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Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance

The mission of the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) is to save lives, alleviate suffering, support democracy, and promote opportunities for people adversely affected by poverty, conflict, natural disasters, and a breakdown of good governance. dcha rapidly responds in support of USAID’s mission worldwide, particularly in fragile, failed and failing states. To carry out its mission, the bureau collaborates within the Agency, the U.S. Government, and with external stakeholders. dcha seeks to maximize its efforts through partnerships with organizations that share the Agency’s vision and complement its resources. dcha’s teams design and implement effective solutions to crisis situations that link humanitarian efforts with longer-term development goals. USAID’s vision is that strong democratic institutions, less conflict, improved food security, and timely humanitarian relief will produce a free and more prosperous global community.

Under the authority of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, the President has designated the USAID Administrator as his Special Coordinator for International Assistance. The DCHA bureau within USAID is the lead U. S. Government organization for providing emergency, life-saving disaster relief, including food aid, and other humanitarian assistance to people in the developing countries, particularly those plagued by state failure problems. Even in countries that are not so fragile, however, there are inevitably natural disasters and violent man-made crises that threaten large-scale loss of life. DCHA's programs, and especially those providing development assistance, also encourage responsible participation by all citizens in the political processes of their countries, assist those countries to improve governance, especially the rule of law, and help strengthen non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other elements of civil society. Proposed funding for FY 2004 will further strengthen U.S. leadership in foreign disaster relief, emergency food aid, and other humanitarian assistance. The financial resources requested will also underwrite crucial assistance programs for helping countries to: manage and mitigate conflict; make the transition from crisis to recovery and a return to development progress, practice democracy and good governance, and strengthen the capacity of indigenous non-governmental organizations.

THE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE: The biggest challenge facing the Agency today is the enormous food crisis plaguing the developing world. The crisis has put the international humanitarian relief system at risk of being completely overwhelmed. The main causes of the crisis include widespread droughts in southern Africa and in the Horn of Africa, continued turmoil in Afghanistan, and an ongoing food shortage of major proportions in North Korea.

An unprecedented gap between the world’s emergency food aid needs and levels has opened, exceeding at least two million tons. This gap is posing a daunting challenge for the USAID-managed PL 480 Title II program. While Title II funding levels have remained within a relatively stable range over the last several years, total U.S. food aid levels have fallen to near fifteen-year lows in tonnage terms and, when cost is accounted for in constant dollars, to nearly the lowest-ever levels since the birth of the PL 480 program in 1954. European Union and world food aid totals have followed a similar decline, driven by World Trade Organization (WTO) reforms that have cut back on agricultural surpluses at the same time that food aid has become more costly. With the sole exception of the Title II program, none of the donor pledges in the WTO’s Marrakech Decision to maintain food aid to developing countries in the face of rising food prices is being honored.

USAID's Title II program has extensive experience with both emergency relief and longer-term food security assistance in these needy regions. Working with prominent Private Voluntary Organizations (including CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, and World Vision) partnering with local NGOs (such as the Relief Society of Tigray), USAID was able to respond quickly to allay the growing famine in Ethiopia.

In southern Africa almost fifteen million people are at risk of acute hunger and malnutrition from the drought and complex food emergency. Using Title II resources and Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust Fund commodities in fiscal year 2002 USAID was able to provide 248,100 MT of food assistance, valued at $127 million - the equivalent of more than 10 percent of the entire Title II appropriation - in response to the first severe food emergency in the Southern African region in nearly a decade. Title II resources will continue to be taxed in FY 2003, as estimates of food needs in the southern Africa region have more than doubled from those of the previous fiscal year on top of increased needs in many other parts of the world.

All seven of DCHA's offices that manage programs share a set of common goals: (1) advancing longer-term development through integrated, high-impact interventions, particularly in countries affected by crisis, conflict, and food insecurity; (2) strengthening capable, responsive, and stable democratic systems and civil society, particularly in fragile, failing, and failed states; (3) increasing host country capacity to save lives and reduce human suffering; (4) providing technical leadership within the U. S. Government and to partners in response to the needs of fragile, failed, and failing states; and (5) ensuring coordination within DCHA for more effective responses to crisis and development needs.

The programs managed by these seven offices support USAID’s four pillars: (1) democracy, conflict, and humanitarian assistance; (2) economic growth, agriculture, and trade; (3) global health; and (4) global development alliance.

• Office of Democracy and Governance (DG): A balanced foreign policy approach underpins USAID’s programs to strengthen democracy and good governance worldwide. In the words of the recently released report Foreign Aid in the National Interest: Promoting Freedom, Security, and Opportunity: “It is strongly in the U. S. interest to promote both democracy and good governance.” Democratic governments tend to advocate and observe international laws, protect civil and human rights, avoid external conflicts, and pursue free market economies essential to international trade and prosperity. Supporting such governance entails a variety of often difficult political and institutional reforms, and capacity-building across four strategic areas: (1) promoting the rule of law and respect for human rights; (2) encouragement of credible and competitive political processes; (3) development of politically active civil society; and (4) promoting more transparent and accountable government institutions, including local government support and anti-corruption efforts.
• Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation (CMM): The world faces a major and growing threat from the increasing incapacity of states globally to deal with the potential causes of instability, conflict, and in some cases terrorism. Responding effectively to this emerging global reality is the challenge that shapes CMM’s programs and external relationships. All USAID development programs and partners, especially those that directly address humanitarian assistance, the transition from crisis to stability, and promotion of democracy, must now address this new imperative. A key distinguishing feature of CMM programs is that they are longer-term than those of the Office of Transition Initiatives and they can be utilized for non-emergency activities.
• Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA): The United States, through USAID, remains the world’s leader in responding to man-made and natural disasters. While emergency relief for natural disasters is crucial, preparedness is equally important. Even though nature cannot be tamed, or natural disasters stopped from taking place, there is room for prevention. OFDA’s preparedness, mitigation and prevention efforts are essential in dealing with natural disasters, playing an even greater role in the case of complex emergencies. The last decade’s marked growth in these man-made emergencies has continued into the new millennium, as internal conflict and war increasingly cause social, political, and economic institutions and systems to fail. Sometimes, natural disasters accompany man-made emergencies, which compound their complexity.
• Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI): Addressing the needs of pre- and post-transition countries experiencing significant political change, or facing critical threats to basic stability and democratic reform, is the charge of OTI. Working on the ground with local partners, the office provides short-term, high-impact assistance targeted at key transition needs.
• Office of Food for Peace (FFP): FFP manages P.L. 480 Title II food aid, which is the primary resource of the United States for responding swiftly to the critical food needs of disaster victims and other targeted vulnerable groups. Non-emergency, development food aid programs focus on mitigating food insecurity in low-income, food deficit countries.
• Office of Private and Voluntary Cooperation (PVC): Increasingly, PVC is focusing on providing resources to private voluntary and cooperative development organizations for use in strengthening the capabilities of local partners to carry out development and humanitarian aid programs at the local level. The programs address priority needs such as agriculture, micro-enterprise, civil society, democracy, child survival and health, and the environment.
• Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA): ASHA awards grants to U.S. organizations that are founders or sponsors of private, overseas schools, libraries and hospital centers. These grants increase access abroad to American ideas, values and practices. The assistance and activities project a positive image of the United States, contribute to the reduction of poverty, and assist in combating terrorism.
• Office of Program, Policy and Management (PPM): PPM provides technical assistance and support to various offices, both within and outside the dcha Bureau.

PROGRAM AND MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES: To be effective, the DCHA bureau’s interventions must be well coordinated, the responses must be careful but rapid, and the approaches must be appropriately integrated if lives are to be saved and suffering reduced, conflict prevented or mitigated, non-governmental organizations’ and other local institutions’ capacities strengthened, and democracy and good governance buttressed. To that end, dcha is implementing a number of important initiatives and innovations.

• The bureau has helped USAID make considerable progress in integrating disaster relief, transition, food security, and conflict management and mitigation programs into country portfolios. The result has been a shifting of country program priorities to crisis prevention and mitigation activities focused on both natural and man-made disasters.
• The bureau, through its Office of Transition Initiatives, continues to be the principal means by which the Agency delivers transition assistance to countries emerging from a crisis or teetering on the brink of one.
• The bureau has worked closely with the rest of the Agency to develop agency-wide response mechanisms for quickly dealing with crises as they arise.
• The bureau continues to actively pursue a resource-leveraging approach with its partners, particularly in its innovative work on forging PVO-and other public-private partnerships.
• The bureau continues to refine and apply performance-monitoring tools to strengthen program management and the allocation of resources. Reinforcing effective past practice, dcha offices continue to consult with partners on adopting up-to-date Agency performance management and results reporting procedures and practices.

The individual sections on each of the bureau’s offices contain numerous examples of the results their programs have achieved in the past year. They also contain specific information on the program plans for fiscal year 2004.

OTHER PROGRAM ELEMENTS: DCHAis a pillar bureau-plus” within USAID. Like the Agency’s other two pillar bureaus, DCHA provides field support to overseas missions and serves as a center of technical excellence for programs in democracy and governance, conflict, private and voluntary cooperation, and humanitarian assistance. However, several of DCHA's offices have direct responsibility for field programs. This is true of OFDA, OTI, ASHA, PVC, and perhaps to a lesser degree FFP and CMM. DCHA is making a concerted effort to integrate its programs more fully within both the bureau and the Agency. The bureau is also continuing its work on ensuring close coordination with the Departments of State and Agriculture, the National Security Council, and other parts of the U.S. Government.

OTHER DONORS: A hallmark of DCHA's programs is the degree to which they involve partners, including private voluntary organizations (PVOs), cooperative development organizations (CDOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), for-profit contractors, American schools and hospitals sponsoring overseas institutions, United Nations agencies, international organizations, and other bilateral and multilateral donors. dcha intends to continue working closely with the U.S. foreign affairs community, particularly the Department of State, on donor coordination and other partnering relationships. The bureau plans to form an increased number of alliances with entities such as the U.S. Institute for Peace, the Department of Defense, indigenous religious institutions dedicated to conflict prevention, mitigation, and resolution, and other non-governmental and governmental organizations.

For a printable version of this section, that includes the charts and graphs from the Congressional Budget Justification FY 2004, please click here. (Note: This file is in pdf format.)

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