USAID, Rockefeller Foundation Launch US$100 Mln Global Resilience Partnership

BANGKOK, Aug 20 (Bernama) -- The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Rockefeller Foundation Tuesday launch a US$100 million Global Resilience Partnership. Mission director of USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia, Dr Michael Yates, said the US$100 million was the initial amount. "It is small but expected to play catalytic role to encourage others to take action," he said at a press conference Tuesday. Yates said the funding would go to the most innovative and impactful programmes. "In the last 30 years, the number of weather-related disasters has tripled, and the cost is up 300 per cent to US$200 billion every year. "By 2025, over 400 million people in Asia are expected to be vulnerable to flooding," he said. He said while low-income countries were hit by only nine per cent of disasters, they represented 48 per cent of all fatalities. Meanwhile, Rockefeller Foundation's associate vice president/managing director, Asia, Ashvin Dayal, said the fund size would be increased with contributions from individuals and private companies. He said there were already "conversation" with private companies that were interested in contributing. "There is no timeline to announce partners for the initiative. The allocation of funding will not be too uneven but it also will not be evenly divided between the three regions," he said. The partnership lays out a vision for building resilence to disasters, food security, the effects of climate change and other factors contributing to poverty across Asia and Africa. It will focus on South and South-East Asia, the Sahel and the Horn of Africa, the areas particularly susceptible to disasters or crises of all kinds. -- BERNAMA