EVENT:

Please join us on Monday, July 10 at 13:30 GMT (9:30am EDT) for a telephonic press conference with Robert Jenkins, who will discuss food insecurity and the humanitarian crisis in Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen. Mr. Jenkins will also discuss the relationship between conflict and famine, and what the United States is doing to save lives through humanitarian assistance.

BACKGROUND:

The world is experiencing the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. Tens of millions of people in South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen face the credible threat of famine this year. The United States is one of the largest donors of humanitarian assistance in all four crises. The assistance we provide includes: emergency food and nutrition assistance, safe drinking water, life-saving medical care, and shelter for those who have been displaced, both internally and as refugees, as well as protection for civilians. The United States is also supporting health, sanitation and hygiene services to help stop the spread of preventable disease - a leading cause of death during food crises. The United States is deeply concerned about severe food insecurity in these countries and will continue to work with the international community and other donors to provide humanitarian assistance to avert famine and support the most vulnerable people.

DETAILS:

Speakers: Robert Jenkins, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance Bureau, U.S. Agency for International Development

Date: July 10, 2017
Time: 13:30 GMT

* Please use Time Zone Converter to determine the start time of the event in your time zone.

Language: English.  French and Portuguese interpretation will be offered.

Ground rules: On the record

Dial-in Info: To be provided once you RSVP

RSVP: RSVP to afmediahub@state.gov.

Please indicate if you will dial in (specify English/French/Portuguese line), or request that we dial out to you (provide the phone number and language to be used).

Twitter: We will use the hashtag #FoodSec. Follow us on @AfricaMediaHub and @USAID_DCHA.

LOGISTICS:

• Callers should dial-in to the conference call 10-15 minutes early. 
• When an individual journalist dials-in, the operator will collect the caller’s name, press affiliation, and location.  When an embassy dials in, the operator will ask the embassy’s name and location.
• The moderator will facilitate the Q and A among the connected callers.  Journalists on the conference call will be instructed to press the “*” and “1” buttons on their phones in order to enter the question queue.  NOTE:  You can press “*1” at any time during the call to join the question queue, even before the moderator begins the Q and A portion.  Journalists can also submit questions in English to afmediahub@state.gov prior to or during the call. 

BIO:

Robert Jenkins is the Deputy Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA). From April 2013 to March 2017 he simultaneously served as Executive Director of the Agency’s Task Force on Syria.

Previously, Mr. Jenkins served as the Director of the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), the United States Government’s foremost political transition and post-conflict assistance instrument. OTI’s mandate is to help local partners advance peace and democracy in priority countries in crisis. OTI has carried out over 50 political transition and stability programs in high priority countries including Afghanistan, Colombia, and Sudan.

Mr. Jenkins was OTI’s Acting Director since April 2006 and the Deputy Director since May 2005. A career civil servant, he was seconded to the U.S. State Department where he served as Deputy Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization at the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction & Stabilization (S/CRS) from July-December 2009.

Mr. Jenkins also served as USAID’s Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for the DCHA Bureau from August 2008 until January 2009. Before assuming these leadership roles, Mr. Jenkins served as OTI’s Operations Coordinator and Iraq Team Leader. He first joined OTI in March 1998 and has provided Washington based support to OTI’s programs in Iraq, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria.

Prior to joining USAID, Mr. Jenkins designed and implemented emergency relief and recovery programs with World Vision International in southern Sudan and Sierra Leone. As a Thomas J. Watson Fellow he worked under Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town, South Africa from 1991 to 1993 as a liaison between the Anglican Church’s peace and justice office and township communities. His work included coordinating a network of volunteer political violence monitors and serving as an on-call independent observer, investigative monitor and emergency crisis mediator.

Mr. Jenkins holds a B.A. in History and Government from Bowdoin College.