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Today, USAID announced the full set of projects for the Enterprises for Development, Growth, and Empowerment (EDGE) Fund. These projects are high-impact collaborations that unleash outsized private sector impacts on today’s most significant global development challenges.

It's really important that we keep sight on the longer term investments in resilience so that the next drought, the next flood, is less damaging to human life and human welfare and livelihood. So that's what that event is about. We will be discussing new investments, new means of bringing in the private sector as well, to supporting agribusiness in a climate-smart way. And I think it's going to end up having lasting positive effects, what we do in that meeting. 

The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced a new Power Africa initiative for East and Central Africa to provide a five year, up to $88.9 million award, subject to the availability of funds, that will expand access to cleaner, reliable energy in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Today, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced the United States is providing nearly $524 million in critical humanitarian assistance for the Horn of Africa crisis, at the “High-level Pledging Event to Support the Humanitarian Response in the Horn of Africa.” This includes $416 million in USAID funding and nearly $108 million from the Department of State. The impacts of the current drought – the most severe in the Horn of Africa in recorded history – continues to leave 23 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia facing grave hunger. 

Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it is providing more than $126 million in additional food assistance to the people of Kenya as ongoing drought leaves more than four million people in the grips of a dire hunger crisis, with the number expected to rise to over five million by June. The announcement comes following a visit to the country by First Lady Jill Biden.

At the World Economic Forum today, Administrator Samantha Power announced USAID will launch the Enterprises for Development, Growth, and Empowerment (EDGE) Fund, an innovative new fund designed to unlock and unleash outsized private sector impacts on global development challenges. USAID will work with Congress to provide $50 million for the fund, the first-of-its kind private sector partnership fund dedicated to launching partnerships that leverage business capabilities and influence commercial operations to advance development objectives.