THE PILLARS
In this section:
Loan Guarantee Project Stimulates Business Growth
in Ethiopia
Alliance Works in Ghana, Niger, and Mali to Build
Wells, Latrines
Health Teams Fight Serious Polio Outbreak on
Three Continents
Congress Approves $25 Million to Fight Avian
Flu in Asia
ECONOMIC GROWTH, AGRICULTURE, AND TRADE
Loan Guarantee Project Stimulates Business Growth in Ethiopia
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Women weigh freshly picked green beans that will be
exported to Europe. The farmers are among 155 participating
in a vegetable cooperative in Ziway, Ethiopia.
Sandra Kalscheur, USAID/Ethiopia |
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia—Until two years ago, groups
of coffee and grain farmers in this populous country could
not access credit, which meant that they often lacked working
capital and could rarely invest in new machinery or other
improvements.
That has changed since a Development Credit Authority (DCA)
project began working with Abyssinia Bank and Awash International
Bank.
From September 2004 to March 2005, Abyssinia Bank lent more
than $2.2 million to 12 cooperative unions. During the same
period, Awash lent $520,000 to one cooperative union and an
agroprocessor.
Maximum loans through the DCA—a mechanism that allows
USAID to cover 50 percent of a loan in case of default—are
$750,000.
Short-term loans for up to a year are given for marketing
activities in coffee; food grains; fruits and vegetables;
livestock; and livestock products such as meat, milk, hides,
and skins. Five-year loans are available for capital investments
in six regions.
USAID/Ethiopia is currently developing a DCA program with
a third bank to give loans to small and medium-sized businesses
working in areas other than the four agricultural subsectors
(textiles and garments, leather and leather products, tourism,
and rural service providers), said John McMahon of the mission’s
economic growth team.
“Banks here tend to do collateral-based lending, which
means that if you want a dollar, you have to put up three
dollars as collateral, rather than saying, ‘Is this a
viable business plan? What are the potential risks and rates
of return?’” McMahon said. “So it becomes a
burden for cooperatives and businesses to come up with collateral.”
“What we are doing now is getting the banks to recognize
that they are missing out on business opportunities. So they
are now lending to agroprocessors and cooperatives, and we
are getting them to reduce collateral requirements and increase
loan periods,” said McMahon.
USAID works with agroprocessors and cooperatives in business
management, and helps them draw up business plans that show
the viability of their enterprises.
At the same time, the Agency works with banks so that they
consider the viability of a business rather than basing lending
decisions on the amount of collateral.
“If we are going to achieve rural economic growth,
we’ve got to get funding out into the rural areas for
both operations credit and investment credit,” McMahon
said.
Giving loans to cooperatives ensures that at harvest time
they can purchase lots of grain from individual farmers. Cooperatives
can sell some of the product right away and store the rest
for later, when they can fetch higher prices for the grain.
“If they get a higher price, a dividend is distributed
to farmers,” McMahon said. “It’s really about
getting the small farmer linked to the market so that he or
she can get a better price for his or her product.”
Members of some 332 cooperatives—or about 390,335 households—benefited
from the DCA program last year.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE
Alliance Works in Ghana, Niger, and Mali to Build Wells,
Latrines
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Ruth Takyiwa Sunkwa, 6, stands with her hand under
her village’s new water tap with her sister, Rebecca
Agyeiwa. The water tap is the result of World Vision’s
Kasei Water Project. Last year, World Vision, a USAID
partner, helped install a water system in three guineaworm-stricken
villages in Ghana.
Karen Homer, World Vision |
The West Africa Water Initiative (WAWI), created over three
years ago, has brought clean water, improved sanitation, changed
hygiene behavior, and improved water resources management
to hundreds of rural communities in Ghana, Mali, and Niger.
Worldwide, nearly 1.2 billion people lack clean drinking
water and 2.4 billion lack adequate sanitation.
Some 1.3 million children under 5 died from diarrheal diseases
caused by unsafe water and sanitation in 2000 alone. Large
percentages of these victims are in Africa, the world’s
poorest continent.
WAWI, a seven-year, $42 million project, was founded by
the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and has received $6 million
in support from several USAID offices, including the Office
of Women in Development; the Global Development Alliance;
the Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade; and
the Bureau of Global Health.
Since its launch, the program’s 13 partners have been
drilling wells, installing pumps, constructing latrines, teaching
sanitation and hygiene, supporting small-scale agriculture
and income-generating activities, and promoting sustainable
natural resources management in the three poor West African
countries.
World Vision, an international Christian relief and development
organization, started the precursor to WAWI through the USAID-supported
Ghana Rural Water Project in the 1980s.
“The expansion from Ghana to Mali and Niger was envisioned
by the Hilton Foundation and its WAWI partners as a part of
an ongoing effort to combat preventable water-related diseases,
such as diarrhea, guinea worm, and trachoma,” said Richard
Stearns, president of World Vision.
WaterAid, an NGO, is also working in two WAWI countries,
Mali and Ghana. Its work in Mali, for instance, is helping
to bring water and sanitation services to low-income settlements
near the city of Bamako. The group is constructing 50 standpipe
connections, 1,500 household latrines, and waste pits. It
also runs awareness campaigns to encourage improved hygiene
behavior.
“Where there is no clean water and sanitation, millions
of children die each year, and millions of people become blind
unnecessarily and suffer debilitating diseases,” said
Steven Hilton, president of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation,
which has committed $18 million over seven years to WAWI.
Examples of other WAWI work include:
- UNICEF, which is providing school-based sanitation and
hygiene promotion as well as developing community water
sources
- Desert Research Institute, based in Nevada, which is
training technicians in the science of locating water and
analyzing hydrogeologic data and water quality
- Cornell University’s International Institute for
Food, Agriculture, and Development, which is conducting
environmental conservation and land use planning programs
as well as performing research
- Winrock International, which is developing market gardening
projects with innovative irrigation technologies to raise
incomes while managing water resources
- The World Chlorine Council, which is donating PVC pipe
for community wells and also supporting communication efforts
of the initiative
GLOBAL HEALTH
Health Teams Fight Serious Polio Outbreak on Three Continents
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A child receives an oral polio vaccination in Yemen.
Some 5 million children under 5 recently received the
treatment, as polio has spread through the Middle East,
Africa, and now Asia.
USAID/Yemen |
Polio, a disease virtually eradicated around the world, reemerged
in Africa last year and has now spread to 16 previously polio-free
countries in the Middle East and Asia.
Indonesia detected its first case of polio in April. By
early July, there were 111 cases; in Yemen, about 300 cases
were reported.
Yemen had not detected a case since 1996, and Indonesia
had been polio free for a decade. Plans are now underway for
immunization campaigns in both countries.
Polio most frequently afflicts children, causing muscular
weakness and paralysis.
USAID and international and local health professionals in
the affected countries are beefing up surveillance programs
and starting massive immunization programs.
Genetic analysis by the World Health Organization (WHO)
indicates that the virus originated in West Africa, and is
similar to the virus that caused a polio outbreak in Nigeria
in 2003 and 2004. Further analysis suggests the virus travelled
to Indonesia through Sudan, and is similar to recently isolated
viruses in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
“We are all disheartened by the outbreak in Africa
and the spread of polio to so many countries this year,”
said USAID Global Polio Eradication Coordinator Ellyn Ogden.
“But great strides have been made to turn the situation
around. Let’s hope that this is the last outbreak—the
last gasps—of a virus struggling to hang on.”
Increased surveillance is underway in Indonesia, the fourth
largest country in the world, after identification of the
nation’s first case in West Java province April 21.
Since 1998, the Agency has funded Indonesia’s disease
surveillance system, which was critical in detecting the first
outbreak there in a decade, Ogden said.
USAID-funded surveillance officers conducted an outbreak
investigation with the WHO following detection of the first
polio case in Indonesia. The investigation confirmed an additional
eight cases in neighboring villages during a three-week period.
With the WHO and the Indonesian Ministry of Health, the
Agency also conducted an immediate outbreak response campaign,
immunizing children under 5 in the province of West Java,
where the virus broke out. The agencies also confirmed that
the strain was imported from Africa, previously identified
in Nigeria.
A followup campaign to vaccinate several million children
across West Java, Banten, and Jakarta, is planned through
the end of June.
USAID has contributed $200,000 for these campaigns, on top
of the $500,000 already spent on surveillance in Indonesia.
Immunization campaigns were conducted in 23 West and Central
African countries in February and March last year, targeting
more than 80 million children and costing an additional $100
million.
USAID contributed $27.4 million for polio eradication in
2004. In the Near East and Asia, 200 million children will
be immunized in repeated national campaigns between now and
the end of the year.
USAID will provide $32 million for polio eradication activities
this year, in addition to $100 million provided by the U.S.
government through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
Congress Approves $25 Million to Fight Avian Flu in Asia
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A market in Hanoi, Vietnam, with chickens, geese, doves,
and rabbits. Close proximity of animals and humans contributes
to the spread of diseases such as avian influenza. As
of May 19, 76 of 97 reported cases of avian influenza
in humans have occurred in Vietnam.
Mark Simmerman, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
Millions of dollars in aid recently approved by Congress
will augment USAID’s work to prevent and control the
spread of avian influenza, or bird flu, throughout Asia.
On April 11 President Bush signed an emergency bill allocating
$25 million to fight the disease. USAID will use $10 million
and work with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS) on managing the remaining $15 million.
Through the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA),
the Agency has pre-positioned some 10,000 sets of personal
protective equipment—such as specialized suits, gloves,
boots, masks, and eye protection—in Cambodia, Thailand,
Laos, Vietnam, and Indonesia, countries that are considered
at most risk of bird flu infection. The equipment can be used
by healthcare personnel and agricultural workers to minimize
exposure to the virus. This action was taken as a precaution
in the event of a travel embargo that could result from an
outbreak.
USAID has also provided funds to the World Health Organization
to organize regional coordination meetings. The Agency has
also begun developing a plan of action with HHS and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture for surveillance and a possible
pandemic response.
Bird flu is a relatively new disease affecting humans and
animals. Since mid-December 2003, 10 Asian countries have
reported outbreaks of the virus in poultry, including chickens
and ducks.
The virus is highly contagious, and is particularly lethal
to domesticated birds. Thousands of birds have died of the
virus. More birds have been culled as a measure to control
the spread of avian influenza, and trade embargoes have been
put in place.
Bird flu has also affected humans. As of May 19, the illness
has killed 53 of 97 infected victims in Vietnam, Cambodia,
and Thailand.
“The presence of human cases and the continual mutation
of the virus have raised concerns that the current situation
could lead to a pandemic if the virus develops the ability
to spread efficiently from human to human,” said Samuel
Levy of OFDA. “The three influenza pandemics in the previous
century each killed 2 million to 50 million people worldwide.”
With the supplemental money coming in, the U.S. government
is outlining three objectives in its fight against the bird
flu:
- improving surveillance capacity of countries to detect
the disease in humans and animals
- strengthening the capacity of countries to respond to
outbreaks in humans and animals
- planning pandemic preparedness
In addition to the $10 million in the emergency appropriations
bill, the bureaus for Global Health and Asia and the Near
East and OFDA spent about $1.25 million on bird flu preparedness
and response activities.
An Avian Influenza Working Group was created in March to
develop and coordinate activities.
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