Volume Four, Issue Sixteen

USAID & Starbucks Support Colombian Small-Coffee Farmers

A Colombian coffee farmer.

USAID/Colombia

Last week, USAID and Starbucks announced a public-private partnership to increase coffee yields and improve livelihoods for 25,000 farmers in support of Colombia's rural development.

"At USAID, it is a priority that we work directly with the private sector to harness its power as an engine of growth and development," said USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah. "By creating timely, sustained, and market-based economic opportunities, our partnership with Starbucks will lead to greater prosperity for Colombia's small coffee farmers."

USAID and Starbucks will each contribute $1.5 million over three years to provide technical support, technology and market opportunities to small-scale coffee farmers in the rural regions of Antioquia, Tolima, Huila and Cauca. Farmers will learn how to improve coffee quality and increase yields, and work with soil scientists to better understand soil composition to improve crops and save costs. These gains will better allow farmers to access global buyers at premium prices.

This strategic collaboration with Starbucks builds on USAID's broader $100 million investment in Colombia's rural areas, a priority to advancing development in regions critical to inclusive economic growth. Since 2002, USAID has provided assistance to coffee farmers in Colombia to improve coffee yields and quality, impacting more than 25 percent of the country's total specialty coffee production and benefiting more than 67,000 families.

Learn more about the strategic public private partnership in a blog by Starbucks Senior Vice President of Global Coffee Craig Russell.

Working Together for Malnutrition

Administrator Shah with the Rhode Island Delegation.

USAID

Last week, U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Reps. Jim Langevin and David Cicilline, and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras joined Administrator Shah and Dina Esposito, director of the Office of Food for Peace, for a tour of Edesia Global Nutrition Solutions in Providence, R.I. They got a firsthand look at a small Rhode Island food manufacturer's outsized efforts to help children suffering from malnutrition in developing countries worldwide.

Shah highlighted USAID's first use of the company's ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTF)  -- scientifically-enhanced food products thathelped malnourished children affected by the 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa. He stressed the important role these products continue to play in revolutionizing USAID's prevention and treatment of malnutrition by effectively targeting the most vulnerable and meeting their specific nutritional needs.

Edesia has produced enough RUTF and Ready-to-Use-Supplementary Food (RUSF) for USAID to reach many thousands of malnourished children. The Agency purchased RUSF for the first time last month, helping to ensure children do not reach the acute stage of malnutrition.

Another 300,000 children have received Nutributter^® through an Office of Food for Peace program that aims to reduce the prevalence of stunting worldwide, a condition that prevents children from doing well in school, staying healthy and achieving lifelong productivity.

In Syria alone, USAID expects to provide approximately 250 tons of Nutributter^® to help prevent malnutrition in the family rations being distributed by the U.N. World Food Program in Syria's 14 governorates.

Read more here about Edesia and other suppliers who have produced ready-to-use foods for USAID to date, including MANA of Georgia, Breedlove Foods of Texas, Challenge Dairy of California, and Tabatchnick Fine Foods of New Jersey.

Agency Official Talks Syria Aid on Middle East Trip

Assistant Administrator Nancy Lindborg visits Complex Crisis Fund water management program in Mafraq, Jordan, where Jordanian communities face extra pressures from the influx of Syrian refugees.

Camille Eiss/USAID

Nancy Lindborg, USAID Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, traveled to Amman, Jordan, and Beirut, Lebanon, the week of Aug. 18 for meetings and site visits focused on U.S. efforts to assist those affected by Syria's escalating humanitarian crisis--both inside Syria and in Jordan and Lebanon where host communities face increasing pressures from the influx of Syrian refugees. In both countries, Lindborg met with local implementing partners, U.S. Government teams and Jordanian and Lebanese government officials to discuss efforts to reach those who need urgent help and to meet the growing needs in neighboring countries. She also visited with Syrian refugees and mothers to hear their stories and better understand immediate needs.

In Jordan, Lindborg visited Mafraq in the north, where USAID launched a $20 million program with its Complex Crisis Fund (CCF) earlier this year, focused specifically on water management and sanitation to alleviate pressures on local host communities already challenged by scarce water resources. In Mafraq, where an estimated 1000 of 8,000 people are Syrian refugees, USAID's CCF program supports community-based organizations in efforts to enhance water catchment, preservation and infrastructure.

In both Amman and Beirut, Lindborg addressed local and international media at press roundtables, where she underscored U.S. gratitude to the Jordanian and Lebanese governments and to the people of both countries, who have generously taken in their neighbors at this time of crisis. In Amman, Lindborg announced $2.4 million in assistance for food-insecure communities in Jordan that will go to a new effort by the World Food Program  to assist 160,000 vulnerable Jordanians in communities affected by the crisis through a combination of food, cash, and and Food for Asset programs that help protect livelihoods. Lindborg emphasized the United States' strong commitment to helping those in need inside Syria as well as U.S. support for neighboring host communities and echoed President Barack Obama's Eid announcement of an additional $195 million in humanitarian assistance for the Syria crisis, bringing the total U.S. response to more than $1 billion.  

Helping Children in Adversity

Achieving a world in which all children grow up within protective family care and free from deprivation, exploitation and danger takes bold action.

Christopher Herwig

Senior Coordinator to the USAID Administrator on Children in Adversity Dr. Neil Boothby  is pleased to launch a new website, which provides an overview of the U.S. Government's efforts to implement the Action Plan on Children in Adversity, the first-ever whole-of-government strategic guidance for U.S. Government international assistance for children.

The website also includes links to U.S. Government agency- and department-specific implementation plans. These specify how each U.S. Government entity included in the Action Plan will work to achieve its objectives.  They are "living documents" and may be amended to reflect developments and changes in U.S. Government policies and programming.

Finally, a global profile of children in adversity has also been updated with the most recent statistics, as well as an extensive appendix offering further detail on sources, calculations and indicator definitions.

Please consider signing up for the Children in Adversity newsletter for future updates.

Focusing on Water

USAID and Sweden have launched Securing Water for Food: A Grand Challenge for Development to address water scarcity, one of the most pressing global challenges.

USAID

On Monday, USAID and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), launched Securing Water For Food: A Grand Challenge for Development (GCD) during the opening plenary session at Stockholm Water Week.

Through this GCD, we will identify and accelerate science and technology innovations and market-driven approaches that improve water sustainability to boost food security and alleviate poverty.   

In addtion, last week USAID's Development Innovation Ventures announced that it will invest stage 1 funding in mWater's mobile tech and open data solution to clean drinking water. Follow along on USAID's social media channels by following the hashtag #WWWeek.

Delivering on Results

The latest issue of FrontLines reviews 20 projects the Agency counts among its most successful, covering recent achievements in health care, food security, good governance, education and economic growth. Intrigued? Start with these five good reads:

• Result: In 2011, U.S. efforts to promote resilience ahead of natural disasters helped prevent 7 million Ethiopians and 4 million Kenyans from needing emergency aid or becoming refugees.

• Result: In the 1970s, immunization coverage of basic childhood vaccines was below 10 percent. Today it is estimated at around 79 percent thanks in large part to global efforts by USAID and others to bring the power of life saving vaccines to millions of the world's poor.

• Result: Decades ago, Brazil was facing rapid population growth and a food crisis. Today, it is the third largest agricultural producer in the world.

• Result: Fifteen years ago USAID launched a program to make financial services available to microentrepreneurs in the Philippines. Today, these banks have disbursed over 3 million loans worth $1 billion and engaged more than 1 million new borrowers.

• Result: Ten years ago, Afghanistan had one of the world's worst health care systems. With U.S. Government support, the country has experienced the largest increase in life expectancy and largest decreases in maternal and child mortality of any country in the world.

Also check out our "results" in a special flickr album here.

Gearing up for the Fall Semester at USAID

Not everyone's excited about the fall semester, but here at USAID, we definitely are! This week, we're kicking off our second annual USAID Fall Semester to directly engage campus communities and inform them about the work we do. 

Students, scholars, researchers and professors are encouraged to join our virtual classroom and learn about the USAID model for development: A model that explores the use of science, technology, innovation and strategic partnerships to change the world. We're inviting you to partner with us this fall, and join the world's leading development experts at USAID this semester.   

Learn More: 

• Fall Schedule
• USAID 101
• Virtual Classroom

Bangladesh: Mission of the Month Spotlight

Our Mission of the Month Bangladesh.

USAID

Congratulations to USAID's "Mission of the Month" for the month of August - USAID Bangladesh! What is "Mission of the Month"? It's our way of spotlighting the work of USAID missions abroad and the impact they make on people's lives every day. Throughout the month, we highlighted projects, success stories from the field, photos and videos that illustrate the results we've seen in Bangladesh and shared it with our 275,000+ Twitter followers and our 115,000+ Facebook fans throughout the month. 

Below are some of the highlights:

• What does progress look like in USAID Bangladesh? Take a look at our Feed the Future programs there!

• Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of adult mortality in Bangladesh. Thanks to USAID's TB CARE II project, Anwar Hossain overcame his bout with multi-drug resistant TB and was able to take care of his wife and two children.

• The sun keeps smiling: USAID provides primary healthcare for women, children and families at more than 300 Smiling Sun clinics throughout Bangladesh. As a result, more than 20 million people in underserved areas now have access to basic health services.

• Video: How did farmers in the village of Bokundia in Bangladesh increase their potato production by 800 percent since 2008?

• Video: USAID is currently helping protect approximately 1.7 million acres of wetlands and forests in Bangladesh.

Follow #MissionofMonth on Twitter for ongoing updates from the field, factoids and multi-media.

Looking ahead, September's "Mission of the Month" is USAID Georgia!

World Humanitarian Day

World Humanitarian Day is celebrated every year on Aug. 19 to honor aid workers who risk their lives to save lives in some of the most dangerous regions around the world.  It's not only an opportunity to remember the sacrifice of the brave men and women who died serving others, it's also a time to celebrate the commitment and passion that live on in the people who continue to help the millions affected by disasters around the world.

This Aug. 19 marked the 10-year anniversary of the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, that killed 22 people and injured dozens more.  Since this tragic event, growing insecurity has continued to place aid workers in danger.  Yet in high-risk countries, especially in those where the vast majority of attacks occur, aid workers-both international and national-are working to help those most in need.

There's still time to show your support for World Humanitarian Day by visiting www.worldhumanitarianday.org to make a difference.

Career Openings at USAID

Want To Work for USAID? Check out our current vacancy announcements!

Have you Seen our Blog?

Check out the Impact Blog to stay updated on the latest information about USAID programs in Washington and around the world. Read stories from the field, hear from development experts, and view weekly photos and videos of development in action. You can also join the conversation on social media!