Assistant Administrator Franco Sees Creative Partnerships
as New Spark for LAC Regional Development
USAID plans to increase efforts aggressively to form public
– private partnerships in the Latin America and Caribbean
(LAC) region, Assistant Administrator Adolfo Franco told a
major conference of Caribbean and Central American Action
on Wednesday, Dec, 7 in Miami, FL.
He said the push for creative partnerships was a new directive
from USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios.
“Essential to achieving our vision for prosperity in
the hemisphere is the notion of partnerships…. especially
partnerships in pursuit of President Bush’s free trade
agenda, partnerships with the business community to combat
the stigma of HIV / AIDS in the region, and partnerships to
assist the victims of natural disaster in the region,”
Franco said.
“The concept of partnerships and cooperation is central
to USAID,” Franco said. “The global development
alliance under which we operate acknowledges that we can achieve
much more if we work with partners from the private and non-profit
sectors as well as with sovereign governments.”
He mentioned that USAID has partnered with Microsoft to bring
computer training to disadvantaged youth in Brazil. In the
same vein it has created an alliance with businesses and tourism
representatives to protect the region’s fragile coral
reefs.
Franco said that USAID’s LAC bureau has worked with
the U.S. Trade Representative to increase trade skills in
CAFTA countries (Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala,
El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua) as well as in Andean
Countries (Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.). He said USAID plans
to commit $507 million to increase trade skills in 2005, of
which $75.7 will be allocated to LAC programs.
“Our work here in CAFTA and in the Andean region is
expanding as we work with different governments, producers,
associations, non-profit organizations, think tanks and especially
corporations to promote an enlivened dialog around the trade
process to stimulate opportunity,” he said.
Franco said he believed public-private partnerships can also
play an important role in the prevention of HIV / AIDS, which
he termed as “an explosion waiting to occur in our region.”
“The rate of HIV / AIDS infection in the Caribbean
is second only to that of Africa, and the numbers are particularly
alarming in countries like Haiti and Brazil,” Franco
said. “We cannot allow the Caribbean to become the ‘sick
bay’ of the Americas, with all the resulting impact
on the economies of the region – from tourism to manufacturing
to services.”
Franco noted that President Bush has committed $15 billion
over the next five years to combat HIV / AIDS globally. He
said he is spearheading a special program with the American
Chamber of Commerce to enlist employers to update HIV / AIDS
workplace policies and to educate employees about the disease
with a focus on the stigma attached to it.
Franco said he was encouraged by a new cooperative program
in Mexico, where a large number of the largest employers in
Mexico formed a National Business Council on HIV / AIDS.
“Last week I was in Brazil where I met with a similar
group of businesses which are committed to ending stigma and
discrimination in the workplace and educating employees on
the disease. By supporting and encouraging this initiative,
USAID can reach many more people with a stronger prevention
message than if we worked solely in cooperation with governments
or only through non-governmental partners.”
Lastly, Franco discussed partnerships in conjunction with
the rash of hurricanes earlier this summer.
“Hurricanes Charlie, Francis, Ivan and Jeanne left
a legacy of destruction and chaos in their wake,” he
said. “Within hours, USAID met with partners and mobilized
all of our resources and began to disperse emergency relief.
President Bush took personal interest, and with the United
States Congress made available more than $100 million for
hurricane response in the Caribbean. I was recently in Haiti
where I signed a memorandum of understanding with Prime Minister
Gerard Latortue for $34 million for Gonaives.”
He said USAID plans to commit $42 million for housing and
infrastructure in Grenada. He added that USAID also contributed
$50,000 to the people of Cuba, even though “…Fidel
Casto thumbed his nose at the generosity of the American people
and refused to allow us to do more to help victims on that
prison island.”
He concluded, “While much attention is focused on challenges
in the Middle East and elsewhere, Administrator Natsios has
instructed us to aggressively seek new opportunities and new
partners to help achieve our development objectives. We cannot
nor do we want to do it alone.”
The conference was a three day session that included leaders
from the U.S. and most of the countries in the Caribbean basin,
including Governor Jeb Bush, U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, Guatemala
President Oscar Berger, Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo, El
Salvador President Antonio Saca, Nicaragua President Enrique
Bolaños, Haiti Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, Jamaica
Prime Minister Percival James Patterson and Trinidad and Tobago
Prime Minister Patrick Manning.
Full-text of speech: Adolfo
Franco, Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the
Caribbean, at the Caribbean Central America Action 28th Annual
Miami Conference on the Caribbean Basin, December 8, 2004.
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