*EPF307 10/24/01
Text: USAID Awards $26.5 Million in Grants For Afghanistan
(Grants to international groups cover various aid needs) (520)

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded $26.5 million in grants to the United Nations and other international organizations to assist people of Afghanistan.

The grants are for medical, shelter and winterization assistance, water/sanitation projects, "complementary foods" and logistical support, according to an October 24 USAID press release. Complementary foods are non-grain items such as beans and vegetable oil.

The funds were budgeted before September 11 and are not part of the $320 million in humanitarian assistance announced by President Bush October 4, the release said.

Following is the text of the USAID press release:

(begin text)

USAID Awards More Than $26.5 Million in Grants to Aid Afghanistan

October 24, 2001

Washington D.C. -- Andrew S. Natsios, administrator for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), today announced more than $26.5 million in grants to the United Nations and other international organizations to provide non-food aid to the people of Afghanistan. The funds will be administered through USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) for FY [fiscal year] 2002. The grant money will be provided to the following non-governmental organizations and spent on a variety of projects:

-- Agence d'aide ?la coop��ation technique et au d��eloppement (ACTED). Distribution of complementary foods, non-food items and winterization assistance to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in northeast Afghanistan. $6,130,000.

-- Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Seed distribution and multiplication projects. $300,000.

-- International Medical Corps (IMC). Health assistance for IDPs and local residents in and around Herat. $735,000.

-- United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF). Nutrition surveillance, health, and water/sanitation activities country-wide; water and environmental sanitation activities and in kind contribution of five Emergency Health Kits. $4,179,415.

-- Save the Children (SC/US). Nutrition surveillance in northern Afghanistan. Delivery of complementary foods and winter heating for hospitals and vulnerable IDPs. $2,206,488.

-- United Nation's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). Coordination of United Nations humanitarian operations in response to the current situation in Afghanistan. $2,500,000.

-- International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Support for pre-positioning and mobilization of food and non-food stocks for 540,000 drought and war-displaced people. $2,500,000.

-- World Food Programme (WFP). Support for a Joint Logistics Center and humanitarian air operations. $2,500,000.

-- GOAL. Provision of complementary food products and addressing shelter, water, and sanitation needs of IDPs in northern Afghanistan. $5,500,000.

Total USAID/OFDA FY 2002. $26,550,903.

The funds were budgeted prior to September 11 and are not part of the $320 million supplemental in humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan announced by President Bush on October 4.

The United States has supplied more than 80 percent of all food sent to vulnerable Afghans through the United Nations World Food Program, and will continue to be the leading food donor to the Afghan people.

The U.S. Agency for International Development is the U.S. government agency that has provided development and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 40 years.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
NNNN