HDI Organizes Congressional Briefings World Food Program

HDI brought the Director of the World Food Program's (WFP) New York Office to Washington, D.C. on Monday, July 16. Deborah Saidy, joined by WFP's Government Relations Officer Kenn Crossley, briefed Congressional Staff and Senate Staff on current WFP activities. In the Senate Agricultural Committee Room, Ms. Saidy explained how WFP's worldwide operations are becoming more difficult because of the increasing price of fuel and commodities. In the House Rayburn Office Building, Ms. Saidy and Mr. Crossley thanked the audience for the continued strong support of the United States and how U.S. contributions make possible school feeding programs and emergency feeding programs around the world. In addition to Ms. Saidy and Mr. Crossley, officials from the U.S. Department of State made themselves available to answer any questions which the staffers might have on Administration positions.

An American citizen who had lived and worked overseas for nearly twenty-five years before taking up her current assignment, Deborah Saidy served as the Emergency Coordinator for WFP's Southern Africa crisis response from 2002-2004, based in Johannesburg. She had previously worked with WFP in Kampala, Uganda as Regional Programme Advisor and at the Rome Headquarters as Senior Policy Analyst (Humanitarian Affairs). She joined the U.N. in 1992, holding a number of senior level positions within the Geneva office of the newly-created Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Ms. Saidy's previous work experience included a consultancy in Zimbabwe with the Canadian International Development Agency, a posting with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Ethiopia and an assignment in Sudan with a US-based NGO, International Voluntary Services. Prior to moving overseas, she worked for several years for the United States Department of Justice and the District of Columbia city government. Ms. Saidy holds a Master's Degree from the College of Public and International Affairs at American University in Washington, DC and a Bachelor's Degree from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.