COVID-19
Speeches Shim
Today, Administrator Power met with Daniel Endres, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) and Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for East Africa, to discuss how USAID can work together with the UN to address humanitarian needs across Ethiopia and overcome major challenges to providing life-saving assistance to people in need.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing $100,000 in immediate assistance to support people affected by severe flooding in the Bahia State of Brazil, which has impacted nearly 800,000 people, including displacing more than 73,000 people from their homes.
Today, Administrator Samantha Power met with Dr. John Nkengasong, the Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing $100,000 in humanitarian assistance for communities impacted by devastating floods in Malaysia. Heavy rains since mid-December have caused some of the worst flooding Malaysia has seen in decades. Floodwaters have damaged numerous buildings, roads, and infrastructure, and have forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate to shelters.
The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is allocating an additional $19 million in humanitarian assistance to help people affected by Super Typhoon Rai in the Philippines. This assistance brings total USAID assistance for this response to more than $20 million. The storm known locally as Typhoon Odette brought torrential rains and caused widespread flooding, landslides, and damage to homes.
Today, Administrator Samantha Power met with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to discuss how USAID and the IMF can enhance coordination and collaboration around the world to increase vaccination rates and end the COVID-19 pandemic.
USAID remains steadfast in supporting and providing vital assistance to the Afghan people. As the single largest donor of humanitarian aid to the Afghan people, the United States provided nearly $474 million in humanitarian assistance in Fiscal Year 2021, and in the coming weeks, we will provide the people of Afghanistan one million additional COVID-19 vaccine doses through COVAX, bringing the total to 4.3 million doses. To facilitate the continued flow of assistance and support for the Afghan people, USAID welcomes the three new General Licenses issued today by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The United States government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing Php10 million ($200,000) in immediate assistance to support communities devastated by Typhoon Odette, internationally known as Super Typhoon Rai.
On December 20, Administrator Samantha Power met with Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs Suzuki Takako. Administrator Power thanked State Minister Suzuki for Japan’s leadership and commitments at the 2021 Nutrition for Growth Summit and for its ongoing support to COVAX and the global COVID-19 response. Administrator Power and Minister Suzuki discussed the importance of accelerating efforts to turn COVID-19 vaccines into vaccinations through expanded vaccine readiness and delivery support. They also discussed collaboration on addressing critical development needs in Central America and, through the US-Japan-Australia Trilateral Infrastructure Partnership, on mobilizing infrastructure investment in the Indo-Pacific.
The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing $200,000 in immediate assistance to support people affected by Super Typhoon Rai in the Philippines. The typhoon–known locally as Typhoon Odette–brought torrential rains, causing widespread flooding, landslides, and damage to homes. Many cities across the Philippines have lost power and some bridges and roads remain impassable. People are seeking shelter in evacuation centers and cannot safely return home yet.
The decision of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Labor, to reserve 6,500 H-2B temporary nonagricultural worker visas for Guatemalans, Hondurans, Salvadorans, and Haitians is the right move at the right time. The United States is committed to addressing the root causes of irregular migration, and today’s decision is a critical step in advancing that goal by building lawful pathways to temporary work opportunities in the United States. The H-2B program permits employers to temporarily hire noncitizens to perform nonagricultural labor or services in the United States, and with job openings in the U.S. at a near-record high, these visas will expand opportunities for temporary legal work in the United States, and they will support America’s economic recovery.
This week, USAID Administrator Samantha Power held a series of high-level meetings with key United States and world health experts to discuss the recently announced whole-of-government effort, the Initiative for Global Vaccine Access (Global VAX). Vaccinating the world is the best way to save lives, prevent future variants that threaten the health of communities around the world, including Americans, and undermine the global economic recovery. As more vaccine supply flows to low and middle income countries, the United States is redoubling efforts to help countries efficiently and effectively receive, distribute, and administer doses. Global VAX focuses on accelerating global efforts to get shots in arms —particularly in sub-Saharan Africa—and to enhance international coordination to rapidly overcome barriers to vaccine delivery.
Today, Administrator Power met with Harjit Sajjan, Minister of International Development of Canada. They discussed accelerating global efforts to turn COVID-19 vaccines into shots in arms and coordinating actions to improve vaccine readiness and distribution bilaterally and through multilateral channels.
Today, Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman met with Syrian opposition leaders, Anas Abda, the president of the Syrian Negotiations Commission (SNC) and Hadi al-Bahra, co-chair of the Constitutional Committee to discuss the U.S. Agency for International Development’s stabilization and humanitarian work in Syria.
On Wednesday, December 8, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order on Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability to guide the Nation on a firm path to net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 through a coordinated, whole-of-government approach. This effort will support global ambition to limit global warming to 1.5°C and confront the climate crisis by transforming federal operations to help the United States achieve its ambitious climate and sustainability goals.
On December 15, Administrator Power and Deputy Administrator Coleman met with representatives from the International Crisis Group to discuss the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
Today, Administrator Power met with Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith to discuss how USAID and Microsoft can better collaborate to achieve sustainable development in countries and regions where both are active.
Thank you so much, Aruna, that's so inspiring. Speak truth to power. You're even channeling, I suppose, the Slovak Prime Minister who said never give up. And Samantha for telling us that democracy delivers. Certainly a mantra I look forward to promoting during my co-chair year, which starts soon. And thank you both so much for inspiring us -- for informing us, for telling us a little bit of the origin story of OGP.
Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a major commitment to give stateless people living in the United States rights and protections of which they are currently deprived.
To address shrinking civic space in a world of growing authoritarianism, the United States Agency of International Development (USAID) launched the Illuminating New Solutions and Programmatic Innovations for Resilient Spaces (INSPIRES) website on December 15. The site highlights critical user-friendly data that has been sourced from machine learning -- or a set of methods for training computers to detect patterns or structures in data -- and will be advantageous to citizens, civil society, media and others to get ahead of harmful repressive trends on closing space. This historic and unprecedented data repository, shared in easily digestible visual formats, will set the precedent for how machine learning can safely monitor the status of democracy, human rights, and governance.
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Last updated: July 11, 2024
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