Global development is as critical to our nation's foreign policy as diplomacy and defense, and today USAID is being asked to do more than ever before, even in a constrained budget environment. To meet that challenge, USAID is following a new model of development emphasizing measurable results, more efficient national and local governments, thriving civil societies, and private investment, creating the conditions to eliminate the need for its assistance over time.
USAID partners to end extreme poverty and promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing our security and prosperity. The President’s leadership on development has enabled USAID to set ambitious goals that would not have been possible when the Agency was established 50 years ago: eliminating extreme poverty, preventable child and maternal deaths, and chronic hunger. Achieving these ambitious goals will advance our own national security and prosperity.
The President’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget request responds to the critical development challenges of our time. With approximately one percent of the federal budget, USAID supports development activities and the experts who are carrying them out every day in order to protect our national security, promote our economic growth, and project American values in the developing world and countries in crisis.
Hightlights of the Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Request
USAID implements funding from 12 foreign assistance accounts. The overall FY 2015 President's Request for these accounts is $20.1billion of which $9.7 billion is in core USAID accounts: Development Assistance, Global Health Programs, International Disaster Assistance, Food for Peace Title II, Transition Initiatives, Complex Crises Fund, and USAID Operations.
The budget request will enable USAID, together with the Department of State and other public and private sector partners, to:
Ensure food security and progress towards ending hunger: $1.0 billion for the Feed the Future initiative fights chronic food insecurity and supports the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, a significant new model of partnership that brings private sector companies and developing countries together to expand investment opportunities in African agriculture.
End preventable child deaths: $2.7 billion for USAID Global Health Programs, which along with State Department Global Health Programs, contributes to global efforts to support three strategic areas of focus: ending preventable child and maternal deaths, creating an AIDS-free generation, and protecting communities from infectious diseases.
Develop trade, leadership, and energy solutions in Africa: $114.3 million supports the President’s five-year funding commitment to: Power Africa ($77.0 million) to increase the access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable power for economic growth; Trade Africa ($27.3 million) to align, focus, and expand current trade programs in East Africa and increase regional trade and reduce the average time it takes for goods to cross borders; and Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) ($10.0 million) to bring 500 young African leaders per year, growing to 1,000 students over five years, to the United States for six weeks of training. Foreign assistance funds professional development activities for YALI fellows once they return to the continent.
Accelerate Science, Technology, Innovation and Partnership: $151.3 million in central funding enables USAID to develop and scale breakthrough solutions and accelerate the transformation of the U.S. development enterprise by leveraging outside resources and improving the sustainability of development programs by attracting private-sector, market-driven resources, which drives down costs and yields a better return for the American taxpayer.
Build resilience to recurrent crises and to climate change: Of the President’s $506.3 million request for the Global Climate Change Initiative implemented in partnership with the Department of State, USAID implements approximately $348.5 million and invests in developing countries best-suited to accelerate transitions to climate-resilient, low-emission economic growth—including the development of 25 Low Emission Development Strategies. USAID will continue to help vulnerable communities emerge from cycles of crisis onto pathways towards development. Recognizing the multidimensional and complex nature of building resilience, USAID stresses coordination, collaboration, and leveraging resources from across the Agency and with other partners.
Support strategic priorities and promote democratic governance and economic growth: Of the President’s $2.8 billion assistance request for Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, USAID implements $1.8 billion for economic assistance, continuing to work closely with interagency partners including the State and Defense departments, to move toward long-term stability, promote economic growth, and support democratic reforms, including the rights of women. Of the President’s $810.7 million assistance request for the East Asia and Pacific, USAID implements $630.5 million for programs to support the Administration’s Asia-Pacific Rebalance by addressing critical gaps in core programs to renew U.S. leadership, deepen economic ties, promote democratic and universal values, and strengthen diplomatic engagement.
Provide live-saving responses to the most vulnerable populations: $2.7 billion in USAID-managed humanitarian assistance assists victims of conflict, natural disasters, and forced migration, including through emergency food assistance as part of food aid reform and assistance to internally displaced persons.
Thanks to strong bipartisan support, food aid reforms through the Farm Bill and FY 2014 appropriations will allow USAID to reach 800,000 more chronically food-insecure people every year mainly through development programs with the same resources. This year's request builds on these reforms by focusing on emergency food aid, seeking to use up to 25 percent of Food for Peace resources for flexible, life-saving tools, like vouchers, cash assistance, and local and regional procurement, which will allow us to reach 2 million people each year in emergency crises without additional resources.
Support agency operations: $1.4 billion in USAID operating expenses sustains current staffing and maintains the significant improvements in procurement, local capacity building, innovation, and accountability that the USAID Forward reforms have enabled.
Continue increasing selectivity and focus in the countries and areas in which we work: USAID has worked aggressively through its strategic planning process to focus resources in countries where they are needed the most, to activities that are the most cost-effective, and to those programs where USAID will have the most sustainable impact. By focusing on specific geographic areas, populations, and on fewer programs USAID will achieve greater program effectiveness and more measurable results.
For More Information, please contact USAID Press Office at usaidpressofficers@usaid.gov