Administrator Samantha Power at a MEPPA Board Meeting

ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: Hi, everyone. I am so sorry not to be able to join you live today. As you're hearing this, I am in the air headed to USAID's mission in Peru.

But, I did want to take a moment to address you each, individually, by video today to convey my enormous gratitude - again to each and every one of you - for all that you have done to invest in MEPPA, and particularly to invest through the horrors and the trauma of the past year. Your dedication to supporting grassroots peacebuilding between the Israeli and Palestinian people has made an enormous difference.

I know that when people are dying, and when homes are being destroyed, when hunger is so widespread, and hostages are still waiting to be returned to their loved ones. When the conflict has not only continued over these 13, now going on 14 months, but expanded into surrounding countries, peacebuilding work can feel futile.

But, it is in these moments, as we have discussed together, when just in those moments when the spark of hope for a true and lasting peace is dimming, and at the risk of even going out - it is in these very moments that supporting peacebuilding work is actually the most critical.

And that is why, in addition to surging $1.2 billion in humanitarian assistance to meet emergency needs over the past year and advocating in every possible channel for stronger protections of civilians and humanitarians - we have also, with your help, continued to invest in those who are pushing toward longer-term recovery, healing, and, yes, peace.

We've supported groups like Women of the Sun and Women Wage Peace, which have unified tens of thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women to demand that leadership on both sides listen to the "Mothers' Call" to stop the conflict - leading to their nomination, in fact, for a Nobel Prize earlier this year.

On one of my visits since the war began, back in February, I had the chance to meet with Israeli and Palestinian MEPPA grantees. And, it was amazing to hear what they were up to. A doctor collaborating with fellow medical professionals online to meet the needs of patients on both sides of the conflict; an entrepreneur bringing together buyers and sellers across the region to forge deeper economic connections; an innovator bringing together Palestinian and Israeli fellow innovators to collaborate on affordable health technology like 3D-printed prosthetics, which are supporting persons with disabilities.

Your recommendations have helped us identify ways to support leaders like these - leaders who are making concrete, positive steps toward a different future.

In a moment, you will hear more from our Chairman George Salem, Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman, and Deputy Assistant Administrator Johnny Walsh from our Middle East Bureau about the specific ways in which we have evolved our approach directly in response to your counsel. You will hear as well about the seven new awards we'll be funding this year.

But for now, I just wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you - thank you for all the time you have invested, all the heart and soul, everything you have done, even and especially in the most difficult of times, to help keep the spark of hope for a just and enduring peace alive.

Thank you.