The US food aid reforms, which I wrote on in this earlier piece for the blog, were rejected by the House of Representatives on Wednesday last week.
The NGO and aid communities have expressed disappointment at the decision. The reforms had earlier been praised by the sector for the improvements to cost effectiveness, humanitarian response and food delivery times that they would bring.
The reforms aimed to reduce the percentage of food aid that needed to be purchased from US producers and to end the ‘monetisation’ scheme, where charities and NGOs receive US produce to sell in developing countries so that the proceeds, in local currencies, can be used for aid projects.
Amid the pessimism following the defeat of the bill, Oxfam America’s Gawain Kripke has written on some of the positive outcomes this time around from the campaign. He sees getting the bill to a vote as a major achievement for those who have already been advocating for food aid reform for some time.
