Food Assistance Call Minutes

11/20/08

Terri Hasdorff: Hi everyone my name is Terri Hasdorff, I am the Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. I know many of you have been in contact with our office. You can a play pivotal role in impacting the community. Faith leaders need to put out a call to community that there is help available. One organization that has answered this call is Kiva, an NGO that provides micro loans to farmers and others in need of assistance. This is an interesting time for the faith-based community, and we will do our best to keep you informed. We have some very impressive folks to speak with you today and we will begin with Susan Bradley.

Susan Bradley: I am very pleased to spend time with you this afternoon. We recognize that global food security is facing a significant challenge in the developing world, which is dealing with high food and fuel prices. In April and May, food prices spiked and we were losing ground in Africa and southern Asia because those who depend on the market for food were now unable to meet basic minimum needs. During this time, President Bush made an appeal to congress for emergency resources and additional development resources. This sent a strong signal to congress and partners that we need to recognize the humanitarian impact, but are really going to have to take a developmental approach to deal with the root causes. We recognize that the key solution is agricultural productivity in the developing world; not in Brazil, not in Australia, because it is how and where you do it. 4/5 of the worlds poorest demographic, are farmers in the developing world, this is where we need that productivity. Congress responded generously with development resources that we are now putting forth in Africa. President Bush also asked for food assistance, a topic on which he has been particularly vocal. He requested to have 25% of Title II in cash approved with or without success. However, Congress did provide development and humanitarian resources for local and regional procurement. We have sent $27 million for emergency programs in Africa and Asia. I want to touch on the fact that the crisis has generated a generous response and international concern. This is a growing problem that is going to take a variety of partnership to address, partnerships between donors and private partners, NGOs and USAID. We do not have all the answers; we are reaching out to NGOs who work in community-based agricultural development. They are helping us identify the kinds of activity to be brought to scale in the developing world.

Josette Lewis: Yes, as Susan described the crisis in the spring is still a huge challenge. We have really wrapped our head around the development side and its link to the humanitarian sector. There is a commitment to humanitarian development because it is mutual. We need to better understand chronic food insecurity and vulnerability. Social safety nets are going to be vital to tackle that problem. We think of it in terms of activating both the humanitarian and community development sides. Safety nets are creating a better reach for the economic growth dilemma. We need to better understand how we can build bridges along social aspects of vulnerability and link that to the economic growth process. InterAction is an NGO that offers a great humanitarian perspective and we will be holding a workshop in December to help each other better understand the causes, and how can we think of this as a development, not just humanitarian, issue. Having knowledge of both sides will lead to a larger connection between the developmental and humanitarian side of food security in a broader way. We are also working across humanitarian and agricultural development lines to make a framework humanitarian bureau designing intervention, but because we are now really thinking food security is boarder, both emergency, and chronic we want to look at food security as broader and develop an agenda for taking action at a community level. Moving toward this agenda will further help us to prepare ourselves to apply development resources to what was typically a humanitarian agenda and work from the community level up to a national economic growth agenda.

David Atwood: When I say piece, I mean we are trying to do this in a very coherent integrated way, with various partners' development and agriculture or humanitarian on the other. But there is a very certain piece that we are in the lead of implementing. InterAction is an umbrella group for various NGOs. It is very proactive organization and has formed a working group on food response. It might be beneficial for you all to look up information on InterAction after this meeting. InterAction.org

Also, Bread for the World is an NGO that lobbies affectively on this issue. They, along with the U.S. university community, came together 10 years ago and talked about the importance of food in Africa. Out of this dialogue came the initiative to end hunger in Africa. That initiative has provided us with the basis of what we are trying to do now with the crisis. The fact is that the government and the institutions have limited capability and resources. What we are now doing is focusing on food staple crops. This is a three prong process: 1. Farm level: give them tools and that will help expand income on farms and productivity. In order to have an impact we focused on West Africa and in our first year we worked in Senegal, Malawi, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and other regional offices. There are a couple of other factors that contribute to hunger, they are markets and transportation. Many of the successful food productions have not been sustainable, because their success leads to major drops in market prices. Thus farmers stop using technology to off set the negative effects. So we are really trying to build off this experience, with a major push on opening marketing opportunities that are sustainable. We help road infrastructure and market/price information. A lot of this involves analysis on change policy and people's constraints on moving their goods.

For instance, West African roads have multiple blockades; anyone moving valuables are taxed and there is corruption in some areas of local law enforcement, so there is a range of issues that are critically important to address for sustainability. There have been more successes, but quite often they flounder due to transportation. We also need to enable the government environment to make food production a priority. Donors and international groups came up with figures for the African governments. For African countries to succeed they need to input 10% of their own money toward agriculture to make a difference and to be sustainable. However, there are some concerns. People are concerned with high fertilizer prices, there are a range of private sector concerns, and there are a range of government decisions that we will provide government advice on getting seed and fertilizer to the local farmer. Local procurement is our main push in West Africa. We are working in East Africa so that our program is done in such a way that it is not a one time offer, but creates incentives that are sustainable for all.

Ben Vogler: One program that I implement is the International Food Relief Partnerships Program, a small food for Peace Title II initiative that is in support of legislation that mandates or encourages us to open our doors as an agency to small 501-c3 type organizations (NGOs, FBCOs), faith-based or not, on a global scale. Passed in 1999/2000 amending our food policies and procedures to get these smaller organizations involved with food relief and humanitarian work overseas. In essence, it is a program that has two prongs as to how organizations can get involved: 1-producer, packager for food commodity, to make it readily available for distribution over seas. The other opportunity is for organizations to submit applications for grants to distribute commodities. It is a simplistic approach for small organizations that may have never done business with the government. It also allows for many other groups with respect to feedback as to how we can manage this program each year. Since 2001 it has been successful and grown in popularity, some of you are aware or may even participate. This program is popular. For the most part the part that has grown is distribution, not production. To date, we continue to have a staple available for distribution, dried veggie soup. We have quite a large community of organizations that now distributes, in limited amounts. We have grant agreements each year and we have a large interest, so we have to create competition. The number of applications received is great for small grants in the areas of developmental activities. In fiscal year 2008 we awarded 33 distribution grant awards to smaller organizations for one-year duration, for receipt and loading, transporting over seas delivering, and warehousing. The product is intended for institutional feeding, orphan, refugees, civic centers, and is rarely used for take home rations. The product is a staple this is available for distribution. This program has gone from being a verbalized idea, then in 2001 and with 3-4 grants to small organizations for overseas, and each year we have grown. In 2008 we have awarded over 30 grants. Over the years we have introduced to USAID roughly 26-28 new organizations as new partners for Food for Peace. With respect to relief, ¾ are faith-based organizations and many are repeat grant recipients and continue to be partners in distribution over seas. But we still need other products, and we will be going out with solicitation for new products to increase diversification. This program has proven to be a good venue to introduce small organizations to do humanitarian food relief.

Q&A

Victor Jimanez: What is USAID offering faith-based organizations in the Caribbean and S. America? Where can we look at programs addressing food shortages in these areas?

A: (Susan Bradly): Food for Peace would be a good place to start; Ben Vogler is the person to contact in that office. Food for Peace is in the DCHA Bureau of USAID. There are signs of Title II assistance in Haiti and in several other areas in Central America as well. The Breed Love program in Haiti; other Title II assistance is being provided in Haiti and Central America as well.

A: Ben Vogler: That's the office I work in, the IFRP program, again this program has proven to be a venue which has been productive for small organizations into the realm of Title II. In regards to food aid on a global basis, under IFRP, we compete the distribution side of the program from applications that we receive. FY2009 we will have a submission date for applications from US based 501-c3 orgs, March 15 is the date to submit applications. Go to Food for Peace website along with the grant application and guidelines and procedures.

Terri Hasdorff: If you are new, you do need to have your PVO status before applying for grants.

Q: Micro loans, where is more info? USAID or NGO run?

A: Josette Lewis: We do have another office that does micro credit programs, go to USAID's website to find information. I do not know details. But it is a significant part in support in economic growth and it is a good portion that goes to farmers and women organizations, at a smaller scale to get enterprise started

Q: Irwin Med Missions: Distribution of the dehydrating soup program was successful, but there is still a great demand to add additional service areas. Is there an initiative to expand on the production side, such as providing heavy equipment? We provided a tractor in the Dominican Republic and it was very useful, but the Haiti side would like to have one too? Any thought to provide funds for heavy equipment and a small bulldozer for road improvement?

A: Ben Vogler: Unfortunately some of those things are beyond the scope of the allocations provided and what we are allowed to use the funds for as expenditures are concerned. Essentially the program is to provide funding to organizations to package and provide storage of a particular commodity and for smaller organizations to distribute that commodity. The most that we have ever done is provided drilling equipment for irrigation projects which didn't prove to be suitable for this type of product. There isn't a graduation process for organizations that have been involved in the program successfully for years. Some organizations have progressed through other larger organizations under sub-grants or partners, like World Vision and the UN World Food Project. There have been at least 6 organizations that managed to collaborate with larger title 2 partners in their areas of aid and have been able to increase their capacity building through these larger organizations.

Q: Judith: Thank you for hosting this conference. I am from an organization based in Houston. We are not registered as a PVO yet. Do you have opportunities in Sierra Leone? We have 200 acres of land and we are looking for partners to develop in food programs.

A: Sierra Leone is not part of our crisis program. However, we have country offices with USAID, I am not sure what their agricultural office is doing.

A: Terri Hasdorff: Under the Food for Peace, Title II program there is going to be an assessment; agriculture will be a part of a program that is larger than IRFP; that would be one good opportunity. Could you give her a contact that she could talk with?

A: Yes, currently our officer in West Africa is Carolyn Hughes and I am trying to find contact info. She is not available; Steve Gilbert is another good one. As Susan said, those programs are outside IRFP program, but never the less provide interesting venue for organizations like yours to expand knowledge and interest on how you can work with the agency.

Q: Robert Nicholas: AMESADA: When we submitted a proposal to do work in Haiti it was excluded, the proposal was received before the one year period was up, will there be new ones available to apply to? The second question I have is when are new RFBS for education going to be available?

A: We had two grant distributions in 2008, January 15th, and June 2. I do not recall ruling out applications based upon the previous year, they are only one year grants. I do not have that information, that's outside my program venue. It is hard to say if Food for Peace is moving toward multi-year grants or not, the caller Robert should keep an eye on guidance for Haiti. Food for Education is run out of USDA.

Terri Hasdorff: We are out of time, thank you for participating, we will send out notes through the CFBCI e-newsletter, and will post the minutes on the CFBCI website.

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