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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
DIALOGUE
In this section:
Notes from Natsios: OFDA Adapts to New Challenges, But Remains True to its Mission
First Person: Emilia A. Garong
Mission of the Month: Ukraine
Notes from Natsios: OFDA Adapts to New Challenges, But Remains True to its Mission
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Andrew S. Natsios |
In September, we observed the 40th anniversary of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), which I had the privilege of leading from 1989 to 1991.
OFDA is responsible for coordinating the U.S. government response to emergencies overseas—including natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, fires, and earthquakes—as well as the outbreak of epidemics and the infestation of pests. It also includes manmade disasters, from civil conflict and industrial accidents to acts of terrorism.
By helping feed devastated populations, providing them with shelter, and ministering to their health needs, OFDA has saved millions of lives. It has worked on reconstruction, allowing families around the world to pick up the pieces and resume their lives. OFDA is the quintessential expression of American humanitarianism in action.
Its work also makes it an invaluable contributor to American foreign policy. The goodwill that is generated toward the United States by our humanitarian work affects opinion around the world. Previous experiences indicate that the memories of America's helping hand in dark times remain embedded in the public's consciousness long after an emergency is over.
Ronald Reagan once expressed the spirit of American humanity when he declared that "a hungry child has no politics." The humanitarianism of this country may affect world politics. But political calculation does not determine our response.
Many have said that OFDA's mission has changed with its work in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is only partly true. Traditional humanitarian relief will, of course, continue.
Iraq and Afghanistan, however, make clear what has been increasingly true for some time: emergency relief needs to contend with violence and its aftereffects.
This new role often involves maneuvering in a politically charged atmosphere, with conflicting political allegiances and personal partisanship. It means addressing the needs of decommissioned soldiers, preventing abuse of the vulnerable, and even undertaking mine removal.
So it is not so much the mission of OFDA that has changed as the environment in which it is increasingly called to operate. The complex humanitarian emergencies of the recent past have grown even more complex as the war on terror engages us.
Over the past 40 years, OFDA has evolved to meet its challenges. We will now have to draw upon the courage, commitment, and creativity of OFDA to meet future formidable tasks.
FIRST PERSON
Emilia A. Garong
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Emilia A. Garong
Photo: USAID/Virginia Foley |
Emilia A. Garong was asked why she donates so much of her time to the Barangay Justice Service System. She hears 200-300 community disputes a month in the Suba neighborhood of Cebu. She turns any disputes she cannot resolve over to a local three-person panel for mediation. Garong is one of 1,800 volunteers participating in the USAID-funded Barangay Justice Service System, which is implemented by the Gerry Roxas Foundation, a local NGO. The volunteers have brought 85-95 percent of local cases to resolution, cutting in half the backlog of cases coming to local courts in just two years.
"I do it because I'm older now—at that phase where I want to give back."
Emilia A. Garong, Justice Mediator Volunteer and Suba Community Captain
Suba neighborhood, Cebu, Philippines
MISSION OF THE MONTH
Ukraine
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Natalya Vasylenko, Ukraine's first CIPA, receives her certificate Sept. 13 from Kurt Ramin, of the International Accounting Standards Board.
Tatiana Serduk, CIPA-EN |
The Challenge
Profit and loss, depreciation, and other basic accounting concepts were virtually unknown in Ukraine, Russia, and other former Soviet republics a decade ago. In the Soviet Union, those selling goods for more than they paid were "profiteers" and subject to criminal prosecution. Bookkeepers tracked quantities of goods and materials, not costs or income.
Introducing international accounting practices has been a big part of USAID's economic development strategy in the region, but it met with stiff resistance.
Many of the 3 million Soviet bookkeepers and accountants signed up for Western accounting, but international certification—such as the U.S. Certified Public Accountant (CPA)—was only available to those fluent in English or other Western languages. In some countries, newly formed professional accounting associations set up local certification but, without international certification, former Soviet accountants got little benefit from learning completely new standards, principles, and ethics.
Innovative USAID Response
Since 2001, the Agency has worked informally to develop a Russian-language Certified International Professional Accountant (CIPA). That year, 13 professional accounting associations from across Eurasia joined to form the International Council of Certified Auditors and Accountants (ICCAA), which requires CIPA certification for its members.
To make CIPA a world-class designation, USAID called on leading accounting organizations to help create an internationally recognized education, examination, and certification program based on international financial reporting standards and international standards of audit. Chief of USAID/Ukraine's Private Enterprise Division, Rick Gurley led the effort. The Ukraine mission, Global Development Alliance and Bureau for Europe and Eurasia added to the more than $3.5 million contributed by USAID.
On August 17, 2004, Administrator Natsios, Chairman of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation Paul Volcker, ICCAA President Sapar Koshkimbaev, and Regional Mission Director Chris Crowley signed an agreement, which allows the ICCAA to use the copyrighted International Financial Reporting Standards and logo on its CIPA certificates and its marketing and training materials.
Separately, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Certified International Professional Accountant Examination Network, and the Moscow-based Thunderbird Center for Business Skills Development agreed to help improve the CIPA exams, including their administration and scoring. Accountants will take three exams to become certified accounting practitioners, and an additional four exams to become full CIPAs.
Results
Like the CPA in the United States, CIPA is an internationally recognized professional certification. And with Agency-sponsored accounting training leading to internationally recognized certifying examinations in Russian, resistance is melting away, said Gurley.
"Employers are sending current employees to take the training and examinations and are beginning to require that new accounting employees have the CIPA designation," he said.
So far, the International Financial Reporting Standards has been translated into Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek, and adopted as the national standard in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. More than 50,000 CIPA courses have been taught and nearly 40,000 CIPA examinations given. More than 3,000 accountants have earned practitioner status and 34 are fully certified CIPAs.
The National Bank of Ukraine has stipulated that only auditors who have passed internationally recognized examinations—such as CPAs and CIPAs—will be eligible to audit commercial banks.
"We expect that the CIPA will become the standard of accounting professionalism in the Commonwealth of Independent States," said Kyiv Mission Director Christopher Crowley. "The CIPA training, examination, and certification is leading to more jobs and better wages."
The alliance of agencies and international accounting associations plans to introduce Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese certification programs, as well.
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