Newsroom

Well, as you know well, there are many stereotypes about Africa. There's a lot of lumping of one country with another country, one community with another. But one of my favorite expressions is “get close.” Once you actually get out past the capital into a particular community or down sitting with a farmer, looking at how the drought is affecting, you know, that farmers yield for the moment, or talking to a farmer when they just got back from the shop where they were hoping to buy fertilizer and they can only now buy half the fertilizer they were planning on buying.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing $100,000 in humanitarian assistance in response to immediate needs in South Africa, following extensive flooding and mudslides throughout KwaZulu-Natal province in the aftermath of Subtropical Depression Issa.

Yesterday, Administrator Samantha Power met with Simon Harford, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) as well as Raj Shah, CEO of The Rockefeller Foundation, GEAPP founder and former USAID Administrator.

On Monday, March 21, 2022, USAID/West Africa Regional Mission Director, Daniel Moore, welcomed participants to the 39th cohort of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) in Accra.

Ken devoted decades of his life to public service; yet when we came calling, he decided he still had more left to give, and agreed to step in as interim Counselor. Ken’s colleagues have been awed by how much time and energy he gives to his family, so we know, to give up time he could be spending with his grandchildren is no small favor. I asked Ken to take on this role not only because of his years of institutional knowledge and indispensable experience, but because every person I spoke with celebrated his leadership, character, and warmth.

Today, at this critical inflection point, I'm pleased to announce that the U.S. is building on this work by introducing a new effort to get a shot in every arm: the Initiative for Global Vaccine Access. We're going to spend an additional $400 million to double down on our efforts to help countries raise vaccination rates and save lives. This money will speed efforts both to get shots in arms and to support vaccine manufacturing in low-and-middle-income countries.