Julius Coles -- So, key things governments can do are, first, be responsive and acknowledge the reality of the situation that their county is facing; and second, they should look at what the situation demands, and not try to maintain current government policies when sometimes it is necessary to change those policies. And in the case of Niger, the government was not able to be as responsive and adaptive to make the changes required to meet the situation.

Peter Bell -- Another lesson learned is the need for parallel early warning systems. That is important because different agencies -- non-governmental organizations and governments -- may bring different perspectives to what is a looming crisis. We may interpret the data differently. It's also important to keep a dialogue going. In fact, CARE was able to help government officials in Niger and the World Food Programme better communicate with one another. They were at such loggerheads at one point that it was impeding the response.

Julius Coles -- I agree with that, because in the U.S. government you have the Famine Early Warning System, the U.N. has its own crises systems, and then as you say NGOs have their own systems. Maybe there needs to be a clearinghouse when these things begin to happen, you have these organizations sharing information to see what the reality of the situation is. And I think that we didn't have that clear statement in Niger's situation.

What would you say, Peter? I would vote for the World Food Programme.

Peter Bell -- Well, they are a specialized agency. The only problem is that the principal instrument of WFP, with whom we work hand-in-hand in these crises, is the distribution of free food. The U.S. government and the world community may put too much emphasis on distribution. Not that it isn't needed, but we need to give greater attention to both the prevention and the mitigation of crises.

Julius Coles -- I mention the World Food Programme because they have field offices which are able to monitor areas and feedback into a monitoring system back in Rome. But I agree that there's too much emphasis on food distribution, rather than increasing food production and the creation of food security in many of these countries.

Peter Bell -- It's always better to provide support sooner rather than later. Even within food distribution, it's better. You can prevent a child from becoming malnourished in the early months of a crisis by distributing food at essentially $1 a day per child. But when it gets to the point where a child has advanced malnutrition, we're talking about a cost of $80 per child. There's huge a human cost and financial cost. When you get in a situation in a country like Niger where people have to sell off their scant resources to survive a crisis, it's likely that they will be even more vulnerable the next time they're hit by locusts or by a drought. So it really is important to work at reducing extreme poverty and supporting longer-term development.

WWS -- How can NGOs, international organizations, and governments prevent humanitarian crises on the one hand and provide relief on the other?

Peter Bell -- Today Niger is, according to the U.N. Human Development Index, the world's poorest country. And the underlying problem in food crises like the one in Niger is extreme poverty. This is a country in which per capita income is in the order of 27 cents a day. Most Nigeriens have very little resilience. They don't have assets upon which to fall back.

When starving children appear on our television screens, private donors and governments around the world respond. When the televisions cameras go away, too many people will forget about Niger. There's a crying need to get to the underlying problem of extreme poverty and to provide sustained support for increasing access to education, increasing opportunity for women, making credit available to small farmers, and so much more that could develop the country on a more sustainable basis.

Right now, Niger is extremely fragile. The 2001, 2002, 2003 harvests were actually reasonably good by Niger's historical standards, and the harvest of 2005 is going to be quite good. But just the relatively small setback of 2004, together with some questionable policy decisions, was enough to put millions of people at risk.

Julius Coles -- I think we also have to look at this whole question of government to deal with food crises. It has to have agencies like ourselves, NGOs, to actually carry out the distribution. Even the U.N. World Food Programme very heavily relies on NGOs to carry out programs in the field, to provide relief. But beyond that the mitigation from my perspective comes from increasing agricultural production; making improved seeds available; making water resources available; making improved practices available.

Peter Bell -- We need to step back as an international community and as a nation and put ending extreme poverty higher on our national agenda. That may seem like a tall order, but I am convinced that we can get there. When I talk about extreme poverty, I mean people who somehow live on less than one dollar a day. The United States can make a huge difference in the fight against global poverty.

President Bush has called for lowering agricultural subsidies. There's also been a rising call for forgiving debt in more countries and that, too, is important. But as poor countries gain debt forgiveness, it is also critical that the funds that they are able to retain be spent for the development of their people. Organizations like the Gates Foundation have invested importantly on the health research agenda of developing countries, particularly malaria, tuberculosos and HIV/AIDS. That's also important.

Julius Coles -- We have the international financial institutions: the World Bank, etc. to do more to increase resources, especially how to get resources to the least developed countries. The U.S. is at the bottom or near the bottom of the list in terms of per capita aid given around the world. We are the richest country in the world and we can afford to give more. But I'm not just talking about the United States. Europe can do more, also. Europeans have promised more, but I think that they have to come to the table a lot better than they have in the past, as well the Japanese and other countries. There's still a lot to be done in terms of making resources available.

Peter Bell -- This country has so much to contribute. We should be global leaders and partners in the reduction of extreme poverty. We need to strike a better balance between defending ourselves against our enemies and supporting opportunities for people in the world's poorest communities to improve their lives.

WWS -- What advice would you give to Woodrow Wilson School and other students considering careers in development?

Julius Coles -- From my perspective I think that the Woodrow Wilson School can give a good analytical foundation and a good knowledge of development issues and international affairs. But I think the students also need to go into government, an international organization, or NGO to be able to gain international experience before going into graduate work. Some time between their college and graduate education they should have an in-depth international experience of at least two years. It's becoming more difficult to get a good job if you haven't had that kind of experience. And just coming out of graduate school without it, the result is you'll really have a great deal of difficulty in finding a job.

Peter Bell -- For any student, I would urge them first and foremost to cling to their idealism. It is possible to end extreme poverty. We have the means -- the knowledge, the technology and the wealth -- today to do it. But it will take much more political will and the dedication of people around the world. At the Woodrow Wilson School, students can develop valuable tools and become capable professionally of making important contributions to this vital cause.

Julius Coles -- I agree, too, that idealism is important, though having a clear vision of what you want to do in your career is also important. I have encountered so many students who don't have goals and don't have an idea about the direction in which they want to go: sometimes they get lost. So I think the idea of having a dream or a vision of where you want to go is very important.

Peter Bell -- Within CARE we seek a world of hope, tolerance and social justice where poverty has been overcome and everyone lives in dignity and security. That vision is highly motivating to the 12,000 members of the CARE staff around the world. It's a vision that most of us share.

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