I am delighted to join the National Democratic Institute and the young leaders who have gathered here in Lusaka for this Youth Political Conflict Mitigation Workshop. And we are indeed privileged to have with us today Mr. Johnny Mack, who leads Communities Without Boundaries, Dr. Keith Jennings of NDI, a long-time friend of the Zambian people and government, and of course Mr. Martin Luther King III.
Good morning! I am pleased to share the stage today with the Minister of Tourism, Wildlife, and Antiquities, Professor Ephraim Kamuntu. And I would like to thank Executive Director James Musinguzi for allowing me to enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour of the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, or UWEC. I loved interacting so closely with some of the animals that represent Uganda’s incredible natural heritage.
I congratulate Moses and his team for picking this theme as it is timely and resonates with the global agenda to promote the development of women. Young women have such an important role in international affairs and should strive for achieving and reaching the highest levels within the field.
Urban development is a key feature of USAID’s work in the Philippines. One of our significant areas of work is the Cities Development Initiative, in which we integrate resources from our various technical sectors — health, education, economic growth, governance, and environment — to support partner cities in fulfilling their potential as engines of inclusive economic growth.
For decades, we have partnered with people of faith, to save lives after a disaster strikes, to eradicate diseases, to educate girls and boys, to promote the rights of women and minorities, and to help people feed their families. And that’s because our core values are often aligned. The holy month of Ramadan, as you know, honors the Muslim commitment to compassion, mercy, justice, and charity, and these are the same principles that guide much of our work across the globe and the american people's impulses that support our work, and we remain committed to partnering with Muslim communities and folks like you to put those values to work in service of the world's most vulnerable people.
As Deputy Secretary Higginbottom stated, foreign assistance works best when we collaborate in pursuit of clearly defined goals. With more than two dozen US Government departments and agencies working with developing countries, coordination of all US Government foreign assistance is essential. As we consider the future of foreign assistance, I’d like to quickly highlight five of the best practices that we at USAID believe have been and will continue to be essential to our foreign assistance program.
Ambassador Maalim, I recall our meeting on February 18, 2016, when both our organizations shared updates on the progress in the development of our strategies. I want to congratulate you and IGAD for completing your new five-year strategy. At USAID East Africa, we have also recently completed our East Africa Regional Development Cooperation Strategy (RDCS).
Ambassador Maalim, I recall our meeting on February 18, 2016, when both our organizations shared updates on the progress in the development of our strategies. I want to congratulate you and IGAD for completing your new five-year strategy. At USAID East Africa, we have also recently completed our East Africa Regional Development Cooperation Strategy (RDCS).
Thank you and good afternoon, everybody - everybody from USAID, our guests from elsewhere in government, our guests from outside, UNDP, and Sweden. Todd said I was going to talk about LGBTI and USAID past, present, and future. So, I’ll be very brief about the past. In the past, that would not have been a USAID video. I was here 16 years ago. That never would have happened, and today it happens not infrequently and with great pride.
While we’re still having a long road ahead, child and maternal deaths have been halved since 1990. Since 2008 alone, our collective efforts have saved the lives of 4.6 million children and 200,000 women. That’s 4.6 million children and 200,000 women. And Ethiopia, of course, reached its child mortality goal two years ahead of schedule. But more than any specific numbers, I think what we’ve done is taken a challenge that was once too big to tackle and turned it into a solvable problem. We can measure our progress against achievable targets. We can apply interventions where the evidence tells us they will have the greatest impact. We’re building momentum that I’m confident will carry us over the finish line, a world where preventable maternal and child deaths are actually preventable.
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