1.This Act may be cited as the
International Food Assistance
Improvement Act of 2012
.
2.Congress finds the following:
(1)For more than 55
years the United States, backed by the support of the American people, has been
committed to providing life-saving food assistance to developing countries and
vulnerable populations around the world.
(2)As the largest donor of international food
assistance, an essential tool in tackling malnutrition, the United States can
lead the way in improving food aid quality to better target undernourished
women and children.
(3)The United States contributes over one-half
of all food aid supplies to alleviate hunger and support development and plays
an important role in responding to emergency food aid needs and ensuring global
food security.
(4)Over the past decade, increasing food
prices and protracted humanitarian crises around the world have made United
States food assistance even more critical and relevant. At the same time, these
factors, combined with advancements in nutrition science, as well as severe and
ongoing fiscal constraints, have led to an increased demand by policymakers and
program implementers for new specially formulated and cost-effective products
to meet the nutritional needs of the world’s most vulnerable
populations.
(5)While United
States food assistance is effective in providing critical calories and
nutrients to millions of people during short-term emergencies, the long-term
impacts of these programs have also been increasingly called into question for
not meeting the nutritional needs of recipient populations.
(6)Reducing maternal
and child malnutrition, especially in the critical 1,000 days between pregnancy
and age 2, is a key priority of United States global food security and health
initiatives, including food aid.
(7)Recent reports by
the Government Accountability Office and the United States Agency for
International Development recommended over 35 changes to United States food aid
products and programs to improve the nutritional quality, quality control, and
cost effectiveness of United States food assistance.
3.It is the sense of
Congress that—
(1)even in this time
of fiscal austerity, the American people support the United States Government’s
historic commitment to providing life-saving food assistance to the world’s
most vulnerable populations;
(2)high food prices,
coupled with growing constraints on available resources for foreign assistance
require the United States Government to focus on creating efficiencies,
improving quality controls, and maximizing cost-effectiveness and nutritional
impact of United States food assistance programs;
(3)improving maternal
and child health with supplemental nutrition products is a central objective of
international food assistance programs; and
(4)the United States
has shown considerable leadership in meeting the nutrition needs of pregnant
women and small children through the 1,000 Days Partnership to support the
Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement.
4.Provision of
agricultural commoditiesSection 202(h) of the Food for Peace Act (7
U.S.C. 1722(h)) is amended by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the
following:
(1)The Administrator
shall use funds made available in fiscal year 2012 and subsequent fiscal years
to carry out this title to improve the nutritional quality of United States
food assistance, particularly for vulnerable groups such as pregnant and
lactating mothers, children under the age of five, with a focus on the
cost-effective 1,000 days between pregnancy and age 2, when appropriate, and
beneficiaries under the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief in Africa
(PEPFAR), including by—
(A)adopting new specifications or improving
existing specifications for micronutrient fortified food aid products, based on
the latest developments in food and nutrition science;
(B)strengthening necessary systems to better
assess the types and quality of agricultural commodities and products donated
for food assistance;
(C)adjusting products and formulations,
including potential introduction of new fortificants and products, as necessary
to cost effectively meet nutrient needs of target populations;
(D)testing prototypes;
(E)developing new
program guidance to facilitate improved matching of products to purposes having
nutritional intent, including an updated commodity reference guide and decision
tools;
(F)developing enhanced guidance, in
coordination with the Coordinator of United States Government Activities to
Combat HIV/AIDS Globally and PEPFAR, to support the allocation of food
commodities and products for nutrition support in HIV programming, using
standardized indicators of impact;
(G)providing improved
guidance to implementing partners on how to address nutritional deficiencies
that emerge among recipients for whom food assistance is the sole source of
diet in emergency programs that extend beyond one year;
(H)considering
options for using United States-produced food fortification packages, including
vitamin and mineral mixes, to fortify local foods in recipient countries, as
appropriate; and
(I)evaluating, in
appropriate program settings and as necessary, the performance and
cost-effectiveness of new or modified specialized food products and program
approaches designed to meet the nutritional needs of the most vulnerable
groups.
.
5.Food Aid
Consultative Group
(a)Section 205(b) of the Food for Peace Act (7
U.S.C. 1725(b)) is amended—
(1)in paragraph (6),
by striking and
at the end;
(2)in paragraph (7),
by striking the period and inserting ; and
; and
(3)by adding at the
end the following:
(8)nutrition science experts from academia and
nongovernmental organizations.
.
(b)Coordination and
oversightSection 205 of the
Food for Peace Act (7 U.S.C. 1725) is amended—
(1)by redesignating
subsections (d), (e), and (f) as subsections (e), (f), and (g), respectively;
and
(2)by inserting after
subsection (c) the following:
(d)Coordination and
oversight
(1)The Administrator shall work within the Group to take the
actions described in paragraph (2) to increase coordination and oversight of
food assistance programs established and implemented under this Act, with a
primary focus on improving quality control and cost effectiveness.
(2)The actions
referred to in paragraph (1) are the following:
(A)Explore and test
options for improved packaging and storage of products to improve shelf life,
promote recommended usage by intended beneficiaries, and oversee field-testing
of products.
(B)Work closely with the Department of
Agriculture, to undertake reforms in commodity acquisition and supply chain
management, drawing on best commercial practices for vendor selection, quality
assurance standards, overall management of the supply chain, and auditing of
food aid commodity suppliers.
(C)Develop mechanisms
and partnerships to facilitate more private sector development and innovation
in food aid products, packaging, and delivery in order to improve the
cost-effectiveness, nutritional quality, and overall acceptability of the
product.
(D)Provide guidance to implementing partners
on whether and how best to use food aid commodities, such as new specialized
food products, including guidance on targeting strategies to ensure that the
products reach their intended recipients.
(E)As appropriate, work to strengthen
monitoring of commodity quality by identifying and tracking key quality
indicators to determine the full extent of quality problems, including emerging
concerns.
(F)Establish processes and system-wide
protocols for effective monitoring and evaluation of impact, to inform improved
program design and address improving
cost-effectiveness.
.
6.
(a)The
Administrator shall ensure that any United States Government strategy relating
to global food security includes a description of how food assistance programs
carried out under the Food for Peace Act will contribute to, and be integrated
with, such strategy.
(b)The
Administrator shall ensure that comprehensive information regarding budgets and
expenditures, monitoring and evaluation, policy, and coordination of food
assistance programs carried out under the Food for Peace Act is included, as
appropriate, in relevant reports submitted to Congress pursuant to the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 and Acts making appropriations for the Department of
State, foreign operations, and related programs.
7.In this Act:
(1)The term Administrator
means
the Administrator of the United States Agency for International
Development.
(2)Appropriate
congressional committeesThe term appropriate
congressional committees
means—
(A)the Committee on
Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives; and
(B)the Committee on
Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate.
8.Nothing in this Act or any amendment made by
this Act shall be construed to authorize the appropriation of amounts to carry
out this Act or any amendment made by this Act.