Dear Colleagues,
In September this year, Senators Lugar (R-IN) and Casey (D-PA) introduced the Global Food Security Act in the U.S. Congress. This important legislation (bill) has three titles, one of which focuses on the role of higher education in economic development. We are writing to provide you a brief overview of the legislation and an opportunity to provide feedback on the bill based on a request from Lugar's office. The two Senators plan to revise the legislation and re-introduce it the new Congress in January 2009. Your prompt feedback is, therefore, very important. We will compile and submit comments in a single report.
You may previously have received a call for comments through either the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) or the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa. If you already responded to their requests for comments, please ignore this request unless you are sending additional comments.
A brief overview of the bill:
Title I creates a special coordinator for food security in the U.S. President's office who will bring together all the stakeholders, develop a coordinated US government strategy and oversee the implementation.
Title II invests in a number of bilateral programs that increase investments in agricultural development and creates the HECTARE program - Higher Education Collaboration for Technology, Agriculture, Research and Education - funded at $500 million by 2014. This part of the legislation begins on page 12 (Section 203).
Title III provides for the creation of an emergency food assistance fund for local and regional purchase totaling $500 million, which will act like a bridge-fund for accelerating emergency response.
You may download a copy of the legislation by clicking on the attachment at the bottom of this message.
Please send your comments to info@africa-initiative.org by December 16, 2008.
Thank you.
Anne-Claire Hervy
Chief Operating Officer
Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative
Attachment: Lugar_Casey bill.pdf
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