There is big news impacting the funding of critical humanitarian work out of Washington, DC this month—Congress has passed its annual appropriations bill to fund the U.S. government for the upcoming year. This year the legislation, known as an omnibus bill, combines all federal spending into one package and includes funding for international affairs and development programs. The omnibus bill has major implications for how nutrition, food security, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) programs are funded—and that, of course, means major implications for humanitarian actors like Action Against Hunger, who run such programs and advocate for them to be a top governmental funding priority.

Our mission is to save the lives of malnourished children and help vulnerable communities become self-sufficient—and without major institutional funders like the U.S. government, we can’t put that mission into practice. The need is great—some one million children still die needlessly from malnutrition each year. That’s why, overall, we were satisfied to see mostly moderate spending increases—especially considering the current fiscal climate. Most nutrition, food security, food aid, and WaSH-related budget accounts that are key to Action Against Hunger’s work did well in the omnibus, receiving at least slight (and in some cases substantial) funding increases. That said, there are some key initiatives where we think the government must do more.

Here’s how our priority program focus areas fared in the omnibus, and our thoughts on the implications:

Food Security and Food Aid:

• The Food For Peace account, which funds both emergency- and development-focused U.S. food assistance programming, received $1.466 billion in the budget, the same level as last year.  However, we were pleased to see an additional $250 million was provided to address food security needs pertaining to the ongoing refugee crises, for a total of $1.716 billion.  This represents an increase of 17 percent over last year’s funding level, and we view that as a substantial and critical boost, particularly at a time when so many around the world suffer from escalated food security needs due to conflicts. Indeed, the number of people forcibly displaced from their homes was at its highest level ever at the end of 2014—nearly 60 million people according to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.
• The McGovern-Dole program, which provides meals to schoolchildren in developing countries, fared well too. It was funded at $202 million, which is $10 million and a respectable five percent higher than last year. 
• Feed the Future, the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative, was funded at $1 billion, the same amount as in last year’s budget. Funding for this key initiative has remained relatively flat over the past few years, but we hope to see growth in the future as worldwide needs continue to increase.
• Congress also provided $5 million for local and regional food aid procurement.

Nutrition and Health: 

• Global health programs that are funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) received $2.833 billion, a slight uptick of one percent from last year. We’d very much like to see more growth here, but are glad to see a gain even if very modest. 
• Nutrition programming was funded at $125 million, which is a $10 million or nearly nine percent increase over last year’s level.  While this increase is certainly welcome, Action Against Hunger hopes there will be an even more substantial rise in funding for nutrition in next year’s budget, especially with the pivotal Nutrition for Growth summit in Rio—an opportunity for global leaders to make substantial investments in nutrition—approaching  in August 2016.
• The maternal and child health account was funded at $750 million (up from $715 million), with $235 million of that designated for the GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership on vaccines.  This amount of maternal/child health funding falls in between the higher number proposed by the House of Representatives and the lower figure (identical to last year) the Senate had offered in their respective appropriations bills earlier this year. We’re glad for the year-over-year increase, but would have hoped to see new funding fall at the higher end of the potential spectrum.

Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WaSH):

• Those who work on WaSH issues have reason to celebrate: the omnibus bill provides $400 million for water across all budget accounts, up nearly five percent from $382 million last year.  It’s great to see Congress recognizing WaSH as a development priority and giving it a renewed focus, since without clean water and proper sanitation, efforts to save the lives of acutely malnourished children, and adults, will be severely stymied. We hope this year’s increase is indicative of a continued upward trend towards growth in this important sector.

All in all, the omnibus brings good news for Action Against Hunger’s priorities, with increases for many accounts that fund our key programming areas. That said, we will work to build on this success in 2016 and continue advocating for strong funding for nutrition, food security, and WaSH budget accounts, among others. Strong funding leads to strong outcomes—and those will always be our priority! Watch our website next year to learn more about our evolving advocacy efforts, and to learn how you can join us in being an agent of change for children and families around the world.