THE PILLARS
In this section:
U.S.-Trained Africans Contribute to Local Development,
Study Says
Faith-Based Leaders Lend Business Expertise To
Those In Need
Technical Team Responds to Crises in Sumatra,
North Africa
Midwife Training Improves Chances for Survival
in Childbirth
ECONOMIC GROWTH, AGRICULTURE, AND TRADE
U.S.-Trained Africans Contribute to Local Development, Study
Says
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An employee of the Nova Knits factory, Madagascar,
works the loom. Alumnus Charles Ratsifaridana, deputy
director general of the cashmere sweater factory, took
it from 400 employees to more than 4,000. Many graduates
of USAID-funded educations eventually move from academia
to the private sector. Ratsifaridana gave the evaluation
team a tour of the factory when they visited in March
2003.
Cristin Springet, USAID |
A new study of 200 Africans trained in the United States
under USAID programs over the past 40 years reports that most
believe their successes would not have happened without their
experience in the United States.
Alumni credited newly acquired scientific and technical skills,
as well as the nontechnical benefits of living in the United
States—critical thinking, research techniques, and work
attitudes—with their success.
The study, Generations of Quiet Progress: The Development
Impact of U.S. Long-Term University Training on Africa from
1963 to 2003, was carried out by the Office of Education,
within the Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade.
The study argues for continued investment in master’s-level
training, in particular, to retain development gains and fill
in behind USAID-trained professionals who have either retired
or died from HIV/AIDS.
Among the programs USAID has funded are the African Graduate
Fellowship Program (AfGrad), which ran from 1963 to 1990,
and its successor, the Advanced Training for Leadership and
Skills (ATLAS), which ended in 2003. Combined, the programs
trained more than 3,200 African professionals from 14 sub-Saharan
countries over 40 years at a cost of $182 million.
More than 200 alumni answered surveys or participated in
workshops. Evaluators traveled to Benin, Ghana, Madagascar,
Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, and Uganda to interview supervisors
and peers to substantiate alumni claims.
“The greater professionalism; positive attitude; better
understanding of different issues, people, and cultures; better
teamwork… All enhanced performance and productivity,”
said one respondent about U.S.-based training.
The following are examples of institutional changes inspired
by U.S. training:
- Dinah Brandful of Ghana established a customs laboratory
to test imported drugs and food for safety after she returned
with a master’s in food science in 1983; the lab has
saved lives and generated income through excise taxes.
- Eduardo Namburete established Mozambique’s first
university communications department in 2003 after getting
a communications master’s in 1998 and working as a
reporter for a year in the United States.
- Charles Ratsifaridana of Madagascar helped start the
physics department at the École Normale Supérieure
after he returned with a Ph.D. in physics in 1980. In the
early 1990s, Ratsifardana also opened and managed a cashmere
sweater factory for the company Nova Knits, which today
employs more than 4,000 people
The emphasis of AfGrad and ATLAS on selecting employees
from key institutions was an improvement over previous programs,
which had chosen the “best and brightest” undergraduates,
the report said. By targeting institutions, which nominated
employees, recruitment and training were focused on improved
performance in the workplace and brain drain was contained.
“Participants are more mature, have secure employment,
and are more likely to return,” the report said. About
90 percent of the participants returned home when conditions
allowed. Few were unemployed.
The study found no difference in the impact alumni with
master’s degrees had on institutions versus those who
received doctorates.
“The report makes a strong case for investing in master’s-level
education, which is both affordable and high impact,”
said John Grayzel, director of the Office of Education.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE
Faith-Based Leaders Lend Business Expertise To Those In
Need
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Mentor Lesly Jules (standing) reviews Guillometre Herode’s
business plans in Haiti.
PARTNERS |
Inexperienced businessmen in Haiti, Nicaragua, and Kenya
are pairing with established business owners to spearhead
entrepreneurship in the developing world.
The experienced businesspeople act as mentors to help others
establish and strengthen local businesses, create new jobs,
and retain existing ones.
The participants in the three targeted countries must be
potential or existing entrepreneurs, microentrepreneurs, farmers,
current or former members of other mentoring programs, members
of a business association, or those who have developed a business
that creates jobs. Their number now stands at 53.
USAID has given $700,000 to the program, in alliance with
Partners Worldwide (PARTNERS), a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based
NGO that recently created the Christian Million Mentors Global
Business Alliance.
The initiative aims to recruit 1 million mentors willing
to invest time and resources in assisting businesses in developing
countries.
Partners include the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation,
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, and Newdea Inc.,
a for-profit company that provides information management
and communication channels between philanthropists and charitable
organizations.
Amway founder and CEO Richard DeVos is a spokesperson, advocate,
and mentor for PARTNERS and Million Mentors.
Total partner contributions have exceeded $1.6 million.
Million Mentors finds its volunteer mentors through existing
faith-based organizations, and works on the principle that
Christians can be instrumental in economic development.
Haitian Partners for Christian Development, the first international
chapter of PARTNERS, was formed nearly five years ago by Haitian
business people who attended a PARTNERS conference at Calvin
College in Grand Rapids.
Haiti consistently ranks as the poorest country in the Western
Hemisphere, in part due to a stagnant economy and political
instability.
Between July 1 and September 30, 2004, the Haitian program
added eight local and six international mentors.
“The current political unrest and the security risks
have prevented a number of international mentors from traveling
to Haiti,” said PARTNERS Executive Director Doug Seebeck.
As of October 2004, the Nicaraguan initiative reported 27
local and 52 international mentors. In the third quarter of
last year, 24 new jobs were created and 29 positions were
retained. One new business was established, while 20 existing
businesses received assistance in the third-poorest country
in the region.
John Klein, a PARTNERS member and mentor, visited Managua
twice in 2004, where he helped draft business plans for two
key projects: the ACJ (the Nicaraguan equivalent of the Young
Men’s Christian Association or YMCA) and a diabetic pharmacy.
“Million Mentors provides an opportunity to participate
with my country’s government in a program that meshes
the best of the private sector with the best of the public
sector to address the basic societal needs of very poor countries,
fostering economic growth and strong international relations,”
Klein said.
The Million Mentors Kenya initiative is also designed to
create sustainable jobs and encourage the growth of micro,
small, and medium-sized businesses.
DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
Technical Team Responds to Crises in Sumatra, North Africa
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Dr. Yene Belayneh assessing the locust situation in
Thies region of Senegal, September 2004. Assistant Administrator
Roger Winter stands behind him.
Richard Nyberg, USAID/Senegal |
When a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the island of
Sumatra, Indonesia, triggering a tsunami that killed over
200,000, it took less that 48 hours before a team of USAID
technical experts known in the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster
Assistance (OFDA) as TAG—the Technical Assistance Group—headed
to Asia.
Several of the dozen TAG specialists were sent as part of
the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to assess damage
and prepare for emergency relief.
Typically, TAG specialists predict a disaster and have assessments
ready when the Agency decides to act. But, in the case of
an earthquake or tsunami, TAG can only take action after the
disaster.
“With something like a tsunami, there’s no warning.
There is no lead time, beyond maybe two hours, if every monitoring
and measuring device is working properly,” said Ayse
Sezin Tokar, a hydrometeorologist on the TAG team, which sent
specialists to Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and India.
“Certain places might need immediate interventions
in water and sanitation; others might need public health or
prevention of disease and epidemics,” she added. “Based
on the TAG assessments, we as an Agency can address immediate
needs.”
Each TAG team member is focused on a different sector, rather
than a region. For instance, an entomologist studies mitigation
and management of desert locusts and grasshoppers, and a gender
and social scientist works on issues such as rape as a weapon
of war in Congo and Sudan.
TAG’s shelter specialist helps guide rebuilding of
earthquake-damaged houses so they resist future shocks.
Since food shortages are not only caused by drought but
can also be a result of corruption, mismanagement, and other
political issues, the TAG team has a member who studies agriculture
and food security.
These specialized, skilled staff members are drawn on constantly
in crises, said Roger Winter, Assistant Administrator for
Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, which oversees
OFDA.
While the TAG team flew in along with the DART to Asia after
the tsunami, TAG specialists were observing Mali, Mauritania,
Senegal, and Morocco long before locusts swarmed the region
in mid-2004.
By the time crops were being destroyed and people were left
hungry, Yene Belayneh of the TAG team had had various ideas
of how to deal with the locusts, having prepared for this
moment for more than a decade.
In October, Belayneh was part of a USAID delegation that
spent two weeks touring locust-affected areas.
“We went to see the damage the locusts had inflicted
and how the people were doing; what the gaps were,” said
Belayneh, who helped decide how to use USAID funds to launch
a mitigation campaign in late fall of 2004 to kill the locusts,
including spraying pesticides for a month.
Aside from responding to disaster, TAG members prepare other
Agency employees and developing country counterparts. They
provide technical expertise for proposal reviews for response
and mitigation activities, DART, and assessments. They also
assist with training OFDA and other USAID staff and conduct
outreach programs.
TAG was formed from OFDA’s Prevention, Mitigation,
and Preparedness Division in 1991 by the OFDA director at
the time, Andrew Natsios.
GLOBAL HEALTH
Midwife Training Improves Chances for Survival in Childbirth
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Yemeni midwives set bylaws and rules of association
at the first meeting of the National Association for
Midwives in September 2004. USAID helped the women organize
into an association.
USAID/Yemen |
SANA’A, Yemen—A year ago, five Yemeni midwives
presented an action plan at an international conference that
laid out plans for improving the status of maternal health
in their county and for addressing policy and drug logistics.
A few months later, midwives from all over Yemen formally
joined forces to confront maternal health, forming the National
Association for Midwives, the first in the country’s
history.
In Yemen, where an estimated 84 percent of deliveries take
place at home and without the presence of skilled attendants,
thousands of women die or suffer permanent injuries each year
due to childbirth complications. Some childbirth complications—particularly
postpartum hemorrhage, the biggest maternal killer—are
preventable with the help of professional midwives.
Uniting into a midwives association is an important step
to improve the quality of maternal and neonatal care, according
to USAID Maternal Health Advisor Mary Ellen Stanton.
“A well-functioning midwifery association can play
a vital role in keeping members informed of best practices
and providing opportunities for their continuing education,
and can help give midwives a seat at the policymaking table,”
said Stanton.
The new association gives midwives in Yemen a forum to address
critical issues in their profession.
For instance, it will give the Ministry of Health a medium
for consulting midwives to bring them into the process of
improving curriculum, standards, protocols, and training programs.
It is also an opportunity for midwives to become involved
in the design of a new reproductive health strategy for Yemen.
At a crowded first meeting in September 2004, more than
100 midwives from around the country gathered—at their
own expense—to decide on the rules of procedure and elect
their first administrative board.
Many more women die during labor in the developing world,
where births are less often assisted by skilled personnel
than in the developed world. In 1996, for instance, skilled
birth attendants were present at only 53 percent of births
in the developing world, whereas skilled attendance is nearly
universal in developed countries. Countries where skilled
attendance at delivery is low tend to have higher rates of
maternal death and disability.
USAID has long supported midwifery in developing countries.
Aside from helping midwives organize, the Agency supports
curriculum development and training.
In Afghanistan, for instance, where maternal mortality statistics
are among the worst in the world, USAID trains midwives, helps
set professional standards for training and care, and improves
midwifery education.
In the Philippines, USAID support has helped finance the
improvement and expansion of over 217 local midwifery clinics
since 2003.
The Agency is also guaranteeing loans for health initiatives
for the first time, as local banks established loans for midwives—a
practice long perceived by lending institutions as risky business.
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