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- 10/08/08: Remarks by Henrietta Fore, USAID Administrator and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance at The President's Freedom Agenda
- 10/01/08: Remarks by Henrietta H. Fore, Administrator, USAID and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, at the Ceremony Marking the Full Operational Capacity of Africa Command (AFRICOM)
- 09/25/08: Remarks by Henrietta H. Fore, Administrator, USAID and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, at 2008 Millennium Development Goal Malaria Summit, New York - "U.S. Leadership in the Fight Against Malaria"
- 09/22/08: Remarks by Henrietta H. Fore, Administrator, USAID and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, at the White House Symposium on Advancing Global Literacy - "U.S. Commitment to Advancing Global Literacy"
- 09/17/08: Remarks by Henrietta H. Fore, Administrator, USAID and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, at the "Doing Business: Five Years of Reform" Event- "Building Business, Restoring Relationships"
- 09/16/08: Remarks by Lisa Chiles, USAID Counselor, at the
USAID Symposium on School-Related, Gender-Based Violence
 RSS Feed for Recent USAID Speeches and Testimony
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Adm. R. Tim Ziemer – Coordinator, President's Malaria Initiative
"Controlling Malaria in Africa-The Unique Role of Faith-Based and Community NGOs"
Compassion in Action Roundtable
Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Room 450
February 15, 2007
Friends in the audience
Thanks Jay for organizing this Roundtable and featuring the President's Malaria Initiative in such as significant way. (Terri Hasdorff…..Director for Faith Based and Community Initiatives at USAID.)
Thanks for being here .
Before we hear from several of your colleagues who are already implementing programs in the field, I want to make a couple comments regarding the significance and impact of faith-based and community groups who have a long history of responding to those in need - their history and legacy dates well before development agencies came on the scene.
Those of us in this audience know that wherever you go faith-based and community organizations are on the frontlines, meeting humanitarian, health, education and spiritual needs. They were there before the crisis, they are there during the crisis and they will be there after the crisis - why? That's what Faith Based and Community groups do because they are the community… people helping and serving each other to the extent that they are able, sometimes on very meager and inadequate resources. I know all of you here today agree with me. The question before us, I believe, is to look at ways we can improve their impact. Community Programs represent the common denominator - the basis and foundation upon which all else happens in the community and play a pivotal role in education (read behavior change), mobilizing community volunteers and being led and influenced by the most credible people from their communities.
Bottom line.. it's not about us… our organizations.. it's about them and saving lives.
In my prior job as Executive Director of World Relief, I visited a health program in Haiti which included components of maternal and child health, HIV/AIDs, micro enterprise and orphan care. The country director was a Haitian doctor. His wife was also a doctor and their daughters were studying medicine in Canada and the U.S. During my visit, there was a significant amount of political unrest. I had to curtail my travel and visit and depart the country early. As I was departing, I asked the good doctor why he and his wife stayed in Haiti - why not work from another Caribbean island under more stable and safe conditions? He looked at me with indignation and said, "I can't believe you asked me that question! The UN has given up on Haiti, the U.S. Government provides some development assistance for which we are grateful but we are not high on their National Interest list, our national leadership is ineffective and our law enforcement agencies are corrupt. The only hope for Haiti is the church!"
Religious and community leaders play a powerful role in shaping the opinions, attitudes and behaviors of the followers of their faiths and communities. - again, the issue for us is to determine how we can appropriately come along side to help them build capacity to sustain their efforts and make them more effective. The role of the national government, international governments and multi-lateral partners is critical to achieving that goal. One of the reasons I accepted the position of the President's Malaria coordinator is that the President supports this principal. It's incumbent upon all of us in this room to work together to find appropriate ways within the statutes, funding earmarks and implementation objectives to make this happen.
Now putting on my Malaria Hat …
In a few minutes we'll hear from Ambassador Tobias and he'll tie Malaria and the PMI in as a critical component of the US Government's Foreign Assistance Strategy as we collectively work towards improving health, reducing widespread poverty and address other barriers to fulfilling human potential - with a focus on sustainability - and ultimately on local ownership. This is our challenge … to sustain our gains. The ultimate success of the PMI though will be judged by the effectiveness of the partnerships we build.
Make no mistake … the campaign against malaria is a broad and challenging undertaking, requiring cooperation among many different countries, agencies and programs. We must work together to leverage the expertise and abilities of our African partners, other international donors, nonprofits and faith-based groups to build local capacity to defeat this killer. Coordination efforts must occur at the country level and must be led by the countries. PMI is working thru the country USAID mission director and that will be the most likely entry point for organizations that you represent. There are many members of the team fulfilling unique roles - roles only they can perform due to their expertise, positions and responsibilities. By focusing on local ownership, we can bring about lasting change.
You know it's easy to talk about partnership - frankly it's easier to do things bi-laterally - you know…. Do it yourself! Effective partnerships are hard to put together and sustain. It's not about sharing grants, it's not about 5-6 logos portrayed for the sake of partnership - it's all about a common objective. The illustration of two oxen yoked together, pulling a heavy plow, producing straight burrows together … that is a picture of real partnership.
One concrete step toward this goal is this Compassion in Action roundtable today. - to hear from you, to learn from you and understand what you can deliver through your networks on the ground and to see what can be delivered to assist the NMCPs in malaria prevention and control.
Another is the new Malaria Communities Program (MCP). The First Lady will refer to this in her remarks. This program will provide grants over four years to support the efforts of communities and indigenous organizations to combat malaria at the local level.
The MCP is specifically aiming to identify potential new organizations uniquely positioned to work at the community level in the 15 PMI focus countries; increase local and indigenous capacity to undertake community-based malaria prevention and treatment activities; and build local ownership of malaria control for the long term. The MCP will provide grants totaling approximately $7 million per year to new partners. We are moving ahead aggressively on this and expect to have the RFA posted for comments in a couple weeks.
We want to strengthen the ability of community and faith-based organizations to bring your unique gifts and passion to fight a disease like malaria. The greatest tragedy is that death from malaria is largely preventable through effective prevention and control measures. If we work together, we can defeat this killer.
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