The Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC) is the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) online repository for materials documenting its nearly half century offering international humanitarian aid

Humanitarian aid

Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises including natural disaster and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...

 and economic, agricultural, trade, health, and democratic support.

Established in 1975, the DEC now holds over 163,000 documents, with over 139,900 of them available electronically. The collection includes oral histories

Oral history

Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...

 of retired USAID staff, program planning documents from USAID, as well as descriptions of past projects that USAID has sponsored. DEC also produces the DEC Express, a biweekly electronic publication.

DEC has offices in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....