Our "Photo of the Week" comes to us from Elizabeth Petrovski at the U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome, Italy. Elizabeth recently had the opportunity to visit Kenya, where she observed projects run by the World Food Program (WFP) and its cooperating partner, the Kenya Child Fund, in the northeastern district of Turkana. In the photograph, Turkana women sing and dance as they build a trapezoidal bund, an instrument along with water pans that Kenyan herders and farmers use to collect and preserve rainwater for human and livestock consumption and crop irrigation in areas regularly impacted by droughts.
Water issues are integral to many U.S. foreign policy goals, from advancing food security to empowering women and… more »
Though one sounds like a medical contraption and the other a geometry problem, water pans and trapezoidal bunds are actually vital instruments Kenyan herders and farmers can use to collect and preserve rainwater for human and livestock consumption and crop irrigation in areas regularly impacted by droughts.
I recently had the opportunity to visit Kenya, and view a couple of projects run by the World Food Program (WFP) and its cooperating partner, the Kenya Child Fund, near Lodwar in the northeastern district of Turkana. The WFP, which has been working in Kenya for a long time, began a program in 2009 aimed at rebuilding the livelihoods of populations living in the arid and semi-arid lands of Kenya, of which Turkana is one, that have been severely affected by recurring droughts. With this program,… more »
The Office of Art in Embassies' "Serving Abroad…Through Their Eyes" photo submissions have been pouring in and, like this photo from State employee Derek Brown of children in Kenya, they are -- wow -- dramatic, compelling and totally inspiring! This creative project featuring images from the day-to-day life of those serving overseas will be expressed in at least two distinct iterations. Lincoln Schatz, a contemporary American artist best known for works that utilize video to collect and display images from specific environments, will be creating a video-art piece incorporating selected images that will ultimately be installed in the U.S. Embassy in Kabul after it tours other national and international venues. Also being planned is a display presentation of the selected photographs, venues to be determined,… more »
Today, on the Ninth Annual International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, we stand in solidarity with men and women who are working to address and prevent this practice that takes place in many countries around the world. Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) occurs across cultures and religions, although no religion mandates the procedure. It is a practice rooted in beliefs about the “dangers” of women's sexuality, and involves a rite of passage into adulthood that has extremely detrimental consequences on the health and overall well-being of women and girls subjected to it.
It is estimated that 100 to 140 million women globally have undergone this procedure and three million girls are at risk every year. Cutting is often performed by untrained practitioners, employing no anesthesia and often using such instruments as broken glass,… more »
2011 saw many changes for the Secretary's Office of Global Food Security and several advances in our international agenda. I joined the growing team in June, and am proud of our progress over the year. I eagerly anticipate more accomplishments as we take the reins of the L'Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI) group and through U.S. leadership of the G-8 in 2012.
AFSI signatories' endorsement of the L'Aquila Joint Statement on Global Food Security at the 2009 G-8 Summit marked a turning point for international efforts to achieve sustainable global food security. Under the Joint Statement, the United States and other donors agreed to be accountable for delivering a comprehensive approach to improving food security, which entails effective coordination, support for country-owned processes and plans, and engagement of multilateral institutions to promote food security… more »
With an estimated 40 million displaced people worldwide, up to 12 million who do not have citizenship to any country, and some 10.5 million refugees around the globe, the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) assists persecuted and uprooted people through our support to international organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and by advocating for their protection through humanitarian diplomacy. From the Arab Awakening to the crisis in the Horn of Africa, global political upheaval and conflict have presented many humanitarian challenges, and as 2012 begins, I'd like to take a moment to share a few examples of the work we did last year.
Refugee Admissions: The United States welcomed more than 56,000 refugees… more »
May 23: The State Department, through its office of the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), is pleased to announce $1.5 million in funding to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to support open governance and political participation in the Middle East and North Africa. more »
May 23: Today, Russia was invited to join the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) at a ceremony hosted by its parent body, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. ã more »
![Turkana women sing and dance as they pat down the trapezoidal bund they built in Kenya. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0324_water_africa_m.jpg)
![Children in Kenya pose for a photo. [Photo by Derek Brown/U.S. Department of State]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0217_potw_kenya_m.jpg)
![A Masai girl holds a protest sign during the anti-Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) run in Kilgoris, Kenya, in 2007. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0206_stop_fgm_m.jpg)
![Indian women harvest rice in a field at Raja Panichanda village, on the outskirts of Gauhati, India, on November 4, 2011. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0110_rice_women_m.jpg)
![Water center in Dolo Kobe, Ethiopia, 2011 [State Department photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0102_prm_water_center_m.jpg)
