Archive for category: USAID

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Ghana’s Groundwater, USAID and Coca-Cola

Ghana's Groundwater
The Water and Development Alliance (WADA), a water management program designed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Coca-Cola, provides communities in Latin America, Middle East, Asia, and Africa with safe water access and sanitation. Since its conception in 2005, WADA has implemented 35 projects. After 10 years, WADA provided 600,000 people with reformed water access and 250,000 people with improved sanitation.

Between 2005 and 2014, WADA reached Uganda, Guatemala, Sierra Leone, El Salvador, and Ghana. WADA engages with these communities with several objectives. First, they establish participatory, sustainable water and watershed resources management to benefit people and ecosystems. Second, they increase access to community water supply and sanitation services. Third, WADA fosters improved behaviors and sanitation hygiene for positive health impacts. Finally, they promote efficient and sustainable productive use for water to protect the environment and provide economic benefits to communities.

WADA’s work in Ghana is a perfect example of the program’s endeavors. Ghana’s groundwater is the primary source of water for small rural towns, and it also has exceptionally high concentrations of fluoride. Fluoride affects calcium’s strength in the human body, a reaction that children are susceptible to. The reaction threatens the development of tooth enamel, resulting in decay, discoloration and severe pitting. The high fluoride content in Ghana’s groundwater is particularly dangerous for children. According to Water.org, “seventy percent of all diseases in Ghana are caused by unsafe water and sanitation.” The program directly improved water access for 4,000 families.

WADA also reformed five schools in Ghana’s Sekondi/ Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly. Schools often lack clean water for handwashing and latrines to properly dispose of waste. The program trained more than 40 teachers on hygiene behaviors and latrine facility maintenance. Furthermore, it created school hygiene clubs, installed 40 handwashing stations and 7 latrines. The project serviced approximately 5,400 students with safe water access and sanitation. Since 2007, WADA has serviced 8,000 schoolchildren.

Through the Water and Development Alliance, USAID and Coca-Cola has successfully changed thousands of lives around the world. This organization is a perfect example of how corporations and aid organizations can work together in order to reduce global poverty. Hopefully, other alliances such as this one can continue to improve the state of the world.

– Tiffany Santos

Photo: Flickr

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How Foreign Aid Can Solve Instability in the Sahel Region

Instability in Sahel
The Sahel region is a large transition zone in Africa between the Sahara and Southern Africa. The countries surrounding this belt include Sudan, Niger, Nigeria, Mali and Chad. According to the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), more than 100 million people will inhabit the region by the year 2020, and 200 million will live there by 2050. With such a huge influx of people in this land, the poverty-related problems and instability in the Sahel region need to be addressed.

News outlet Africa Renewal reported that in 2012, 18 million people suffered during a major food crisis in the Sahel region. Just the next year, 11 million were experiencing hunger, more than 10 percent of them being children.

In a press release published by the U.N. in June, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed spoke to the joint Economic and Social Council-Peacebuilding Commission on the instability in the Sahel region. He claims that the Sahel region continues to deteriorate due to lack of government and harsh climate conditions; these countries sit right above the equator.

Currently, more than 30 million people in the Sahel region struggle with food insecurity. Terrorism affects many more citizens, driving out law enforcement and government forces. “Efforts to address [this] should be closely coordinated with the work of the United Nations Development Group and the Resident Coordinators of Sahel countries,” stated Mohammed. Not only is he calling for action, but Mohammed explains that action is already being taken.

The U.N. Security Council is deploying a G5 Sahel joint force of 5,000 military and police personnel to collaborate with another military in the area, such as the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). Together, they will continue to protect citizens and suppress terrorist violence.

Mohammed closed his address by stating, “the Secretary-General, his senior management and I, myself, are committed to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations response to crises around the world.”

However, the U.N. isn’t the only organization committed to helping the Sahel region. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funds CILSS with around $3.4 million annually. Their mission, as stated on the USAID website, is “to devote efforts towards the search for food security and combating the effects of drought and desertification for a new ecological balance in the Sahel.”

The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and many organizations are working to end instability in the Sahel region. With the objective of government reform, we will hopefully see goals reached before the end of 2030.

– Vicente Vera

Photo: Flickr

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Radio Used to Gain Support for Women’s Education in Malawi


The need for developing education in Malawi is continual. For example, in 2010, around 10 percent of primary aged children were not in school, and the primary school repetition rate reported in at 24 percent for boys and 29 percent for girls.

Girls in Malawi are exceptionally more vulnerable to a lack of education than boys. In fact, 32 percent of girls aged 14 to 17 are not in school compared to 23 percent of boys this age. Additionally, while 72 percent of boys 15 and older are literate, only 51 percent of women in this age group can read and write.

Part of this gap is caused by the high child marriage rate in Malawi, which is 11th highest in the world. UNICEF reports that approximately 50 percent of Malawian girls marry before they turn 18. Fortunately, this year the Malawian government moved to make marriage legal only after a woman is 18 years old.

Marshall Dyson, founder of the Girl Child Education Movement, is one of many Malawians who recognizes the need for resolution of the educational gender disparity. Dyson’s idea incorporated broadcasting an open discussion of child marriage and girls’ education over the radio. Both men and women of a variety of ages and backgrounds participated in the talk.

The discussion about girls’ education in Malawi broadcasted over Radio Islam, the only Islamic radio station in Malawi. Dyson strategically chose this platform since Muslims rested at risk of discrimination.

Dyson got his start in radio via an internship with Kumakomo Community Radio Station in Zimbabwe. There he served as the content manager of 12 volunteers.

The impact of this position is especially significant, considering that radio acts as the main source of news for most Malawians. According to USAID, the two-hour broadcast “was a collaboration across the YALI and Mandela Washington Fellows networks, and with Regional Leadership Center participants — young leaders between 18 and 35 enrolled in USAID-supported leadership training programs in sub-Saharan Africa.” Around three million people tuned in.

USAID states that “the Muslim Association of Malawi, who attended the event, agreed to open new offices in rural areas where communities can access up-to-date information about education and scholarship opportunities for girls.”

Education in Malawi still has much room for improvement, and humanitarians like Marshall Dyson act as major catalysts in that process. Through work such as his, Malawi is destined to achieve higher standards of education than ever before.

– Emma Tennyson

Photo: Flickr

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8 Facts About Water Quality in Morocco

8 Facts About Water Supply in MoroccoIn Morocco, water supply and quality can be the deciding factor in the survival of a community. Today, 83 percent of Moroccans have access to improved drinking water, and 72 percent have access to improved sanitation. However, in a steadily growing population, the percentage of Moroccans lacking such access are faced with many challenges. Here are eight facts about water quality in Morocco.

8 Facts About Water Quality in Morocco

  1. In just half a century, Morocco’s population has more than tripled from 10 million to 32 million. Mass migrations have brought more than half the population to cities, giving rise to “tin cities,” or slums. These communities are located on the outskirts of urban areas, where access to clean water, electricity and sanitation services does not exist.
  2. The one-third of Moroccans without access to proper sanitation services are at high risk of waterborne diseases such as gastrointestinal infections, malaria and typhoid.
  3. Agriculture is responsible for 19 percent of Morocco’s GDP, but only 15 percent of agricultural land has access to irrigation. Due to a lack of sanitation services and inadequate wastewater treatment, the already scarce water resources for irrigation are often contaminated.
  4. Due to climate change, rainfall in Morocco is predicted to decline by as much as 50 percent by the year 2050, increasing the risk of droughts.
  5. Between 2004 and 2011, Morocco’s own Cities Without Slums urban development campaign created 100,000 new housing units in different parts of the country, providing 1.5 million people with access to water, power and sanitation.
  6. In 2016, USAID provided 336 Moroccan families with information on the best sanitation and hygiene practices. It also rehabilitated the retaining walls of a community’s water reservoir to prevent contamination.
  7. The same year, Moroccan farmers received irrigation advice for their crops from USAID through an SMS service, helping the country’s agrarian society achieve the greatest potential from limited resources.
  8. Also in 2016, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization teamed up with USAID to create a regional drought monitoring system that serves to maximize early warnings for droughts in North Africa and the Middle East.

While steps are being made toward a promising future, efforts of local and foreign aid to improve water quality in Morocco and strengthen resources must gain momentum in order to counter the effects of a growing population and a warming world.

– Sophie Nunnally

Photo: Flickr

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5 Ways USAID Can Help Build Sustainable Peace in Colombia


The media’s obsession with Pablo Escobar and Colombia of the 1980s fails to highlight the massive achievements Colombia had in recent decades. Legitimate progress has been made in improving basic security and economic conditions. While Colombians in previous generations lived amidst some of the worst poverty and violence in all of the Americas, this has changed over the past 15 years. In 2016, the homicide rate in Colombia dropped to its lowest level since 1974.

International aid groups working with local communities were an indispensable part of these improving conditions. This stability has allowed for the government to seek a peace agreement with the FARC jungle insurgency that has been waging a guerilla war against the government for over half of a century. Here are five ways USAID can help build sustainable peace in Colombia.

Five Ways USAID Can Help Build Sustainable Peace in Colombia

  1. Delivering the $450 million of peace aid promised by the Obama administration that was recently allocated by Congress, can help achieve a more stable community. The Secretary of State still has the power to restrict funds and the Trump administration has considered reducing the total USAID budget by 30 percent, putting Colombia’s peace funds at risk. Colombian politicians to the right of conservative President Juan Manuel Santos have even tried to appeal to the U.S. Congress to freeze aid. A bipartisan effort must be made to protect the fragile peace in Colombia by continuing to grow the return on the aid investment in the country.
  2. Peace can be reached through increased protection of persecuted groups. Although homicides have been at a 45-year low, the targeted killing of labor organizers, human rights activists and former combatants has been steadily increasing in recent years. In 2016, there were 116 human rights workers killed, and 7,000 FARC members have yet to be reintegrated back into society. These killings undermine the rule of law fundamental to democracy and silence those trying to make necessary reforms.
  3. Syria is the only place with more internally displaced people than Colombia. Whenever possible, USAID should facilitate ways to help people move back to their homes. One successful land restitution initiative depended on ensuring owners land deeds and then paying them to improve their own abandoned farms, this way poor farmers could afford to stay and invest in their home for the season.
  4. Supporting Crop Substitution Programs, like Cacao for Peace, help farmers develop a sustainable living by teaching them to cultivate alternative crops to replace the illicit drug economy. Areas deep in FARC territory were previously not eligible to receive development funds spent in “pacified areas.” The scorched earth policy of dropping pesticides on coca fields has not worked. Coca crops have increased by 38 percent since the beginning of Plan Colombia. However, USAID’s track record developing crop substitution in pacified areas has been stellar. USAID’s Nebraska Mission aimed to teach rose farming to poor farmers. Fifty years later, roses are a billion dollar vital export industry for Colombia.
  5. Displaced people in Colombia generally move from the countryside to the city. When displaced residents living in makeshift slums outside Cartagena organized for better conditions, they were able to convince USAID to purchase ground for them to build what would become known as the “City of Women.” Women learned construction techniques, built a city, and were rewarded with deeds to their own homes. This not only empowers women economically, it helps them compete in the labor market. Now, it’s a model the government wants to replicate in other parts of the country.

There are considerable challenges to building a sustainable peace in Colombia. From reintegrating FARC members from the world’s oldest guerrilla war back into society to helping the nearly seven million internally displaced Colombians find adequate housing. However, these challenges shouldn’t discourage us from acting. Critics should note that extreme poverty was halved in Colombia from 2002-2014.

In the 1980s, Colombia was a failing state, today it is a stable American ally with a growing economy and a young fragile peace.

– Jared Gilbert

Photo: Flickr

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USAID is Funding 55 New Health Facilities in Ghana


USAID has funded a project in Ghana that will allow for the construction of 55 new community-based health planning and services (CHPS) compounds in the Northern and Volta Regions, to improve access to health care and reduce preventable maternal and child deaths.

While Ghana already has 155 existing compounds, they are run down and often overused. The health facilities simply cannot handle a number of people coming into the facilities to receive help from the surrounding communities. While USAID is funding the project, Systems for Health Project is implementing it in a collaboration with Ghana Health Services (GHS).

Four of the compounds that USAID is funding are currently under construction, due to be completed by the beginning of September. The new health facilities will be constructed in two different regions, with 28 new health facilities being in the Northern Region of Ghana, and 27 new health facilities in the Volta Region.

As part of the project to be completed by the end of next year, the 155 existing compounds including 78 in the Northern Region, and 77 in the Volta Region, would be renovated. This means that these compounds will be up to date with the new health facilities, and possibly able to handle a higher volume, as they are struggling to keep up now.

The new health facilities will be a big help to Ghana, as they are expected to improve the nutritional status of pregnant women and children, due to the nature of the facilities, watching their overall health as well as maternal. The provision of primary health care in rural areas of Ghana will also be improved by bringing healthcare to the doorstep of the underprivileged communities. The new facilities even have space where the GHS will be supporting interventions that will improve the reproductive health of women.

These classes will benefit the community and are one of the simple yet necessary needs that these communities have been struggling to provide for their population. It will be good for Ghana to continually use and maintain these facilities.

These centers will not only create high in-demand skilled jobs but will aid in lifting Ghana’s communities out of the sickness and hurt they have been experiencing for so long.

– Rilee Pickle

Photo: Flickr

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Poverty, Climate and Hunger in Mozambique


Mozambique is one of the poorest countries on a global scale. The government estimates that 54 percent of its population lives below the poverty line. Hunger in Mozambique is widespread, as 80 percent of the population cannot afford enough food for good health and 24 percent are chronically food insecure. At least 25 percent of Mozambicans are malnourished, due in part, to poor crop diversity. Almost half of children under age five are malnourished, and 42 percent have stunted growth.

Mozambique’s primary industry is agriculture: it brings in over 25 percent of the nation’s GDP and employs 80 percent of the workforce. Yet, Mozambique is also prone to severe weather such as droughts and floods. With the majority of the nation dependent on agriculture and at risk for severe weather, Mozambique is highly susceptible to chronic food insecurity and poverty.

While parts of Mozambique are prone to drought, these regions also have rivers, leaving them prone to flooding during cyclone season. In fact, two-third of Mozambicans live in regions at risk of flooding and cyclones. Mozambique experienced floods in 2000, 2001, 2007 and 2008. The country had droughts between 2002-2003, 2004-2005, 2006-2007 and 2007-2008.

Drought caused by the 2016 El Niño weather pattern reduced crop yields and left two million Mozambicans suffering food insecurity. Shortly after, in February 2017, the country experienced a cyclone which also destroyed crops.

Feed the Future, an initiative funded by USAID is working to reduce hunger in Mozambique. The USAID website notes that Mozambique also has geographical advantages and great potential to increase agriculture while reducing food insecurity. The country is a coastal country, making it ideal for growing food and supplying landlocked African countries. Furthermore, only 17 percent of the suitable land is being used for farming.

The Feed the Future Initiative is taking advantage of this potential. Research is underway to improve agriculture. More nutritious and resilient crop varieties are being developed, as are plants which produce higher yields. Ideal fertilizers are being used along with better farming practices to improve soil quality.

Of the 15 countries in Southern Africa, Mozambique is the second largest exporter of food. As such, better farming practices can allow the citizens of Mozambique to rise out of poverty. Crop production is impaired by changes in climate. Yet, if Mozambique can overcome this obstacle, it can help reduce famine throughout Southern Africa. The outlook is good. Mozambique cut hunger in half between 1997 and 2015.

If the Feed the Future Initiative and other organizations can end hunger in Mozambique, then it can possibly end hunger in Southern Africa.

– Mary Katherine Crowley

Photo: Flickr

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Combating Hunger in Kyrgyzstan in the Classroom

Hunger in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is a small, mountainous country, landlocked amongst countries that spent most of the 20th century under Soviet rule. Hunger in Kyrgyzstan is an issue that overshadows the progress the country is making.

Of Kyrgyzstan’s six million citizens, 30 percent live in poverty. Twelve percent of the population is food-insecure with 43 percent of children under five suffering from anemia. Thirteen percent of this under five population have stunted growth from malnutrition.

Two-thirds of Kyrgyzstan’s population lives in the countryside where agriculture is the main source of income. The fragmentation of the small family farms, however, inhibits overall production from reaching the scale necessary to meet the market demand.

Farmer-to-Farmer is a five-year program introduced in 2013 by USAID designed to bring technology transfer innovations to Kyrgyzstan’s agricultural sector through short-term technical assistance. The goal of the USAID program is to generate economic growth with person-to-person assignments. The farmers of Kyrgyzstan learn such things as new pruning techniques, ways to improve cold storage management or food safety standards. The volunteers who arrive in Kyrgyzstan gain a better understanding of U.S. foreign assistance outside their country.

A bright spot in Kyrgyzstan is its 99 percent literacy rate and the fact that gross primary school participation is 100 percent. One way to conquer hunger in Kyrgyzstan, as well as childhood malnutrition, is to improve school meals. The U.N. World Food Programme funded a pilot project called School Meals Optimization, which provides culinary training and kitchen equipment to schools. It also aids in renovating school cafeterias and helps schools establish vegetable gardens to source their fruit and vegetables. By 2015, more than 62,000 primary school students in 260 schools received a nutritious, hot meal during the school day, almost six times the number of students in the project’s first year. The program has since expanded to all schools across the country.

The focus on healthy, nutritious meals is gaining momentum in this former Soviet satellite. Recently, 20 school chefs from across the country were chosen to meet in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, for a competition and a master class with one of Kyrgyzstan’s top chefs. They spent one day cooking vegetables, pureeing soups and making chicken fricassee among other things, all using affordable local produce. On day two, all 20 chefs competed to make a three-course meal in 90 minutes using ingredients from a mystery basket. These competing chefs can attack the issue of hunger in Kyrgyzstan in a positive and productive manner.

The students of Kyrgyzstan also emulate the healthy, nutritious meals they enjoy when they graduate from the classroom into society. They are building a foundation to help decrease hunger in Kyrgyzstan for future generations. Through their efforts, the future for Kyrgyzstan’s food security looks bright.

– Jene Cates

Photo: Flickr

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The Climb Towards Eliminating the Spread of HIV/AIDs

The Climb Towards Eliminating the Spread of HIV/AIDs
Since the early 2000s, organizations such as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have had vested interests in setting up preventative measures aimed at eliminating the spread of HIV/AIDs. Such elimination is particularly an issue in developing countries, where the disease is most prevalent.

In working towards this goal, USAID focuses on providing better resources for healthcare workers, especially in countries where professional healthcare workers are scarce and resources are incredibly low.

According to USAID, optimizing for the “effective and sustainable” delivery of services is a pivotal strategy towards eliminating the spread of HIV/AIDs in developing countries and on a global scale. Such a strategy targets various means towards the end goal, including the efficient training of healthcare workers, effectively administering antiretroviral medicine within clinics and hospitals and providing efficient laboratory training and lab systems for HIV viral load testing.

Moreover, the U.N. has initiated a “90-90-90” plan in response to the rapidly growing HIV/AIDs epidemic. Under this plan, the end goal is for 90 percent of populations infected with HIV to have received antiretroviral therapy by the year 2020.

Currently, only 60 percent of the 36.7 million individuals living with HIV are aware of their positive status, and less than half of these individuals are receiving the medical attention necessary to help prevent its spread among unsuspecting persons.

According to the WHO, more than 90 percent of persons infected with HIV live in developing countries with poor access to medical treatment. Likewise, the highest rates of infection lie in the underdeveloped countries of sub-Saharan Africa, where money and healthcare resources are extremely limited.

To help combat the spread of HIV, the WHO remains dedicated to promoting for an increased budget in HIV vaccines, easy access to testing and counseling services and providing affordable healthcare treatments for individuals living with the virus. Taken together, these measures can be utilized for eliminating the spread of HIV/AIDs in underdeveloped countries as well as on a global scale.

– Lael Pierce

Photo: Flickr

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6 Ways USAID Helps Syria


The news of the ugly, modern warfare occurring in Syria is heartbreaking. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to the problem of Syria’s civil war. Despite obstacles, many agencies are doing their best to get humanitarian aid to civilians. In particular, USAID helps Syria by funding many organizations within the United Nations (U.N.), through non-government organizations (NGOs), and its own programs. Here are six specific groups that USAID helps fund.

6 Ways USAID Helps Syria

  1. USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART): DART currently has teams deployed to Turkey and Jordan. They are on standby in case of a sudden and large-scale displacement of Syrian refugees, or for any other humanitarian needs caused by the conflict in Syria.
  2. USAID/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA): USAID/OFDA funds U.N. and NGO sponsored programs. This department has helped provide medical care to Syrians by helping the U.N.’s World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO has been able to evacuate patients out of conflict zones, as well as identify and vaccinate against a recent measles outbreak. USAID/OFDA also funded NGOs to train Syrian medical staff, provide medical supplies, and vaccinate against polio.
  3. The Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM): USAID is funding the U.N. World Food Program and U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, which have been able to report on food and crop security in Syria. The CFSAM report shows that less food is being produced in Syria. With this information, the U.N. is able to respond with appropriate food deliveries.
  4. The World Food Programme (WFP): USAID gave $79,812,417 to the WFP’s work in Syria during the 2016 fiscal year. This does not include the funding given to the WFP for use in neighboring countries. In January, the WFP delivered food to 3.6 million people in Syria. The WFP has also given food assistance to conflict-isolated people in the Jordan-Syrian border towns. Finally, the WFP has given more than 1.6 million Syrian refugees food vouchers on debit cards.
  5. The U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF): UNICEF is helping in Syria and in neighboring countries. Within Syria, UNICEF is bringing six million liters of water daily. This is estimated to help 400,000 people in the country. UNICEF is helping Syrian refugees as well. Last November and December, they provided $28 clothing vouchers for Syrian refugee children in Jordan to buy winter clothing. These vouchers were given to 128,430 Syrian children. UNICEF is also offering psychosocial support to Syrian refugee children in Turkey. In January, they helped 7,200 children. UNICEF is also helping refugees by providing social services.
  6. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): The U.N. organization, OCHA, received $3,000,000 from USAID in the 2016 fiscal year. As a result, OCHA has been able to present reports on the humanitarian crisis in Syria. As a result of this important work, the world now knows if humanitarian aid is able to get into Syria, citizens are impacted by aid disruptions and by the state of facilities and infrastructure throughout Syria.

While these examples are encouraging, Syria is still struggling to receive humanitarian aid being offered. In many cases, battles between the al-Assad regime and the rebel forces prevent aid workers from reaching citizens. In some cases, the Islamic State has deliberately blocked aid organizations from repairing infrastructure.

Yet, the world is persistent and continues to fund humanitarian aid to Syria. USAID helps Syria in even more ways than are listed here. Also, the USAID website implores people to donate to NGO’s working in Syria.

It’s dispiriting to watch what unfolds in Syria and hard to imagine how Americans can help. Another way we can help is to tell Congress to support the USAID budget. As few as seven calls from constituents have been known to impact the legislation that a congressman or senator supports.

– Mary Katherine Crowley

Photo: Flickr