ADMINISTRATOR POWER: Thank you, Michelle, for that introduction.
I want to offer a special thanks to you, Michelle, and also to Michèle Flournoy, who invited me to speak to you this evening.
These are two women of deep integrity who have dedicated their careers to serving others. Each a force of nature in their own right, they have decades of experience marshalling the good will of the American people across sectors, deepening our relationships with allies and partners around the world, and blazing a trail for young women leaders in government and philanthropy.
So much of what we do at USAID would not be possible without bipartisan support in Congress, so I want to thank you, Chairman Meeks, for your leadership on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Bipartisan support is pretty elusive these days, so it’s especially admirable and does not go unnoticed within our ranks at USAID.
And Ambassador Haber, thank you for hosting us tonight. For decades, the United States and Germany have shared a remarkable bond; one that has advanced our collective security and our shared prosperity, and I am so pleased to join you to reflect on our shared history and opportunities that lie ahead.
Tonight, we’re of course celebrating 75 years of CARE’s humanitarian leadership, and I can’t help but join others in remembering what precipitated the arrival of those first CARE packages to Germans in West Berlin in 1946.
At the time, Germany was a nation divided; a nation occupied; a nation devastated from the heavy bombing in the closing chapters of the war.
The United States, like many others, was a nation exhausted; a nation worn down after experiencing the massive disruption of a Great Depression followed by a World War.
President Truman, having seen the human cost of war up-close as a Field Artillery Captain in the first World War, recognized that it was in the best interest of the United States to offer assistance to all democratic nations under threat from authoritarian forces, as a means to strengthen the chance for peace. But that was not obvious to everyone.
As many of you here tonight know, in 1945, Truman decided to lead anyway, but he did so in a unique way, agreeing to let private organizations provide relief to those in desperate need in the wake of the war, creating a lane for U.S.-based civic, religious, cooperative, farm, and labor organizations to form CARE, and ultimately setting the foundation for the Marshall Plan.
And while it took three years to rally the support in Congress, Truman was successful, telling a joint session in 1947, the policy “has been, is now, and shall be to assist free men and free nations to recover from the devastation of war, to stand on their own feet, to help one another, and to contribute their full share to a stable and lasting peace.” The solidarity shown by those private efforts - the pride Americans took in CARE - surely played a role in growing the constituency for the Marshall Plan.
A year later, in the shadow of Cold War competition, Soviet forces blockaded rail, road, and water access to Allied-controlled areas of Berlin—and it appeared as though Germany would remain a nation in crisis, unreachable by aid. In response, the United States and the United Kingdom airlifted food and fuel to Berlin from Allied air bases in western Germany. Surely too, the precedent set by CARE played a role.
And CARE was of course there in Berlin during the Airlift—as the only private humanitarian organization chartering planes to help provide a lifeline to West Berlin. What a history.
Seventy-five years later, Germany is one of the largest donors of humanitarian assistance in the world, and a critical strategic partner for the United States.
Together, we are facing threats both familiar—like creeping authoritarianism—as well as novel, like COVID-19, it’s lingering economic fallout, and an accelerating climate crisis.
These interrelated challenges stand to threaten decades of development progress and no one country can face them alone.
I’m pleased that today, at USAID, we are working hand-in-glove with Germany, including through our G7 discussions, on COVID-19 global response efforts, climate goals, humanitarian priorities in Sudan and Ethiopia, the upcoming Summit for Democracy and USAID’s democracy and anti-corruption work, as well as a range of other issues.
Each day we are making progress vaccinating the world against COVID-19 with the United States’ commitment to donate over 1.1 billion doses and Germany’s commitment to donate 100 million doses to developing countries. And together we’re working to strengthen health systems and help communities better prevent and prepare for the next pandemic.
To confront the climate crisis and persuade others to do their part, the United States has set an ambitious target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent, below 2005 levels, by 2030. Germany recently pledged nearly $100 million to the Climate Investment Funds’ Global Energy Storage Program aimed at delivering cutting edge energy storage solutions at scale in developing countries. And together, we are building upon the objectives of the Paris Agreement, investing in strategies for mitigation and adaptation, and enhancing conservation efforts, sustainable agriculture, and reforestation in critical ecosystems that serve as global carbon sinks.
Still, we will never be able to overcome the enormity of these challenges without the dedication and commitment of partners like CARE.
Whether in Zimbabwe, where USAID and CARE are working with local communities to tackle the root causes of food insecurity and poverty by expanding enrollment in CARE’s Village Savings and Loan Associations, which currently gives 6.7 million women across 46 countries the tools and know-how to save and invest small amounts of money;
Or in Ethiopia, where CARE is providing essential agricultural and livestock inputs like seeds, fertilizer, tools, feed, and veterinary services to communities impacted by the ongoing conflict;
Or in Malawi, where USAID and CARE are supporting the government’s efforts to fulfill its National Resilience Strategy by providing direct assistance to more than 700,000 people, primarily women and young people to put food on the table.
CARE’s rich, cross-cutting experience and vast array of tools are critical to helping the developing world respond to today’s challenges and supporting them as they prepare for those that lie ahead.
Transformational change is possible throughout the developing world, but only because of enduring partners like CARE.
Where you once supported West Berlin with care packages in their time of need as the region recovered from war, today you’re supporting the world’s COVID-19 response in more than 60 countries worldwide, investing in women and girls globally, and scaling your efforts across the board to meet the growing demand for humanitarian relief.
For seventy-five years, CARE has answered the call and saved countless lives.
I am so grateful to be with you tonight—and I look forward to the important work we’ll do together in the months and years ahead.
Thank you.