Good afternoon, I am delighted to join you for the 2015 Regional Science, Technology, Innovation and Partnerships conference in Lima, Peru.

My name is Tom Staal. I am the Assistant Administrator in USAID’s Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance. I am also Co-Chair of USAID’s Resilience Leadership Council.

As many of you know, resilience has become an integral part of how we do business at USAID.

In 2011, we had a collective wake-up call when the worst drought in 60 years in the Horn of Africa resulted in over 13 million people facing drought and famine. More than a quarter of a million people died in Somalia alone; half were children under 5.

After the drought, USAID pledged to get ahead of these shocks. In 2012, we launched a policy and program guidance on resilience. We defined resilience as:

“The ability of people, households, communities, countries, and systems to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses in a manner that reduces chronic vulnerability and facilitates inclusive growth.”

In short, building resilience is building the capacity of the vulnerable to bounce back, better.

In 2014, we codified our commitment with our updated mission to end extreme poverty and promote resilient democratic societies.

Let me highlight how we have put these commitments into practice.

In focused areas that face recurring emergencies—such as the Sahel and the Horn of Africa —we are bringing our development and humanitarian experts together in joint planning cells to identify risk factors that make communities vulnerable, whether it’s poor nutrition, lack of water, or degraded land.

These cells design joint humanitarian and development programs that recognize risk factors as a daily reality. Identifying, understanding and addressing risk is a key element in building resilience.

When we design a development program in the Sahel, for instance, we assume that there may be a drought. We then build in “crisis modifiers,” or emergency funds to reduce losses when a drought hits. We also provide livestock insurance and access to early warning information, so that farmers, herders, and others can plan ahead of a crisis.

And our humanitarian efforts go beyond addressing immediate needs to lay the foundation for inclusive growth. Through USAID’s flagship initiative “Feed the Future,” and other investments, we are promoting agriculture-led growth. We teach farmers how to prevent soil erosion and conserve water so that they can increase yields during dry seasons. And we provide families access to healthy foods to fight chronic malnutrition.

We also bolster governance systems and improve natural resource management so that communities can prosper peacefully.

All of our efforts are in support of inclusive, effective country-led strategies. And we are actively working with other donors to build a community of practice that can share learnings and scale up innovations.

Most recently we launched a Center for Resilience, here in Washington, which brings together experts across the Agency to provide support to Missions around the world and to share best practices and institutionalize what we are learning from our focused resilience efforts.

In 2014, we launched the launched the Global Resilience Partnership, a $150 million public-private effort with the Rockefeller Foundation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

The Partnership’s first activity, the Global Resilience Challenge, is a three-step competition calling for bold, innovative solutions to the toughest resilience challenges in the Horn, the Sahel, and South and Southeast Asia. We have 17 finalist teams, out of over 400 applicants, that could receive up to $1 million to make their projects a reality.

Science, technology, and innovation will continue to play a critical part in our resilience efforts, including advances in early warning systems and innovative financing options.

For instance, expanding access to risk insurance and social impact bonds could make cash and credit more readily available immediately after a crisis, for farmers to purchase seed and fertilizer, families to rebuild homes, and businesses to restock. USAID is starting to support agricultural insurance schemes in Africa with other donors, such as the World Bank.

And we have helped establish 17 global, regional, or national early warning systems, because we know that these systems yield estimated benefits 4 to 26 times greater than their cost. Just recently, we launched a pilot project, Weather Ready Nations, which will provide information about the potential impact of weather events to local communities.

I hope this panel will explore other ways that we can leverage science, technology, innovation, and partnerships to build resilience. I want to thank USAID/Peru and the Global Development Lab for inviting me to speak to you today. I look forward to your findings.