How the Biden-Harris Administration Can Tackle the World's Toughest Challenges
President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris assume office on January 20th, at a time when the world faces the worst humanitarian crisis in a generation. Mercy Corps is committed to partnering with their administration and Congress to help vulnerable people build secure, productive and just communities.
The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and conflict pose a triple threat to international peace and security. This year, 235 million people globally will depend on humanitarian assistance and protection to survive. Extreme poverty is on the rise for the first time in two decades, nearly 80 million people are displaced, and conflict is the main driver of acute hunger for 77 million. The human suffering that these figures represent will grow worse without new policy solutions and prompt action. COVID-19 is already projected to ignite conflict in 13 more countries through 2022, pushing conflict to its highest point in the past 30 years, and within a decade, climate change is expected to kill an additional 250,000 people each year.
Mercy Corps’ global team of 5,600 humanitarians is delivering lifesaving assistance to nearly 37 million people in more than 40 countries. But our work does not end there. We understand that assisting communities in need also means advocating for action to address the causes and conditions that are driving human suffering. We welcome the Biden-Harris campaign’s promise to renew America’s leadership role in tackling the most significant global challenges: - the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and conflict. The need to do so could not be greater.
At this time last year, 1 in every 45 people globally were in need of humanitarian assistance. Now 1 in every 33 people need aid to survive. There is no time to waste in reversing this alarming backslide. Mercy Corps has developed a set of policy recommendations for the Biden-Harris Administration to help empower communities around the world to alleviate suffering, poverty, and oppression. Together, the U.S. government and civil society partners can address the world’s toughest challenges. Here’s how Mercy Corps recommends getting started: