Washington, DC - Today the U.S. Agency for International Development announced funding to help educate children impacted by humanitarian crises in Africa and called on innovators to develop solutions to global hunger.  The two announcements, which coincided with the 71st UN General Assembly and President Obama's Leaders' Summit on Refugees, demonstrate USAID's ongoing commitment to improving livelihoods and creating opportunities for people around the world.

USAID announced a pledged contribution of $15 million to the United Nations Children's Fund to educate children in crisis-affected countries and refugee children in Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The announcement coincides with President Obama's Leaders' Summit on Refugees, which is bringing together government leaders to make new and significant pledges that address the most urgent needs of refugees, including education. The Summit seeks to raise refugee self-reliance through increasing refugee access to education and increasing the number of refugee children enrolled in school by one million.  This contribution will play an important role in reaching that goal by filling global funding gaps for refugee education, and the United States government strongly encourages other donors to commit to closing the remaining funding shortfall.

USAID and The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (DFAT) InnovationXchange will announce a new innovation challenge, LAUNCH Food. DFAT and USAID are calling for innovators, entrepreneurs, organizations and individuals from around the world to put forward innovative solutions for improving global health outcomes by enabling people to make healthy food choices. LAUNCH Food (part of the LAUNCH innovation platform) aims to create a worldwide coalition of committed innovators, experts, and resource partners to identify and advance innovations focused on transforming food systems, while respecting the planet's resources.