Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman at a MEPPA Board Meeting

DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR ISOBEL COLEMAN: Thank you, George [Salem], for that introduction, and for your leadership and service as President of the Board over these last three years.

My very first overseas trip as Deputy Administrator of USAID was to Israel and the West Bank. During that trip, I had an opportunity to visit various MEPPA programs, and I heard from Israelis and Palestinians; I met with government officials, business leaders, peace activists, and young people.

I especially remember my time visiting the Youth Development Resource Center in Jericho which was itself the product of a previous USAID project begun in 2016. At the youth center, I was so impressed by the young people I met - watching them learn new information technologies and hone their media skills.

While I was there I also had the privilege of launching a new program designed to improve education, health, and employment opportunities for teenagers.

Despite the many challenges of the last 13 months this youth engagement program remarkably continues - and has provided youth with opportunities for civic engagement, vocational training, internships, and much needed psychosocial support.

It all seemed so promising.

Today, we face the continuing horror of October 7, 2023, and the harrowing bloodshed that has followed. With innocent civilians bearing the brunt, the war in Gaza has led to the worst - and worsening - humanitarian situation many of USAID's veteran staff have ever seen.

Since October 7, 2023, the U.S. government has surged support for food, health, shelter, WASH, and other assistance as part of a concerted global humanitarian response to reach Gazans in dire need.

We have moved food and assistance by every means available to us, including land, sea, and air.

We continue to push for increased humanitarian access, greater protection of civilians, and respect of international humanitarian law in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.

Beyond the critical humanitarian response, it is USAID's responsibility - through MEPPA - to navigate through this dark time in a way that - as Administrator Power just emphasized - keeps hope and the possibility of peace alive.

And, despite the tragedy of this past year, MEPPA has continued to reach Israelis and Palestinians from all sectors of society - from veteran peacebuilders to business leaders to clerics to youth - in support of grassroots efforts to build peace.

Because of MEPPA's support to medical efforts like the Wolfson Medical Center and the Palestinian-Israeli Specialist Nursing Hub, almost 600 Israeli and Palestinian surgeons, nurses, and medical students have together gained advanced life-support training that prepares them to better assist patients suffering from traumatic injuries.

Inside the trauma ward at East Jerusalem's Al Mukased hospital, in the words of one participating surgeon, "the only enemies are injury and disease."

Through MEPPA's support to the Israeli-based non-profit Interfaith Encounter Association, dozens of Christians, Jews, and Muslims have come together for iftar meals and other gatherings that nurture interfaith understanding, and strengthen participants' ability to serve as advocates for peace in their communities.

And through MEPPA's support to organizations like TechSeeds4Peace, hundreds of young Israelis and Palestinians have worked together to develop language skills and technological training side-by-side, allowing them to build critical vocational skills while also engaging in peacebuilding dialogues that shape their perspectives and equip them to advocate as grassroots activists for peace in their communities.

Over the past year, we have worked to adapt MEPPA to be maximally responsive to the moment - which I know has been a unanimous priority of the Board.

We have worked to pivot and adapt so that all new and existing awards demonstrate a changed approach to this new context. And we heard both the frustrations and the recommendations of this Board over the past year; we took them to heart, and responded accordingly.

We've implemented the Board's recommendations in the type of programming we should prioritize - emphasizing a focus on psychosocial support, training women and youth leaders, promoting intercultural dialogue and advocacy for peace, and expanding our cross-border programming.

We've begun to establish a credibility review process that will ensure that our MEPPA partners serve as compelling messengers of peace, in a way that protects and supports the goals of MEPPA.

And we're working to better support peacebuilders - especially small, local organizations - with the resources and connections they need to succeed in their work.

All of these changes in approach have culminated in seven new MEPPA awards, which I am pleased to announce today.

From this next $50 million in MEPPA funding, USAID, in partnership with the U.S. Development Finance Corporation, will invest in activities designed to reach thousands of Israelis and Palestinians and keep that spark of hope alive, reaching new constituencies and training new cohorts of Israeli and Palestinian peacebuilders.

This latest tranche of awards focuses on empowering youth as future leaders who will mobilize their communities toward reconciliation; equipping women as changemakers and peacebuilders; and training and connecting civil society to advance peace in their communities.

These new activities will reach communities through creative channels - such as using soccer to connect youth who may not arrive with positive views on peace efforts or even experience with the other community; language instruction to build cross-cultural understanding; and elite music training programs to build people-to-people connections among young people - equipping advocates for peace with the skills and firsthand experience they need to effectively influence lasting change.

And we will continue our support to bring Israeli and Palestinian businesses together, increasing trade, forging new partners, and increasing the potential for further integration of the Israeli and Palestinian economies when conditions are more ripe.

And we will help make our MEPPA partners as effective as they can be.

Under USAID's New Partnerships Initiative, we are creating a new program that specifically helps small peacebuilders be more efficient, organized, and impactful in the work they are doing.

This effort will focus explicitly on the smallest organizations, providing the kind of help they need to survive and grow at a time when peacebuilding has never been harder and never been more important.

While this work is extraordinarily challenging right now, it is not impossible.

There is still hope and energy in Palestinian and Israeli society that is worth protecting.

And if we protect it, history shows that, after conflict, attitudes change, and we can be met with a moment of opportunity.

In that moment, it is so often grassroot connectors and community peacebuilders that act as catalysts for the kinds of societal and cultural shifts that can usher in lasting peace.

Those agents of peace will be essential to shaping the future of the Middle East.

And MEPPA is a valuable tool for building up agents of positive change - keeping the hope for a more peaceful future alive beyond the conflict of today.

We need continued bipartisanship to make it possible for this good work to continue, and I hope that each one of you will continue to be a part of that ongoing effort, as guides, leaders, and advocates of and for MEPPA.

This work depends on all of us, and I thank you for everything you have done to date, and for your enduring commitment to this cause.

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