USAID
The U.S. will provide 590,000 metric tons of food, worth over $435 million, to feed the people of Iraq. In addition this food assistance, USAID is spending to date over $486,270,000 on humanitarian relief to Iraq. Organizations receiving this money include the Red Cross and Red Crescent, UNICEF, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organization for Migration, and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. USAID has also provided $90.9 million for reconstruction, including:
- USAID is fully committed to providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Iraq - to save lives, alleviate suffering, and mitigate the impact of emergency situations. For the last several months, various U.S. government agencies and departments, including USAID, have been planning for a possible humanitarian emergency by:
- Assembling and training the largest-ever U.S. humanitarian rapid response team;
- Pre-positioning stockpiles of emergency supplies and commodities;
- Communicating and coordinating with U.S. and international humanitarian organizations; and
- Funding international organizations and non-governmental organizations' preparatory efforts
- USAID will rely heavily on international and non-government relief professionals - they will be the delivers of assistance.
For instance, the largest USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) in U.S. history-- outside of an Urban Search and Rescue response - has been recruited. It is headquartered in Kuwait City and will have three mobile field offices. The DART will conduct assessments, direct assistance towards vulnerable populations and provide funding to the IO and NGO providers.
The DART is composed of more than 60 humanitarian response experts from various agencies and departments, including USAID; the Department of State's Bureau for Population, Migration, and Refugees (PRM); and the Department of Health and Human Service's Public Health Service. In addition to technical experts in areas such as health, food, water, and shelter, the DART has grant making authority and includes administrative officers in logistics, transportation, and procurement, enabling the team to function as a turnkey response mechanism for assessment and funding in the field.
U.S. government officials and a wide range of U.S.- based and international organizations have been meeting for several months to plan for a humanitarian response in Iraq. In the region, the DART will continue to serve as a central point of contact, conducting assessments, exchanging information and facilitating delivery of humanitarian assistance by NGOs, U.N. agencies, international organizations (IOs), and the U.S. military, if necessary, in support of U.N. OCHA's overall coordination mandate.
In addition, USAID has funded a significant contingency coordination effort for many NGOs preparing to assist in Iraq called the Joint NGO Emergency Preparedness Initiative (JNEPI), offering support to their assessment, logistics, stockpiling, and staffing needs. PRM funding has gone to support the contingency preparations of international humanitarian relief organizations.
USAID is pre-positioning emergency supplies for the Iraqi people, including material in warehouses throughout the region. In addition to pre-positioned and in-transit food, these supplies include wool blankets; rolls of plastic sheeting for emergency shelter; personal hygiene kits; World Health Organization Emergency Health Kits; and water jugs, bladders, containers, and treatment units
Areas of expertise and responsibility for humanitarian assistance include:
- Health and medicines
- Water and sanitation
- Food and nutrition
- Shelter and supplies
- Internally displaced persons
- Humanitarian assistance infrastructure
- Refugees and asylum seekers
Food Assistance
The U.S. government is acting quickly to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Iraq. The U.S. will provide 610,000 metric tons of food, worth over $300 million, to feed the people of Iraq. This will add to the over 130,000 metric tons the World Food Program (WFP) already has pre-positioned in the region.
Emergency Supplies
USAID has provided emergency supplies in the region worth a total of $16.3 million. These supplies include wool blankets, plastic sheeting for emergency shelter, personal hygiene kits, emergency health kits; water jugs, bladders and other containers, and water treatment units.
Prepositioned in the region In transit to the region
- 103,135 blankets
- 45,920 hygiene kits
- 50 World Health Organization (WHO) medical kits
- 7,180 rolls of plastic sheeting
- 63,900 water containers
- 20 water tanks
- four water treatment units
- 124,500 blankets
- 34,848 hygiene kits
- 50 WHO medical kits
- 4,900 plastic sheeting
- 387 tents
- 63,200 water containers,
- two water treatment units
Remaining commodities are on stand-by for call forward.
Funding Allocations
In addition to the food assistance mentioned above, USAID is spending to date over $206 million on humanitarian relief to Iraq. In addition, the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration has spent over $36 million. Of this combined amount, over $105 million is going to the United Nations and other international organizations for pre-positioning and early response, including $60 million to the WFP for planning and logistical support costs and some food pre-positioning. Additional assistance is in the pipeline for the U.N. and other international organizations.
The breakdown of this $105 million also includes:
- $21 million to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees;
- $10 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross;
- $8.6 million to the International Organization for Migration;
- $3 million to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies;
- $2 million to UNICEF; and
- $1.2 million to the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
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