GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
In this section:
International Women’s Day, March 8
USAID Official Shot
USAID Helps Pakistanis
U.S. Aids Colombia Flood Victims
Food Aid Heads to Uganda
Higher Ed Grant for Afghanistan
Cuba Project Receives $1M Award
USAID Security Provisions Get Thumbs Up
Phoenix Goes Live in 8 More Missions
‘Thank You USS A. Lincoln,’ Says Indonesian
Paper
International Women’s Day, March 8
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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Afghan Minister
of Women’s Affairs Mosooda Jalal during observance
of International Women’s Day, March 8, at the Ronald
Reagan Building, Washington, D.C.
Luigi Crespo, USAID |
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From the “Rebuilding Hope” exhibit: Community
kitchens provide food for those made homeless by the
tsunami in India. In this kitchen in Nagappattinam,
local women help feed 43 families.
Sarah McNiece, USAID |
An exhibit of photographs of women in Iraq, Afghanistan,
and tsunami-affected Asian countries was unveiled at the USAID
Information Center in the Ronald Reagan Building, Washington,
D.C. as part of the celebration of International Women’s
Day, March 8.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attended the event and
said: “I spent some time today with women from the Middle
East and North Africa, I’ll just say founding mothers
of their countries, women who have gone through struggle,
women who have gone through difficult times, women who have
faced down terrorism and terrorists to vote, and to show the
way to a better and more democratic future.”
The “Rebuilding Hope” exhibit highlights women
and girls rebuilding their lives in the aftermath of the tsunami
in Indonesia and Sri Lanka; reentering education and leadership
in Iraq; and voting, working, and going back to school in
Afghanistan.
The photo exhibit, compiled by the Bureau for Asia and the
Near East, will run through the summer. The event was coordinated
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs and the Office
of Women in Development.
USAID Official Shot
DARFUR, Sudan—A member of USAID’s Disaster
Assistance Response Team (DART), Marian Spivey-Estrada, was
shot and wounded March 22 while working in the region. This
is the first time in the history of the Office of U.S. Foreign
Disaster Assistance Program that an official has been shot.
The injured official was traveling in a clearly marked humanitarian
vehicle between Nyala and Kass in west Darfur when she was
shot in an apparent ambush. Her vehicle was part of a four-vehicle
convoy on a road that was considered open by the Office of
the U.N. Security Coordinator.
Spivey-Estrada, who was shot in the face, was initially
treated in Sudan. At press time, the State Department’s
mission in Khartoum was coordinating with the African Union
and others to arrange a medical evacuation.
U.S. officials immediately asked the government of Sudan
and the African Union to launch an investigation.
“DART staff were ordered to Khartoum while the attack
was being investigated.”
USAID Helps Pakistanis
WASHINGTON—Since Feb. 3, extreme cold, heavy
snowfall, and avalanches in northern Pakistan, combined with
two weeks of heavy rains and flash floods in the southwestern
area of the country, have resulted in the deaths of more than
420 people.
In response to a disaster declaration issued by U.S. Ambassador
to Pakistan Ryan C. Crocker, USAID is giving $50,000 to the
USAID mission in Pakistan. The Ambassador’s Authority
Funds also gave $50,000.
On Feb. 10 and 13, heavy rains caused three dams to burst,
causing widespread flooding. Pakistani government officials
believe that over 5,000 houses have collapsed because of the
snowfall, but accurate data is not available because of the
difficulty in reaching the hardest hit areas.
U.S. Aids Colombia Flood Victims
WASHINGTON—The United States provided $50,000
to the Colombian Red Cross through the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá
in response to heavy rains, extensive flooding, and landslides
in the country. The relief supplies include emergency food,
potable water, and blankets. A consultant from the Office
of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance is also working with the
Bogotá mission and local disaster response officials
to assess damage and provide additional updates. Some 1,500
houses have been destroyed and more than 27,000 people affected
by the heavy rainfall.
Food Aid Heads to Uganda
WASHINGTON—USAID’s Office of Food for Peace
is contributing $27 million in food aid to the United Nations
World Food Program (WFP) for a new, expanded relief operation,
primarily in northern Uganda. The effort is set to begin April
1.
The U.S. contribution, announced by Ambassador Tony P. Hall,
will provide targeted food assistance to approximately 2.6
million displaced persons, refugees, and other vulnerable
groups in Uganda. The goal of the expanded relief operation,
which will distribute more than 450,000 metric tons of food
mainly in northern Uganda, is to contribute to household food
security and maintain minimum nutritional and dietary standards
among affected groups.
Since 1986, northern Uganda has experienced conflict and
insurgency as a result of rebel activity. According to the
WFP, more than 1.3 million Ugandans have been uprooted from
their homes and live in displacement camps. The ongoing conflict
severely undermines food production and food security, even
in normally productive agricultural areas.
Higher Ed Grant for Afghanistan
WASHINGTON—The Association Liaison Office for
University Cooperation in Development, in cooperation with
USAID/Afghanistan, announced a $119,933 grant to modernize
the curriculum and enhance teaching techniques and technologies
at Balkh University Faculty of Agriculture, in Mazar-e-Sharif,
Afghanistan.
The award was made March 16 to Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, which is partnered with the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign and the Northwest Frontier Agricultural
University in Pakistan.
The goals of the program include developing modern teaching
skills for use in the classroom and field, providing up-to-date
technical materials, and assisting agriculture faculty to
form networks with their counterparts in international, regional,
and national universities.
Cuba Project Receives $1M Award
Miami—The Cuba Transition Project, an academic
program that examines the issues surrounding that country’s
transition to democracy, received an additional $1 million
from USAID.
Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean
Adolfo A. Franco presented money to the University of Miami’s
Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies during a March
7 ceremony. With this addition, USAID has authorized more
than $3 million for the cooperative agreement with the university.
The project has developed a comprehensive database on Cuban
transition issues and published new research and analysis
materials in English and Spanish that circulate in Cuba and
to the general public. A prime focus of the materials is to
examine the experience of other countries that have successfully
transitioned from a dictatorship to a democracy.
USAID Security Provisions Get Thumbs Up
WASHINGTON—USAID received the highest grade,
an A+, on the 2004 Federal Information Security Management
Act (FISMA) report card issued Feb. 16. This is a significant
improvement from the C– score the Agency received in
2003. The overall government-wide grade is a D+.
The grades were based on internal assessments by agencies
and evaluations by Office of Management and Budget.
The FISMA report cards help Congress assess the government’s
security progress. Agencies were graded on how well they met
the computer security requirements set out in FISMA, such
as ensuring proper password management by workers, restricting
employee access to sensitive networks and documents, and creating
procedures for reporting security problems.
Phoenix Goes Live in 8 More Missions
USAID’s new financial management system, Phoenix, went
live in Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras,
El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua Feb. 15. These missions
are in addition to the five pilot locations—Colombia,
Ghana, Egypt, Peru, and Nigeria—using Phoenix.
The system is next being deployed throughout missions in
Europe and Eurasia, where it is scheduled to go live in July.
Completion of the worldwide deployment of the system is scheduled
for April–June 2006. The overseas deployment of Phoenix
is a key USAID management reform priority to improve financial
management accountability.
‘Thank You USS A. Lincoln,’ Says Indonesian Paper
This “Thank You USS A. Lincoln” headline from
Feb. 4 Indonesian daily WASPADA expresses gratitude for the
departing aircraft carrier that carried U.S. assistance to
Aceh’s west coast tsunami victims. The ship transported
dozens of helicopters that delivered USAID commodities, including
food, water, and medicine to the region. Photo inset shows
U.S. military hospital ship Mercy arriving in Aceh waters.
The headline reflects the results of a recent poll of Indonesians
showing that favorable views of the United States have increased
among Muslims following the U.S. disaster relief response.
The poll, commissioned by the Pew Research Center and conducted
by Lembaga Survei Indonesia, found that the percentage of
those opposing U.S. efforts against terrorism has declined
by half, from 72 percent in 2003 to 36 percent today. Other
findings include a drop in support for Osama Bin Laden, from
58 percent to 23 percent.
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