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- 05/06/09: Testimony of Dr. Dennis Carroll, Special Advisor to the Acting USAID Administrator on Pandemic Influenza, before the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health - "2009-H1N1 Influenza Outbreak"
- 04/07/09: Remarks by Dirk Dijkerman, Acting Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, at the 2009 International Food Aid Conference
- 04/01/09: Statement of Dirk Dijkerman, Acting Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, before the Senate Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs - "Assistance for Civilian Victims of War"
- 04/01/09: Testimony of Maureen A. Shauket, Senior Procurement Executive, Director of the Office of Acquisition and Assistance, Bureau for Management, before the House Subcommittee for Oversight and Investigations - "Efforts to Ensure Accountability and Oversight for Contractors Operating in Iraq and Afghanistan"
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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks by Terri Hasdorff
Director, Center for Faith Based & Community Initiatives
U.S. Agency for International Development
United Nations Info-Poverty Conference
April 19, 2007
Good morning. Thank you for allowing me the privilege of speaking to you today.
In 2006, the Gallup World Poll asked sub-Saharan Africans in 19 countries* about their confidence in eight social and political institutions**. Overall across the continent, the #1 ranked institution that they had the most confidence in and trusted the most -- were the religious organizations. The Gallup officials themselves stated that “As a general principle, channeling foreign aid through local religious organizations may be more likely to maximize optimism among African populations than if they perceive it to be directed through their governments, which could introduce an element of cynicism.”
Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA talks about how no matter where you are in the world, even if there is no electricity, no running water and no real infrastructure of any kind….even if they are meeting under a tree, you can still almost always find a faith based organization. This is a resource that cannot be ignored when working with hard to reach populations.
Those of us who are trying to address issues like extreme poverty, hunger, lack of education, child mortality, HIV/AIDS and malaria are realizing that the government simply can’t do it all. USAID, the Department of State and many other federal agencies have learned that faith-based and community-based organizations are on the forefront of meeting human needs here at home and around the world, and are excellent implementing partners for development programs because of their dedication to results, their ability to reach the grassroots level of society and their capacity to mobilize societies for positive change.
We have seen this through the President’s Malaria Initiative and the Global fight against HIV/AIDs. Faith and community based organizations are also being recognized by the World Health Organization as one of the best and most effective partners for these types of efforts.
I am amazed at the willingness of faith and community based organizations to join together with one another as well as private and public sector organizations in order to combine their strengths to confront critical issues. When properly implemented the Faith-Based Initiative brings together unique collaborative partners who design and deliver effective and efficient social service delivery systems. To say it more simply, when properly implemented the Faith-Based Initiative frees average people to join with other average people to do extraordinary things in their communities…extraordinary things that are so unique to their village or hometown that no government agency or political body could ever construct or mandate a solution so exquisitely tailored to heal individuals & families and the communities in which they live.
Here in the United States when the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina struck our Gulf Coast, it wasn’t the government to whom people turned… it was the faith based organizations. For all believers, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and others, faith carries with it a duty to respond to the needs of the poor, the sick and the marginalized. Understanding that the government can fund compassion but it cannot fund conversion is critical, however once that requirement is agreed upon faith and community groups can partner with government in amazing ways that provide services and resources to people in need.
Non-government organizations – many of which are faith & community based -- bring tremendous value to the United States Government's development and humanitarian assistance programs across the globe.
As part of the overall goals for U.S. Foreign Assistance expanding partnerships with NGO’s will help us to better meet the needs of those who we are trying to serve.
USAID is also working hard to bridge the digital divide through public private partnerships. The Last Mile Initiative is a USAID global program to expand the access of the rural poor to communications. This program was launched in 2004 to spur increases in productivity and to transform the development prospects of farmers, small businesses, new startups and other organizations in rural areas that are presently underserved by the world's major voice and data telecommunications networks.
With over 25 Last Mile country programs in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe significant progress is being made but there is much more to be done. The USAID Global Development Alliance Office is looking for more opportunities for these types of ICT partnerships to be formed and I strongly urge you to contact them or myself to get involved. This type of foreign assistance is vital to the developing world.
As you may already be aware, for the first time in our nation's history, now all U.S. foreign assistance is being applied to the achievement of a single overarching goal-- the goal Secretary Rice has articulated as transformational diplomacy: "helping to build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that will respond to the needs of their people and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system." The people of the United States have embraced something that is coming to be known as “diplomacy through deeds” – serving around the world to help people in need through service and volunteerism that is making a difference in communities and lending a helping hand to show American goodwill.
We cannot turn our backs on the millions of children who succumb to starvation and disease each day, when the ability to address it is in our hands. We cannot turn our backs on citizens who toil under oppressive poverty, seeking their families' daily survival, but with little opportunity to secure the future.
Transformational diplomacy derives from the conviction that for foreign assistance to engender lasting economic, social, and political progress, it must aim to transform institutions, economic structures, and human capacity, so that nations can sustain further economic and social progress on their own. Faith and community based organizations are serving as vital partners towards these goals.
Among development professionals, best practice recognizes that empowering human potential and progress in a country’s development requires a paradigm that is focused on sustainability – and with that, a paradigm focused ultimately on local ownership.
The new Foreign Assistance Strategic Framework seeks to focus U.S. foreign assistance on those objectives that are critical to achieving the transformational diplomacy goal.
The framework explicitly identifies a comprehensive and long-term approach.
It recognizes that nations cannot progress without peace, security, and stability.
They cannot progress without just and democratic governance.
They cannot progress without investments in the human capacity of their citizens.
And they cannot progress without economic growth.
When we then add humanitarian assistance, these five areas are now the objectives of U.S. foreign assistance.
The framework and transformational diplomacy goal acknowledge that an appropriate balance must be struck among development objectives in order to bring about lasting change in countries.
The U.S. government and the NGO community together must use their comparative advantages to augment the sustainable impact of foreign assistance in combating poverty and making the world a safer place.
In other words, this reform is all about putting in place a process that allows us to take a sustainable approach to poverty reduction.
The combined impact of our five objectives – to achieve peace and security; improve governance and democratic participation, promote investments in people; and engender economic growth -- will be to address one key cause of poverty—the institutional incapacity that prevents many countries in the developing world from meeting the needs of their people.
I have seen first hand that faith and community based groups are making an incredible difference in meeting those kinds of needs…here in the U.S. and all over the world. It is almost as if people in America and all over the globe are starting to wake up to the notion that average people can get involved and have an impact on their communities in ways that they never thought possible before.
There is a re-awakening about what it means to be a part of a community. It seems as though the idea of service and volunteerism is becoming much more a part of our daily lives….and it’s becoming contagious. Other countries have been so excited about what we are doing that they are sending representatives here to the United States to learn more about starting their own faith & community based initiatives. They are interested in promoting volunteerism in ways that have never happened before. All of this can be harnessed to meet specific needs such as bridging the digital divide and expanding education.
There is a growing recognition that faith and community based organizations can often move faster and more effectively than government agencies, unburdened as they are by heavy bureaucracy.
Pastor Warren who I mentioned earlier has put out a call for 250,000 volunteers to come from local churches across the United States to come and help eradicate Malaria in Africa. 30 to 40,000 families from the U.S. have already responded to the call. Corporations, Faith Based Organizations and NGO’s are all looking at ways to creatively solve problems and faith & community based organizations and volunteers are one of the most powerful untapped resources that we have yet to harness.
The church or other faith based organizations including traditional faith healers – can be viewed as the largest, most stable and most extensively dispersed non government organization in any country. Churches are respected within communities and most have existing resources, structures and systems upon which to build. They possess the human, physical, technical and financial resources needed to support and implement small and large scale initiatives. They can undertake these actions in a very cost effective manner due to their ability to leverage volunteers and other resources with minimal effort.
In closing, Albert Einstein once said “The significant problems we face can not be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them”
By establishing a new way of thinking in regards to compassion linked with technology, service and volunteerism the goal of Universal Education is suddenly much more of a possibility than it has ever been.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak with you today.
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