Development Challenge Other Donors FY2001 Program / Activity & Budget Information Summary Tables Program Summary Work Force Data Program/Sector Summary USAID Search: Africa Regional Program Previous Years' Activities 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997 Thursday, 25-Jan-2001 15:27:29 EST

Introduction

The Africa Regional Program provides Africa-specific technical expertise to support bilateral program development; addresses issues which are transnational (sub-regional or continent-wide); and supports the work of USAID central bureaus by providing a critical geographic focus for sectoral issues. The program also involves work with host country government officials, African non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and other donors. Program objectives have been developed within the context of current U.S. national interests in Africa, and contribute to all Agency goals. The United States has a strong interest in supporting transformations taking place in African economies, political systems, and human resource development. A prosperous, healthy and free Africa will benefit the U.S. economy, will provide more effective partnerships to combat global environmental and health threats, will reduce the need for U.S. humanitarian funds in response to crises, and will create greater global political stability.

The Development Challenge

The Regional Program addresses a variety of sector-specific development challenges for accelerating sustainable and equitable economic growth in Africa by:

• promoting international trade and investment;
• improving agricultural and natural resource management techniques to increase income;
• ensuring that development activities are environmentally sound;
• providing more productive and sustainable health and family planning services;
• identifying cost-effective ways to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS;
• eradicating polio and controlling infectious diseases;
• improving sustainability, equity and quality of basic education;
• increasing the use of information technology, including its applications in education;
• improving quality and access to education (with emphasis on girls and women) in order to accelerate the development of free-market democracies in Africa;
• supporting the consolidation of democratic gains; and
• preventing and mitigating man-made and natural crises.

Within these areas, the program includes a number of common themes: (1) developing Africans' capacity to design and manage their own programs; (2) maintaining a focus on sustainability; (3) identifying and using cross-sectoral linkages to increase program performance; and (4) establishing partnerships - African, other international, and U.S. - to maximize the effectiveness of USAID resources. In supporting USAID bilateral missions and African governmental and non-governmental organizations, the Regional Program works with its partners to develop policies, programs and strategies that draw on continent-wide experience and target sector-specific issues important to African development. The program focuses on improving our understanding of the dynamics of development and the effectiveness of USAID programs in Africa, and using this greater understanding to improve the effectiveness of all development resources going into the continent. The program also manages, or helps to manage, Africa-wide Agency initiatives, such as polio eradication, the child survival initiative, the trade and investment policy program, the Education for Development and Democracy Initiative, and the Africa Food Security Initiative.

Other Donors

USAID continues to work with a number of international and bilateral donors. Notable among international donors are the World Bank, the European Union, the United Nations Children's Fund, and the World Health Organization's African Regional Office. Bilateral donors include Japan, Canada, Britain, Germany and the Scandinavian countries.