 |
|
|
|
| |
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE PILLARS
In this section:
Egypt’s Reforms Hike Jobs and Incomes
East-Bloc Accountants Learn New Skills
Local Involvement Cuts Conflict
Clinics in Madagascar Teach Young Adults
ECONOMIC GROWTH, AGRICULTURE, AND TRADE
Egypt’s Reforms Hike Jobs and Incomes
 |
|
In Egypt, USAID support for economic policy reforms
has helped to increase agriculture productivity and
job growth.
Oliver Pierson, USDA Forest Service |
CAIRO—Said Gabril is one of millions of farmers
along the Nile River who have benefited from 200 reforms that,
with U.S. foreign aid, have accelerated the economic development
of this North African country of 77 million people.
Gabril runs a medium-sized livestock farm that had 40 head
of cattle on his 25 acres in the late 1990s. But his farm
grew to 200 animals after business reforms introduced him
to USAID projects that taught farmers how to improve productivity,
improve land management, and market their products. Now he
employs 30 workers—10 times as many as before.
Gabril also modified the design of his farm—adding
shade, feed bunks, and water troughs as well as improving
his calf rations—after participating in observational
study tours to the United States.
During the last decade, USAID supported more than 200 reforms
to improve Egypt’s agricultural business environment.
As a result, Egypt today has more open and competitive agricultural
markets, conditions favoring private investment have improved,
and Egypt is exporting and trading more than ever.
Reforms have also induced efficiency and productivity of
Egypt’s water and land along the Nile River. Gabril’s
neighbors, for example, doubled their rice yields while using
less water during a shorter growing season. The land and water
saved was used to grow fodder crops for cattle, enabling Gabril
to expand production.
Adoption of new techniques for crops, livestock, marketing,
and processing were all supported by USAID over the last three
decades, especially in the most recent years.
In 2004, for example, USAID’s Agricultural Exports
and Rural Incomes (AERI) project trained 6,000 small and medium
farmers in production, harvest, and postharvest handling of
green beans, melons, and medicinal or aromatic plants. Drying
and oil extraction of essential and aromatic oils were also
taught. AERI also worked with small dairy and livestock producers
like Gabril on improving product quality.
Current efforts include providing small farmers groups with
training, seminars, video presentations, and direct consultations.
Farmers are trained in herd management, animal health, and
dairy processing.
One of the best effects of USAID’s work in Egypt has
been the creation of jobs in Egypt, which annually has 1.3
million new young adults and over 800,000 people seeking employment
for the first time, said Glenn Rogers, sector policy economist
in the Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade.
“Achieving increases in agriculture productivity from
the adoption of improved technologies and more efficient methods
helps raise farm incomes and create nonfarm employment opportunities,”
he said.
Egypt’s economic opening of the agricultural sector
to greater competition and foreign trade led farmers to adopt
new technology that improved production of grain, cotton,
fruits, and vegetables. This enabled millions of Egyptian
families to improve education, escape poverty, and reduce
child malnutrition, he added.
Household wealth increased between 1992 and 2000 in rural
areas of Egypt where there were reforms in the business and
economic environment.
In rice growing areas, households that rose above the poverty
level grew from 68 percent to 95 percent. Farmers used their
new income to buy better healthcare and education. In communities
like Gabril’s, girls’ school attendance rose from
an average of 71 percent to 83 percent, and the number of
women with some secondary education jumped from 23 percent
to 50 percent. The number of children chronically malnourished
decreased from 27 percent to 19 percent.
USAID has increasingly helped expand credit programs and
connect Egyptians with U.S. know-how, equipment, and agricultural
inputs such as seed, herbicides, and fertilizer.
“The Egyptian experience with agricultural reform demonstrates
that agricultural sector investments are an important component
to address fragility in emerging markets and accelerate employment
growth even with modest overall national growth rates,”
Rogers said.
Gabril’s improved farm production indicates that productivity
in agriculture and related services may be the single most
important way to promote economic progress and jobs in developing
countries, he said.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE
East-Bloc Accountants Learn New Skills
|
|
|
Sergiy Kanygin takes a test at a Managerial Accounting
1 exam in Kiev last year. The test is one of thousands
administered by USAID-funded accounting reform projects.
Rick Gurley, USAID |
KIEV, Ukraine—Nadezhda Ermolenko is one of thousands
of accountants in former Soviet Bloc countries who are learning
how to be more credible and efficient, and in the process
are reshaping their countries’ economies.
Ermolenko got her accounting practitioner certificate in
2003. Two years later she passed the professional exams for
the Certified International Professional Accountant (CIPA)
certificate. Within months she landed a job as the financial
director of the Planning and Economic Department of Versiya,
a leading Ukrainian producer of laptop computers.
Ermolenko says she has learned a lot about “good managerial
accounting practices.” The program has been “winning…for
both me and the company.”
When the Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991, its 15
newly independent republics had dysfunctional economies lacking
modern accounting skills or the ability to track finances,
budgets, and depreciation. The lack of accounting standards
crippled the growth of private businesses, discouraged foreign
investment, and slowed the region’s integration into
the global marketplace.
USAID stepped in with the CIPA alliance, which sought to
set up the accounting skills and standards required for conducting
business, good governance, attracting investment, and facilitating
regional economic progress. The project brings together professional
accounting associations from across Eurasia who train and
certify their members and promote international standards
and practices.
The Global Development Alliance (GDA) and various missions
invested $3.5 million in the project. Another $10 million
was put in by private organizations and other donors.
The first basic financial accounting course was developed
in Russian. Then, a team member working for the USAID accounting
reform project in Kyrgyzstan began offering a course and exam
on financial accounting. Those who passed received a certificate
of merit, which quickly gained currency among accountants.
“We knew we were onto something when we found forged
certificates circulating around,” said Rick Gurley, USAID’s
accounting reform project officer. “The new certificates
were widely respected by accountants and prospective employers,
and even had real value on the street.”
The program then expanded to Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Russia.
Other Eastern and Central Europe countries are now adopting
the project as well.
To date, more than 50,000 people have taken the CIPA training.
Some 65,000 exams have been administered throughout Ukraine,
Moldova, Belarus, Russia, and the five Central Asian Republics.
Now 5,000 accountants have earned CIPA certificates.
“Employers are sending current employees to take the
training and examinations and are beginning to require that
new accounting employees have the CIPA designation,”
Gurley said.
The International Financial Reporting Standards has been
translated into Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek,
and adopted as the national standard in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
and Uzbekistan. USAID is researching the possibility of offering
the CIPA program in Spanish, Chinese, Dari, and Arabic.
DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
Local Involvement Cuts Conflict
 |
|
At the Tshopo Market Rehabilitation Project in Kisangani,
a grant from USAID provided construction materials and
technical assistance to rehabilitate a local market
and improve the commercial activities and exchange among
the members of the community. Tshopo was severely affected
by the war in the DRC, which caused major infrastructure
damage and prevented economic exchange.
Yves Bawa, USAID
|
Warfare in the Congo has displaced millions since 1998, drawn
in neighboring countries, and killed more people than any
other conflict since World War II: about 3 million.
Although a 2002 peace agreement has been unable to end all
the fighting and resettle many of the Congo’s displaced
people, USAID is currently carrying out work to reintegrate
ex-combatants into civilian life.
The effort is an indication that grassroots activities have
become a key conflict prevention strategy in some of the world’s
most unstable countries.
“There is increased interest in grassroots programming
to address conflict because it can have an immediate and positive
impact at the local level by demonstrating real change and
improving people’s quality of life,” said Elisabeth
Kvitashvili, director of the Office of Conflict Management
and Mitigation (CMM).
“The challenge is to balance the need for quick and
tangible benefits with the need to build a process that inspires
participation, cooperation, and trust.”
In October, CMM and the World Bank’s Post-Conflict
Unit hosted a meeting to discuss where, how, and why grassroots
activities can work to reduce conflict, and ways the efforts
can be copied in other conflict zones.
The meeting of the Conflict Prevention and Post-Conflict
Reconstruction Network attracted representatives from 13 donor
agencies, including Great Britain’s Department for International
Development, the Swedish International Development Cooperation
Agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit
in Germany, and the Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development.
Founded in 1997, the Network is an informal group of conflict
specialists from 31 development agencies and international
organizations who meet semiannually.
The three-day conference examined community-driven development
(CDD) programs that can be based at the village level, focused
on local economies or working to develop local governments.
The Congo program, for example, takes a new approach to
reintegration by including people not involved in fighting.
The Office of Transition Initiatives, which runs the program,
hopes to create a safe environment for the different segments
of the population to interact and to reinforce reintegration
efforts.
The conference also included field trips to Washington-area
organizations involved in community development activities
and conflicts. Participants attended an exhibit by 22 organizations
with on-the-ground experience working with communities in
conflict countries. The NGOs and other groups presented their
materials, best practices, and innovations.
The CMM office is part of the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict,
and Humanitarian Affairs.
GLOBAL HEALTH
Clinics in Madagascar Teach Young Adults
 |
|
A peer educator talks to students at a high school
in Tana about sexually transmitted diseases, delaying
sexual activity, and the use of condoms.
Njaka Rajaonisaonina, USAID |
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar—Private clinics serving
young people are attracting more and more clients who are
learning how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs),
HIV infection, and unwanted pregnancies.
The USAID-funded project opened its first private clinics
in 2001—under the name Top Reseau (French for “top
connection”)—in two districts in the eastern province
of Tamatave, Madagascar’s principal port city. Three
years later, Top Reseau extended its network to other cities,
including Antananarivo, Antsiranana, Tolanaro, and Mahajanga.
The project now includes 123 health centers.
Madagascar’s citizens, known as Malagasy, are at high
risk of STDs or HIV infection. A 2004 survey found that nearly
50 percent of women aged 15 to 24 had never heard of an STD,
and more than 20 percent had never heard of AIDS. Only 19
percent of men and women had correct knowledge of the two
main ways to prevent HIV/AIDS, the survey found.
USAID’s project addresses these issues by raising awareness
through mass media campaigns and sending educators into communities
to talk about STDs, AIDS, and reproductive health. The main
message to youth is to delay sexual activity. For those who
are already active, the advice is to be faithful to one partner
and use condoms.
The project runs television, radio, and billboard advertising
to promote Top Reseau.It also uses mobile video units to deliver
health messages.
Such screenings typically attract large crowds who watch
films about delaying sexual activity, limiting the number
of partners, condom use, and STD prevention. Audiences follow
up with discussions and games, and receive information on
clinic services.
A team of 60 peer educators aged 18 to 20 mix humor with
serious discussions about reproductive and sexual health issues
at the centers. They also conduct face-to-face sessions with
youth on the streets and at night clubs, bars, and sporting
events.
One clinic physician, Dr. Bakoly R. of Antananrivo, said:
“At the beginning, when vulnerable women were referred
to me by peer educators for medical followup, I felt a little
uncomfortable. I was afraid that it might impact on my clinic
workload. People considering themselves as ‘respectable’
and at low risk for HIV might decide not to come to consult
me anymore. I realized that it was not the case.”
Another physician, Dr. Samuel R. of Tamatave, said that
in six months his clients increased threefold.
“Because of the increased demand, I’m now asked
to carry out biweekly outreach group activities in the Tamatave
neighborhood to respond to more complex questions that peer
educators are not able to respond to,” he said.
Back to Top ^
|
