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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
THE PILLARS
In this section:
Local Teams Clean Up Kabul Streets
Efforts to Stem Bird Flu Pandemic Increase
Ghanaian Pineapples Go To European Markets
Mali Radio Stations Bring News, Education
ECONOMIC GROWTH, AGRICULTURE, AND TRADE
Local Teams Clean Up Kabul Streets
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USAID and International City/County Management Association
assist the municipality of Kabul to clean ditches to
improve sanitation drainage and prevent illness. Some
17,200 meters of ditches have been cleaned and 308 cubic
meters of sediment removed.
Jon Bormet, ICMA
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KABUL, Afghanistan—After years of conflict,
rebuilding in this capital is bringing all sorts of changes,
including cleaner streets and parks.
“It was not the Kabul I remember,” said Afzal
Qayoumi, of International City/County Management Association’s
CityLinks program. With USAID funding, the program has fielded
an Afghan-American engineer and a small local staff to begin
working with the city’s overwhelmed sanitation department
on hauling away rubbish.
“We had to find a way to begin to help people,”
Qayoumi added. “We talked to residents, the leaders at
the mosque, and the mayor, and it became clear that trash
collection was a critical issue.”
Working in Kabul’s District 4, an area of businesses
and older homes, Qayoumi and his team worked to fashion a
unique trash collection system. First, all piles of trash
were inventoried and removed by contract workers. Then, using
city crews, weekly routes were established in a 3,000-home
neighborhood.
Crews of 11 were created: one truck driver and 10 men, with
two on each street using a wheelbarrow to collect garbage
door-to-door—a “back to the future” solution
drawn from the memory of residents who remembered when trash
was picked up by horse-drawn carts.
“This is my idea of development—using the resources
available in a managed manner,” said Eric Richardson
of USAID/Afghanistan’s urban programs team. “It’s
amazing what the city of Kabul can accomplish with 10 men
using wheelbarrows, shovels, buckets, and a dump truck.”
Kabul has been wrecked by 30 years of war. Dirt roads are
cratered, create incessant dust during long periods of drought,
and become impassable mud pits when it rains. Trash is dumped
at the end of each street and rarely collected by the city.
Ditches are often blocked by trash, and wastewater stagnates
along the street sides.
“We were careful to build a system that can be replicated
throughout the city,” said Qayoumi.
Crews are trained and “graduate,” then continue
picking up trash in the neighborhood. Leaders among the trainees
are selected to become the leaders of the next group, so that
9,000 homes in Kabul are currently being served, with service
to additional neighborhoods coming soon.
For Amena, a 65-year-old grandmother who is trying to rebuild
the life of her family, regular Sunday trash collections means
a lot. Standing in her front doorway one sunny morning, she
said, “I make sure to bring my trash out every Sunday.
Our neighborhood is much cleaner now.”
Improving the quality of life for Kabul residents is critical
to building support for a fledgling democracy, Richardson
said.
CityLinks is managed by the urban programs team in the Bureau
for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade’s Office
of Poverty Reduction. The urban team also manages a CityLinks
leader award that, in addition to establishing technical exchange
partnerships, supports field outreach, program development,
case studies, and evaluation.
In addition to Afghanistan, USAID supports CityLinks programs
in nine other countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East,
and Europe.
Clearing trash away from city streets is “not very
glamorous work,” Qayoumi admits. “But for these
people, my countrymen, it is everything, for it is progress,
and it will allow us to live a civilized life again.”
GLOBAL HEALTH
Efforts to Stem Bird Flu Pandemic Increase
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A team of U.S. government and local health experts
dressed in personal protective equipment use decontamination
spray after investigating an outbreak of avian influenza
H5N1 in wild birds and domestic poultry in Turkey in
January.
Dr. Gavin Macgregor-Skinner, USAID
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In a six-week period between February and mid-March, more
than 20 additional countries reported outbreaks of the highly
pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 virus. Africa’s first
outbreaks were confirmed in February beginning in Nigeria,
and additional outbreaks were reported in the Middle East
and in Europe, where the spread of the virus in birds has
risen sharply in recent weeks.
Although still considered an animal disease, several countries,
including Iraq, have reported human cases of H5N1. As of March
20, almost 180 people were confirmed to have contracted avian
flu with 100 dead, most probably from contact with infected
birds. This rapid spread of H5N1 has underscored the importance
of effective in-country surveillance, reporting, and containment.
USAID dedicated $22.1 million in FY 2005 to avian influenza
preparedness and response activities in 27 countries, and
in FY 2006 is implementing $131.5 million to support global,
regional, and country-level programs in over 50 countries
around the world. With the U.S. government, other donors,
and international governments, USAID is working to ensure
that technical assistance, training, and key commodity support
is provided.
In Azerbaijan, for instance, USAID provided 1,500 personal
protective kits and technical assistance to improve the rapid
collection of animal samples and strengthen procedures for
surveillance and containment efforts. These efforts were largely
responsible for getting confirmation of the major H5N1 outbreak
in Azerbaijan.
The sooner H5N1 is identified, the better the chances for
containment. Strengthening both animal and human disease surveillance
is key to the Agency’s approach. USAID is supporting
global, regional, and country-level efforts to improve surveillance—including
support to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization
and the World Health Organization—by improving sample
collection and disease reporting systems.
The Agency is also increasing community awareness of disease
detection and reporting and is set to monitor spring migration
routes of wild birds in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation
Society.
The deputy director for USAID’s avian influenza unit,
Murray Trostle, told Voice of America in an interview last
month that, “The evidence is pretty good at this point
that the wild birds are carrying the virus and playing a role
in spreading it.… It’s a detective story and it’s
played out on the world stage in areas where we have little
information and knowledge about what’s going on.”
Live animal trade is also playing an important role in spreading
the virus.
USAID is working with its 89 field missions, as they are
in a unique position to assist countries in responding to
an outbreak—particularly within the first two weeks of
a suspected outbreak.
According to Dr. Kent R. Hill, assistant administrator for
Global Health, the best defense lies in international actions.
“The United States, working in partnership with other
nations, has undertaken a variety of initiatives to help improve
the capability for disease surveillance and detection in other
nations,” he said.
H5N1, a highly infectious strain of avian flu, occurs naturally
among wild birds. About 200 million birds have died as a result
of the virus, either from becoming infected or through precautionary
culling.
Experts fear the virus could mutate into a form that is
transmissible from person to person. If that happens and proper
safeguards aren’t in place, medical experts predict a
pandemic, which would likely cause widespread illness and
death.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE
Ghanaian Pineapples Go To European Markets
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Kwabena Okwesi is one of many farmers in Ghana involved
in a USAID alliance with Royal Ahold and Blue Skies
to deliver fair-trade, ready-to-eat products to supermarkets
in Europe. Income from Okwesi’s pineapple harvest
is helping enrich him and fund community development
efforts.
Royal Ahold
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Accra, Ghana—Farmers throughout this West African
nation find it hard to export their produce because they lack
cheap transport, appropriate technology, infrastructure, and
knowledge of market demands.
Unable to export their products, most of the fruits and
vegetables are sold locally—and fetch lower prices than
they would in wealthier markets outside the country.
Five years ago, Kwabena Okwesi, a farmer from Ekumfi, was
one of the thousands of smallholder farmers in Ghana who dealt
with the frustrations of low prices and limited markets. A
small producer of Sugarloaf pineapple, Okwesi once received
a meager five cents per kilo at the local market and had no
idea his pineapple’s taste was popular in Europe.
Through food company Royal Ahold, however, Okwesi has discovered
a way to expand his market and deliver his fruit to consumers
in Europe.
Royal Ahold’s partnership with USAID/Ghana began in
2002 after some of its company members traveled to Africa
to discover ways the food firm could help farmers in developing
countries increase income. After meeting with mission officials,
Royal Ahold agreed to work with farmers in Ghana to supply
its European supermarkets with fresh produce.
“Our alliance with Royal Ahold is a very powerful tool
in assisting farmers to access markets,” says Carol Wilson
of USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and
Trade. “Farmers get direct market information from buyers,
so they understand exactly what they have to produce. Importers
get a reliable supply of diverse products, and the world benefits
because these communities can thrive by taking advantage of
trade opportunities.”
The Royal Ahold deal is improving Ghanaian farmers’
abilities to produce quality products and leading other firms
such as Blue Skies Limited to join USAID/Ghana and Royal Ahold’s
collaborative efforts.
Blue Skies, established in 1998, specializes in the export
of precut, ready-to-eat fruit, which must be certified to
meet good agricultural practices for food quality and safety.
Blue Skies was a logical partner in the program, because it
already followed international standards to deliver locally
produced pineapples to consumers at Royal Ahold supermarkets
in Europe.
In March 2005, an opportunity opened up for fresh-cut, fair-trade
Sugarloaf pineapples to be marketed by a Dutch supermarket
chain. To meet demand, rural farmers had to comply with organic,
good agricultural practice and fair-trade certification requirements.
For farmers like Okwesi, the fair-trade label would mean a
five-fold increase in income. Certification promised that
Ghanaian pineapples would sell for 20 cents per kilo with
an extra five-cent premium going to community projects to
provide clean drinking water and build classroom expansions.
USAID/Ghana, through its Trade and Investment Program for
a Competitive Export Economy, trained farmer groups on fair-trade
principles. By April that same year, the farmers’ groups
were assessed and certified. Immediately, Blue Skies shipped
1,200 boxes of fruit to Holland under the fair-trade label.
With an annual order of 234 metric tons of Sugarloaf pineapples,
the Ghanaian farmers now get premium prices, and have raised
over $7,000 annually in community development funds.
“This alliance continues to evolve, bringing in new
agribusiness partners. We now have a more viable alliance
based on the growing agribusiness connections within Ghana
and their international market buyers. In the near future,
this alliance will not be dependent on USAID support,”
says Ron Stryker of USAID/Ghana.
DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
Mali Radio Stations Bring News, Education
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A USAID-funded radio station in Almoustarat, Mali,
is helping neighboring Arab and Touareg communities
reconcile long-standing conflicts and seek common ground.
USAID/Mali |
Under the Conflict Management through Community Radio Program,
USAID is helping establish 10 FM radio stations that will
reach an estimated 385,000 people in Mali’s northern
regions. Seven have already hit the airwaves, and three are
expected to come online in May or June.
“Radio is the most important medium for conveying balanced
news and information and is ideally suited not only to education
but to transmitting lessons of tolerance and conflict resolution
and prevention,” said Elisabeth Kvitashvili, director
of the Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation (CMM),
which is responsible for the project, along with the Africa
Bureau and the Mali Mission. CMM is part of the Bureau for
Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance.
Mali is threatened by regional and tribal conflict, religious
extremist groups with possible ties to terrorist organizations,
and, since the Northern Peace Accord of 1996, a large number
of disaffected youth and ex-combatants.
The nomadic populations of the north remain largely isolated,
and are often marginalized from participation in decisions
that affect their lives. That is where radio comes into play.
The medium has a track record as a cost-effective means of
delivering vital information on health, nutrition, education,
peace, and democracy.
It also makes sense, because few people in the region have
access to newspapers or information from television or the
internet. Radios, however, are prevalent.
Work began to make the radio stations a reality in September
2004, when USAID provided a grant to the NGO Africare to assist
with the work. USAID is spending about $1.8 million on the
effort. The first station, in Bourem Inaly, went on the air
in June 2005, followed closely by stations in Lerneb, Almoustarat,
Tessalit, Timetrine, and Anderamboukane. The seventh station
began broadcasting in January in Essouk.
Three more stations are planned for Ber, Anefis, and Djebok.
The stations broadcast a variety of programming in addition
to the standard fare of local and world news, music, and entertainment.
Over 75 percent of airtime is devoted to informational programming
with topics like peacebuilding, women’s empowerment,
herder information, healthcare, economic and microfinance
opportunities, and social and cultural issues. There are also
education programs about the judiciary, voting, and democracy,
as well as others targeted to children. Conflict prevention
takes up a significant amount of air time.
Listeners say they can now discuss conflicts via the airwaves
before issues escalate. But one radio station helped to convey
lessons in conflict resolution before it began broadcasting.
When CMM and the Mali Mission assessed whether the best
site for a radio station would be in Tarinkit, which has a
predominately Touareg population, or Almoustarat, which is
predominately Arab, the latter was ultimately selected as
the most viable site.
This, however, caused immediate dismay. The two communities
had a history of long-standing conflicts. USAID made it clear
that the two communities had to come to an agreement or the
station would be installed elsewhere. Representatives of the
two groups met, and eventually agreed on Almoustarat as the
site.
It was the first time inhabitants of the district had collaborated
on anything. Members of these two communities were astonished
at what they had been able to achieve: they worked together
to build the station and selected radio staff and a steering
committee that fairly represented both communities.
“Because of the conflict mitigation work done in preparation
of the selection of the appropriate site, the two communities
are now working hand-in-hand for the first time in decades,”
said Dennis Bilodeau, of USAID/Mali.
“Programming at the station is carefully designed to
address issues facing both communities—which are essentially
the same: water, health, education, governance, and economic
opportunities—and is broadcast in Arabic and Tamacheq,
the language spoken by Touaregs,” he added.
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