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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Statement of Roger P. Winter
Assistant Administrator-designate
Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance, USAID
Before Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
December 4, 2001
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, thank you for considering me today as President George W. Bush's nominee to be Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA) at the U.S. Agency for International Development's Assistant (USAID). I am grateful to President Bush for the nomination, and also want to thank USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios for his confidence in me. I hope to serve them and our country well, should I be confirmed by the United States Senate.
I am also very grateful to Senator Sam Brownback, Congressman Donald Payne and Congressman Frank Wolf for taking their valuable time to be here to introduce me to you today.
Before proceeding further, I want to introduce Delorise, my wife of nearly 36 years, and other members of my immediate family who are present today. No one could be more thankful for their family than I am for mine. We have lived in Maryland for over 30 years.
My employment history since college, and even before leaving college, has always focused on the poor, the disenfranchised and discriminated against; those in need of opportunity and development to pursue a better life for themselves and their children. For me, this focus is a moral and religious compulsion but not only so. I believe in practical terms an equitable opportunity society is ultimately more stable and productive for all.
For the first 15 years after college my efforts were focused on civil rights and domestic American poverty issues. In those years, I served in a variety of positions with the State of Maryland, including the position of Assistant Secretary for the Department of Employment and Social Services, as well as the Department of Budget and Fiscal Planning.
In 1980, I became the Director of the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, then in the Office of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. Being responsible for the domestic aspects of refugee resettlement in the United States, I, and colleagues in the Department of State, officials of state and local government nationwide and non-governmental refugee resettlement agencies, managed the largest refugee resettlement program in U.S. history.
On leaving that position, I embarked on a 20 year life-changing and life-enriching career as the Executive Director of the non-profit U.S. Committee for Refugees. That change to a full-time international commitment has led me directly to this nomination and hearing. During that 20 years I learned to truly love this country -- its freedoms, its democracy, and its people -- and to appreciate in new and deeper ways the foundational values of this society. To this day, when I return from working overseas, I am ever-so-thankful to hear the inspector from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service say "Welcome Home!" as most usually do.
I also learned a great deal about the political, conflict-related and humanitarian aspects of much of the rest of the world. Because of my work's focus on refugees and internally displaced people, I saw repeatedly over a 20 year period the inter-relationships among political democracy (or the lack thereof), political and ethnic conflict, international humanitarian action (or inaction), human rights and protection of civilians, political and economic justice and development. It has been an unusual and very practical education, one I know Administrator Natsios understands very well.
Six months ago, I joined USAID as the Director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), one of the major components of the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance. While not a long period of time, it is long enough for me to see the potential the Bureau has to implement effectively the programs and initiatives assigned to it by the Congress. Mr. Chairman, if confirmed by the Senate and working closely with this Committee, I propose to do just that.
Less than two weeks ago, I was in Turalei in the northern part of southern Sudan as a member of the U.S. Government team headed by the Special Presidential Envoy for Sudan, former Senator Jack Danforth. While there, an OFDA staffer approached me out of concern for 8,000 southern Sudanese civilians who had fled a vicious battle for a provincial capital called Raga. They had walked hundreds of miles on foot, in constant jeopardy from armed militia and aerial bombardment. Many of the older people had already died from exposure and lack of food, water and medicine. The OFDA employee energetically made a strong case for an urgent response. Yet the United Nations could not respond as the Government of Sudan would not approve the needed flight. The staffer introduced me to the head of an Irish humanitarian aid organization that was prepared to respond immediately. I approved a small grant on the spot. And the next morning in a small passenger plane flying low overhead, these aid workers leaned out the door and dropped lifesaving supplies of food, water and medicine to the fleeing civilians.
There are many in USAID like that OFDA staffer who are thoroughly committed to doing their jobs well. There are many organizations concerned with political freedoms, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance which are excellent collaborators. The Congress has provided a more than sufficient array of tools. The administration has made clear it wants these kinds of programs to work efficiently and effectively. The humanitarian values of the American people are alive and well. I am therefore enthusiastic about what we can achieve together on behalf of those whose lives we seek to better.
The Bureau I have been nominated to head is only a couple of weeks old. There is still a bit of sorting out necessary to link fully the new democracy and conflict responsibilities with the humanitarian programs that have been housed in the former Bureau for Humanitarian Response for years.
Indeed, the various parts of the new DCHA Bureau all have pivotal roles to play in making sure that USAID and the U.S. Government meet the international challenges of the twenty-first century. In addition to OFDA, DCHA's Food for Peace Office has a crucial contribution to make in our effort to see that USAID's food aid programs prevent starvation and reduce hunger, malnutrition, and related suffering among victims of both natural and manmade disasters, while helping to strengthen food security and alleviate poverty in developing countries. Similarly, the new Bureau's Office of Transition Initiatives furnishes key assistance to societies and countries that have begun to make the political transition from armed conflict and other such crises. As events of the last two-plus months in central Asia have acutely demonstrated, dealing with these kinds of disasters, conflicts and other crises will be an important job for USAID in the new millennium. Should I receive Senate confirmation, I promise you I will do my best, with this Committee's help, to make sure that the Bureau I head will be up to the task.
Even under DCHA's predecessor Bureau for Humanitarian Response, the Office of Private and Voluntary Cooperation (PVC) had begun to develop initiatives for building and enhancing the capacity of U.S. private voluntary organizations. The Bureau's new Office of Democracy and Governance (DG) has a strong capacity to support fair and impartial elections, foster governments' responsiveness to citizen needs and improve laws and legal systems. Moreover, its track record in developing civil societies in general addresses the need for citizen awareness and participation which is one of the foundations of democracy. The program of the Office of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) will also continue as part of the new Bureau to contribute significantly to engendering healthy appreciation of American ideals, values, and practices among societies throughout the Middle East and around the globe. If confirmed, I will strive to see that these valuable contributions continue.
I am, therefore, optimistic that, if confirmed by the Senate, and with a close working relationship with this Committee, I can ensure that this new DCHA Bureau does the job the American people, the Congress and the administration want done, to the benefit of people in many developing countries around the world seeking freedom, peace and development.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony. I will be happy to answer any of your or the Committee's questions.
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Last Updated on: January 02, 2009 |
