United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Mission to Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova
Director: Earl Gast
Contact: 380-44-462-5678/462-5834 (fax)
19 Nizhniy Val
Kyiv, Ukraine 04071
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission to Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova has been working to assist the region it its transition to a broad-based, market-oriented democracy since 1992.
While each of these countries' developmental challenges is unique, the Mission's programs are broadly focused on the areas of democracy and governance, economic growth, and social assistance. USAID/Kyiv has worked with government, non-governmental organizations, and implementing partners to further the processes of democratic development, economic restructuring and social sector reform in the region.
USAID Overview (Check out www.usaid.gov/about/ for more detailed information.)
The United States has a long history of extending a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country. It is this caring that stands as a hallmark of the United States around the world -- and shows the world our true character as a nation.
U.S. foreign assistance has always had the twofold purpose of furthering America's foreign policy interests in expanding democracy and free markets while improving the lives of the citizens of the developing world. Spending less than one-half of 1 percent of the federal budget, USAID works around the world to achieve these goals.
USAID's history goes back to the Marshall Plan reconstruction of Europe after World War Two and the Truman Administration's Point Four Program. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed the Foreign Assistance Act into law and created by executive order USAID.
Since that time, USAID has been the principal U.S. agency to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms.
USAID is an independent federal government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State. The agency works in six principal areas crucial to achieving both sustainable development and advancing U.S. foreign policy objectives:
Economic growth and agricultural development;
Population, health and nutrition;
Environment;
Democracy and governance;
Education and training, and;
Humanitarian assistance.
