the world's poor are disproportionately female and because women's empowerment is thought to be an important driver of development. CARE also emphasizes that it considers working with boys and men an important part of women's empowerment, and that women's empowerment benefits both genders. In 2007 CARE announced that by 2009 it would no longer accept certain types of US food aid worth some $45 million a year, arguing that these types of food aid are inefficient and harmful to local markets. Specifically, CARE announced that it would forego all monetized food aid (surplus US food shipped to charities in the developing world who then sell the food on the local market to finance development projects) and all food aid intended to establish a commercial advantage for the donor, and would increase its commitment to buying food aid locally. CARE also announced that it would no longer accept USDA food through Title 1 (concessional sales) or Section 416 (surplus disposal) because these programs are intended mainly to establish a commercial advantage for US agriculture. In 2011 CARE added its first affiliate member, CARE India, and in 2012 the CI board accepted CARE Peru as CARE's second affiliate member. CARE India became a full member in November 2013. The CI board accepted CARE Peru as a full member of the confederation in June 2015. CARE is currently one of the only major NGOs to make their database of project evaluations publicly available, and to regularly conduct a meta-analysis of evaluation methodologies and overall organizational impact. Structure CARE International is a confederation of fourteen CARE National Members, coordinated by the CARE International Secretariat. The Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland, with offices in New York City and in Brussels to liaise with the United Nations and European institutions, respectively. Each CARE National Member is an autonomous non-governmental organization registered in the country and runs programs, fundraising, and communications activities both in its own country and in developing countries in which CARE operates. The fourteen CARE National Members and four affiliate members are: Affiliate members are marked with an asterisk (*) Programming scope In 2016 CARE was active in the following countries (as well as in member and affiliate countries): A total of 962 development and humanitarian aid projects were carried out in these countries, with 80,120,323 million people directly reached. The breakdown by region was as follows: For the fiscal year 2016, CARE