The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is committed to advancing a free and prosperous world. In pursuit of this mission, the agency works through partnerships to improve humanitarian conditions and strengthen democratic institutions. One of USAID’s most important partnerships is with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), as they provide complementary military and technical support, such as emergency vehicles, medical equipment, and disaster response training, to USAID missions abroad. It is vital to ensure successful cooperation between both organizations, which is the task of USAID’s Office of Civilian-Military Coordination (CMC).

The CMC office is part of USAID’s Bureau of Conflict, Prevention and Stabilization (CPS), and works with the DOD to end extreme poverty and promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing US security and prosperity. It has a presence in every military combatant command (U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Central Command, U.S. European Command, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, U.S. Southern Command) and the Pentagon. There, USAID’s staff of over 10,000 works with the DOD to further the U.S. National Security Strategy, which demands that development be a strong and equal partner with diplomacy and defense to pursue a world that promotes peace, security, and opportunity for all.

To further the National Security Strategy, one of the CMC office’s main missions is managing risks around climate security. This involves working with the DOD’s combatant commands to implement humanitarian assistance projects, which are aimed to reduce human suffering and increase countries’ abilities to provide essential human services to vulnerable populations. A recent example would be USAID-DOD collaboration in Paraguay, where wildfires are a common occurrence and contribute to 50% of Paraguay’s total deforestation. Despite this, the country relies fully on volunteer firefighters who have no formal training and lack proper equipment. USAID partnered with Paraguay to provide training to these firefighters on wildfire management and incident command systems. However, training alone wasn’t enough to address the problem, as the firefighters still lacked the necessary equipment to carry out their mission. To receive the proper equipment, the DOD’s partnership and cooperation was necessary.

To coordinate with the DOD, the CMC office facilitates personnel exchanges where USAID coordinates with DOD through a team of foreign service, civil service, active-duty, and technical professionals. The CMC office recently helped coordinate a personnel exchange with the DOD’s Office of Defense Cooperation to support firefighters in Paraguay. Here’s a breakdown of the exchange: USAID put in a request for some much-needed firefighting equipment, and the DOD answered their call. They donated personal protective equipment for USAID-trained fire brigades, and they’re also providing satellite internet service. This is a game-changer for Paraguay’s firefighters, as it allows them to communicate effectively in remote areas, use their incident command training, and access satellite data during disasters. And they’re not stopping there—the DOD is also donating three fire trucks, courtesy of the Massachusetts National Guard, and offering specialized training in wilderness medicine, burn care, and airway protection through an upcoming Medical Readiness Training Exercise (MEDRETE).

The U.S. Southern Command’s MEDRETE exercise is an important tool in South American development because it provides readiness training exercises designed to provide humanitarian assistance and free medical care to the residents of a host nation. The CMC office played an important role in the upcoming Paraguay exercise through another personnel exchange where they connected the DOD’s team to USAID’s indigenous communities expert to guide their intervention. The office collaborated on the location of the exercise and communities’ selection based on USAID experience in the territory. As the DOD’s resources, like any agency’s, are constrained, USAID’s regional expertise allows the DOD to rely on them for advice instead of focusing resources on researching the area themselves. Due to USAID-DOD collaborative efforts, volunteer firefighting brigades in the Paraguayan Chaco are now well-trained and equipped to safely respond to wildfires in the region. As a result of this success, the CMC office and Office of Defense Cooperation were invited to present best practices at the Mission Disaster Relief Officers Conference in Costa Rica.

This process of interagency coordination facilitated by the CMC office gives transparency to both USAID and DOD on policy, planning, outreach, and education. As a result, each agency receives more knowledge from one another and experience working together. This allows for easier coordination in humanitarian aid projects –such as the aid effort in Paraguay– to fulfill the US National Security Strategy. In this way, the CMC office acts as the bridge connecting civilians to the military to more efficiently fulfill USAID’s mission, proving that when people work together, they can achieve incredible results.