss Radio, a station that reaches
a younger audience. Ads will also air on RCTI’s Planet
Football, which has a large youth audience. The three ads—which
focus on healthcare, education, and job creation—were
tested in focus groups in Jakarta to ensure that the messages
were effective.
In Egypt, work is under way to choose a firm to conduct
USAID’s first public opinion poll and focus groups. This
project will examine awareness of and support for foreign
assistance.
Promoting Grils' Education in Djibouti
Children being interviewed during TV spots promoting girls
education in Djibouti. The educational ads, which USAID helped
create, began airing on national television in December 2004.
Similar radio commercials have also played. Only 53 percent
of Djiboutian children have access to primary school—and
only three of 10 school-aged girls are enrolled in primary
school. The four-minute video, produced in each of four local
languages (Afar, Arabic, French, and Somali), features three
strong female role models—a lawyer, an inspector in the
Ministry of Education, and the head of a large NGO. The spots
show each woman at work and being interviewed about the importance
of educating girls. Interlaced with the spots are video presentations
of children in school, discussing girls’ education among
themselves.
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| Leslie McBride, USAID |
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