Kent Alexander plunged into the unfamiliar world of relief agencies a year ago when he became the general counsel of CARE, the poverty-fighting nonprofit based here in Atlanta.

He made his first trip to a crisis region in late March, journeying to the West African country of Niger to see first hand the work CARE does. Niger, which straddles the Sahara desert and the semi-arid Sahel belt, is in a food crisis from a severe drought, which Alexander said is one step below a full-scale famine.