Programs
Emergency Response
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is committed to helping conflict-affected communities return to normalcy as quickly as possible. In times of crisis, USAID provides emergency food assistance through the Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) and emergency non-food relief through the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA).
USAID/FFP provides emergency food aid (Public Law 480 Title II) to Sri Lanka. Starting in FY 2009, all USAID food commodities (wheat, lentils, and oil) are being distributed as dry rations to people displaced by the conflict in the North. USAID food aid has also supported programs in Sri Lanka's East, including school feeding, mother/child nutrition, and dry rations to support Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) in camps and people who return to their homes.
USAID/OFDA funds are used to support programs that save lives, alleviate suffering, and reduce the social and economic impact of humanitarian emergencies. USAID/OFDA provides commodities and financial assistance to help populations recover in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. USAID/OFDA has been actively engaged in responding to Sri Lanka’s emergencies and providing humanitarian assistance, including conflict and natural disasters such as the 2004 tsunami.
USAID, the development agency of the U.S. Government, provides funding to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to implement humanitarian programs. NGOs are non-profit, non-governmental organizations that provide services or development assistance that benefits the local population. USAID is committed to working with qualified Sri Lankan partners to implement our programs.
Emergency Food Assistance
In Fiscal Years (FY) 2008 and 2009, USAID provided $42.9 million of emergency food aid to benefit the people of the North and the East. So far in FY 2009, USAID has donated 19,490 metric tons of food commodities valued at $14.3 million. Civilians trapped in the combat zone during the recent conflict received some of this food, while most has been used to feed the approximately 275,000 IDPs in camps in the North.
USAID food aid is consigned to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP). In the North, WFP partners with eight international NGOs and eight local NGOs to distribute dry rations to IDPs in the camps.
Emergency Non-Food Relief
In FY 2008 and 2009, USAID/OFDA provided more than $11 million in funding to support humanitarian programs benefiting the people of the North and the East, including support for health, logistics, protection, disaster risk reduction, agriculture and food security, economy and market systems, shelter and settlements, humanitarian coordination and information management, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programs.
In January 2008, USAID/OFDA issued its first award under a new umbrella grant program implemented by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), entitled “Sub-Grants for Humanitarian Assistance and Relief in Emergencies” (SHARE). As of June 2009, the $4.5 million SHARE program had issued 30 small grants to both local and international NGOs, benefitting more than 200,000 people in conflict-affected areas. Each grant, of up to $200,000, allows a qualified partner to implement emergency recovery activities in Sri Lanka's North and East.
So far in FY 2009, USAID/OFDA has provided funding to two local NGOs to implement services. In Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu, and Mannar Districts, Social, Economic and Environmental Development (SEED) is working to increase the capacity of civil society organizations and humanitarian agencies to provide timely support for IDPs and to effectively coordinate and manage information. In Vavuniya District, Sewalanka is working to prevent and reduce communicable diseases in IDP camps by improving access to safe drinking water, facilities and communal latrines, and by implementing hygiene promotion programs. In addition to the SHARE program, USAID/OFDA funded the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide nutrition and WASH programs, and to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to build 10 health clinics to serve displaced citizens in IDP camps.
With FY 2008 funding, these grants funded a wide variety of activities implemented by local NGOs. OfFER helped IDP families returned to Batticaloa resume rearing livestock. Lanka Evangelical Alliance Development Services (LEEDS) worked to ensure food security for conflict-affected people in Mannar District. Rural Development Foundation (RDF) provided emergency housing and cash grants for immediate non-food needs for populations in Vavuniya District.
Key links
USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance:
USAID Food for Peace
UN High Commission on Refugees
World Food Programme
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