Agency Expanding Response Through New Civilian Corps
FrontLines - March 2009
By Ben Barber
USAID plans to hire 41 new officers between March and May as part of a new U.S. interagency Civilian Response Corps (CRC) dedicated to rebuilding and stabilizing
regions entering, in, or emerging from crisis or conflict.
"These will be first responders,"
said Elisabeth Kvitashvili, deputy assistant administrator of the Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) bureau, which is charged with managing the Agency's CRC program through a new Office of Civilian Response (OCR).
Currently, U.S. and other aid agencies deliver emergency food and medicine after natural disasters
or development aid to boost economic growth. The Corps will focus on restoring rule of law and stabilizing war-torn societies as a precursor to sustained
economic growth.
The 41 new USAID officers will be the largest contingent in a 103-strong active component of the CRC representing eight separate agencies—the Departments of State, Treasury, Justice, Commerce, Agriculture, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security as well as USAID. If additional Corps funding is provided for fiscal year 2009, USAID plans to recruit an additional 56 active component members as part of the larger interagency plan.
The Corps has three components
being formed under the State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS). Active members are available for deployment within 48 hours of call up. The standby component
at USAID consists of experienced
direct-hire volunteers, currently numbering 72 members.
Standby members supplement
the active component staff and are deployable within 30 to 45 days of a major stabilization crisis for up to six months. The third component (not yet activated) is the reserve, which will be comprised of state, local, and private sector subject matter experts with special skills not generally found in the federal workforce.
"USAID is a vital part of this effort given its history of being operational and providing technical
assistance in a range of sectors.
The additional departments participating will add to the overall
capacity of the U.S. government,"
said Laura Hall, response strategy director in S/CRS.
Active component personnel will, when hired, be assigned to DCHA's Office of Civilian Response but detailed to regional and technical bureaus for reconstruction
and stabilization (R&S). Corps members may spend 60 percent of their time on R&S deployments of three to six months, or longer. The new hires will be mid-level Foreign Service and Civil Service officers. They will be based in Washington but will be trained and ready to deploy within 48 hours to crisis spots anywhere in the world.
When not deployed they will be expected to take eight weeks of USAID-specific, interagency R&S and civilian-military training each year to enhance their readiness for stabilization and reconstruction missions.
Training will include joint exercises and experiments with the military. Similarly, standby members will be required to take four weeks of readiness training each year.
The Office of Civilian Response also oversees development
of a civilian deployment center that will be co-located with USAID's Continuation of Operations facility. The deployment
center will serve as an equipment
storage and pre-deployment readiness center for the Corps's interagency personnel.
To date, Corps members have served in Afghanistan, Chad, Colombia, Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo, Lebanon, Nepal, Sudan, Yemen, and other countries, according to Larry Sampler, deputy coordinator at S/CRS, on detail from USAID.
So far, 72 USAID employees have volunteered and been accepted. Eventually 750 Agency staff are expected to join the standby team.
"I signed up to contribute to something when they were looking
for volunteers and to do something interesting," said Rick Marshall of the Legislative and Public Affairs bureau. "It would be interesting to be in on the ground level if we go into a broken country that needs our help."
In response to an article in FrontLines, a lot of USAID retirees
volunteered to join the civilian
force, said Kvitashvili, "and we are drafting an update to specifically
inform retirees" how they can participate.
The Bush Administration requested $260 million to set up the Corps. In fiscal year 2008, Congress appropriated $25 million
for USAID and $50 million for State and other agencies
★
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