When responding to a food crisis, food aid is critical but we must not forget that non-food emergency assistance, such as therapeutic feeding, also saves lives.  Unfortunately, emergency non-food assistance remains severely under-funded year after year.  For example, in Ethiopia the emergency food appeal is 110% funded for food aid but under-funded for non-food assistance (i.e. water and sanitation projects are only 35% funded, health care only 53% funded and disaster preparedness 0%). 

At this briefing panelists outlined the existing and potential policies that can improve response to humanitarian emergencies in Ethiopia and other countries around the world.  The panelists provided perspectives from the U.S. (USAID and Oxfam America), the international community (United Nations World Food Programme and International Food Policy and Research Institute) the Government of Ethiopia (Embassy of Ethiopia)and an Ethiopian American scholar from the Center for African Development and Policy Research at West Michigan University.

Panelists:

·        Oxfam America

GAWAIN KRIPKE is Senior Policy Advisor on international trade issues with Oxfam America. Kripke has authored numerous opinion pieces and briefing papers on trade and development issues.  He has testified before Congress and appears frequently on radio and television programs, including Marketplace, CNN, National Public Radio, and BBC World News. 

SHANNON SCRIBNER is a Policy Advisor on humanitarian issues with Oxfam America, based in Washington, DC.  She has worked on several humanitarian emergencies on behalf of Oxfam programs and staff on the ground including Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Ethiopia and Tsunami.  She has been on radio and television programs addressing humanitarian issues from Oxfam’s perspective in the field.

·        USAID

STAN SIENKIEWICZ is a Congressional Liaison Officer with the US Agency for International Development. He has more than thirty years in Federal Service, including service in the State Department, Defense Department, Commerce & Treasury Departments, and four Congressional staffs. He supports the Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance Bureau, which includes the Office of Food for Peace

·        UN World Food Programme

JUDITH LEWIS is the Director for WFP's US Relations Office based in Washington DC. Ms. Lewis previously served Ms. Lewis has been with the World Food Programme since 1992 and has served in a variety of capacities in Angola, Ethiopia and Uganda as well as WFP Headquarters in Rome. In her previous role as WFP Representative and Country Director for Ethiopia, she was in charge of the Ethiopia Country Programme, which was valued at more than US$448 million. In 1999, Lewis raised the international donor community’s awareness of a severe drought in the Somali Region of Ethiopia by profiling the needs in both the national and international press.  The WFP Ethiopia Country Team and the Logistics Team in Djibouti were awarded the World Food Programme Award for Merit and Efficiency for their tireless efforts that made a difference in the lives of millions of Ethiopians during the devastating drought of 1999 and 2000.

·        International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

MARC COHEN joined the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in 1998, and is a Research Fellow in the Food Consumption and Nutrition Division. He currently focuses on policy processes relating to food and nutrition security, with a specific emphasis on the role of legislation and legal systems, global humanitarian aid policy, conflict and food security, post-crisis food security, and the right to adequate food. Cohen earned his B.A. in French at Carleton College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is an adjunct faculty member in the International Development Program at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University.  Next month, he will work in Ethiopia with staff of the World Food Programme on a case study on "Empowering Communities in Crisis-prone Situations through Food-based Programs."

·        Center for African Development and Policy Research (CADPR)at West Michigan University.

SISAY ASEFA is professor of Economics at Western Michigan University.

Prior to joining Western Michigan University, he taught at Iowa State University, where he received his Master of Science Degree in Agricultural Economics and his Ph.D. degree in Economics. His field of specialization and interest include international economic development, Political economy, Agricultural economics, and applied microeconomics.He is the editor of Economic Decision Making: Public and Private Decisions (1985), World Food and Agriculture: Economic Issues and Problems (1988), Human Capital and Economic Development (1994), & the Economics of Sustainable Development (forthcoming, 2005). In addition to his full time academic duties in the Economics Department, he directs the Center for African Development and Policy Research (CADPR), which is a joint program of the Department of Economics and the Haenicke Institute for International and Area Studies at WMU.

·        Ethiopia Embassy

GIZACHEW BIZUAYEHU serves as the Economic Counselor for the Embassy of Ethiopia.