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Egypt Stories
U.S. Aid to Egypt Totals $28 Billion in Three Decades
Villagers in El Baraka village in Minya Governorate look from their balcony as students from the nearby school built with U.S. assistance welocme a visit by Egyptian officials. Photo by Ben Barber/USAID
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CAIRO -- In the three decades since 1975, when the United States began its foreign assistance to Egypt, the most populous Arab country has made enormous progress. While its population rose from about 40 million to more than 70 million, incomes also rose and the standard of living has greatly improved.
At the 30th anniversary celebration of the U.S. aid program last year, the aid given totaled $28 billion, by far the largest amount of development aid given to any country in the world by the United States.
USAID assistance really took off after 1979 when the leaders of Egypt and Israel made the courageous decision to end the state of war between the two countries and agree to a peace accord at Camp David. Egypt recovered all of the Sinai Peninsula and the two countries have remained at peace.
Egypt suffered from extremists who killed its president in 1981 and attacked civilians and tourists in 1997. It has cooperated with the United States in countering terrorism.
USAID - which operates the American foreign aid program in Egypt, has helped:
- reform and stimulate the economy
- build and improve schools
- provide medicine, supplies and training to clinics and hospitals
- support democracy
- help farmers grow better crops for domestic and European markets.
The stories that follow bring to life a few of the ways Egyptians benefit from U.S. aid. Schoolbooks, medical improvements, small loans to merchants and repairs to the oldest mosque in all of Africa are among these stories.
However the big picture is almost impossible to grasp without stepping back in time.
A visitor to Egypt in 1980, before the U.S. aid program really started to bear fruit, saw a country facing difficult times. Poverty was widespread. In the fertile, green Nile Delta, thin farmers walked in circles as their thin cows and donkeys turned water wheels and slowly irrigated their fields. Education was not readily available to all children. And the cost of doctors and medicine meant that many did without health care.
Farmers near Minya use a diesel pump to water their fields, a powerful improvement over the donkey and cattle-powered water wheels traditionally used. Photo by Ben Barber/USAID
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Today, as a plane brings that same visitor back to Egypt, row upon row of new housing blocks sprawl out into the suburbs. Elevated highways speed traffic in from those flats to the jobs in town. The buses are newer and people are better dressed. The shops are filled with goods and the country has clearly stepped up the development ladder.
In the countryside, diesel pumps are rapidly replacing the slow animal-powered water wheels. In a quarter hour, a powerful stream of water lifted from a canal by pump can irrigate a half-acre field of peppers or corn.
But much remains to be done. For example, as the population continues to grow, protection of the environment has been recognized by Egyptians as not just a luxury for nature-lovers. Preserving Egypt's natural beauty and land is necessary for the health and prosperity of the people.
To fight urban air pollution, USAID helped convert 40,000 vehicles to clean burning fuels. It promoted conservation of Nile water resources, protected coral reefs and islands in the Red Sea and preserved Egypt's antiquities in Luxor and Cairo.
USAID also helped increase power needed by this growing country, replacing giant electric turbines at the Aswan High Dam, renovating old power plants and extending power lines. It improved telephone service and water and sewerage systems reaching almost most of the population.
The current USAID strategy is focused on helping Egypt participate in the global economy by creating jobs and helping train Egyptians for the modern economy.
The main areas of assistance include trade, investment, environment, antiquities, tourism, education, health, family planning, water, power, telecommunications, democracy, the justice system and civil society such as Egyptian non-governmental organizations.
| USAID BY THE NUMBERS |
| | 1975-2006 | 2006 Budget |
|---|
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Helping the economy | $14.4 billion | $344 million |
| Education | $911 million | $73 million |
| Health, family planning | $872 milion | $25 million |
| Infrastructure | $5.6 billion | |
| Democracy, governance | $1 billion | $48 million |
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