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GUINEA
>> AFR Regional Overview >> Guinea Overview
Development Challenge Summary Tables
Program Summary
Previous Years' Activities
2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 199747
Introduction
In the past year, Guinea has assumed major policy significance as the front-line state upon which containing regional instability and conflict depends. The internal and cross-border conflicts that have marked the last decade in the West African sub-region have left a failed state in Liberia, and civil war in Sierra Leone. Rebels from Sierra Leone, directed by Liberian President Charles Taylor and abetted by other West African mercenaries and Guinean dissidents, have opened a new front on the border with Guinea. The United States is working to assist Guinea during the crisis and to mitigate internal and external sources of conflict so that Guinea can continue to promote regional peace.
USAID's development and humanitarian assistance program to Guinea is central to this partnership. U.S. foreign policy goals aim to: a) reinforce Guinea's ability to play a more effective role in regional conflict resolution and peacekeeping; b) promote good governance and establish strong democratic institutions; and c) mitigate human suffering by providing humanitarian assistance to refugees and development assistance in health and family planning, education, and natural resource management.
The Development Challenge
Sustained cross-border attacks, which began in September 2000 and intensified precipitously in December, have seriously destabilized Guinea's southern border regions. Of the 33 national prefectures, eleven situated along the border are now considered zones of insecurity. The attacks threaten some 250,000 refugees from Liberia and Sierra Leone who have sought refuge over the last decade in the Forest Region of Guinea and have resulted in the destruction of emergency infrastructure put into place to address their humanitarian needs. The attacks have displaced some 150,000 Guineans from areas bordering Sierra Leone and Liberia, creating a new humanitarian crisis of internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Guinea. These attacks have also heightened internal political, socio-economic and ethnic tensions across Guinea. The rise of armed, untrained civil defense groups and militias also threatens fragile domestic stability; Guinea's tense political situation is already marked by insufficient dialogue and a fractured political culture.
Though the quality of life in Guinea is still considered quite low, it has moved up from being the lowest in the world less than a decade ago, based on UNDP's Human Development Index, to 162 out of 174 countries. New and significant windows of opportunity have opened up for Guinea to address the structural constraints of the economy and promote domestic growth through export. Possible relief for Guinea's official debt burden, under the World Bank and IMF coordinated Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Relief Initiative, will provide financial resources to support investment in Guinea's social development. The recent U.S. government determination that Guinea is eligible for benefits under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) also offers the opportunity for increased investment linked to the export sector. However, the security crisis is forcing the government to reconsider its development plan and budget. There are grave concerns that the current crisis, if not resolved quickly, will continue to discourage foreign and domestic investments and stall the implementation of Guinea's poverty reduction strategy.
Other Donors
In 1999, Guinea's largest bilateral donor was France ($38 million), followed by Kuwait ($24.9 million), Japan ($21.5 million), the United States ($21 million) and Germany ($15.8 million). Among the multilateral donors, the World Bank ($47.8 million), the United Nations (UN) Agencies ($41 million) and the European Union ($ 32.6 million) are among the leaders.
FY 2002 Program
USAID-financed natural resource management activities will continue to assist small landholders to conserve the natural resource base by investing in more profitable and less destructive agricultural and natural resource management practices. The approach is to strengthen local organizations that influence smallholders, improve the agricultural practices of farmers, and empower local populations to manage their resources. The desired end products are sustainable increases in farm production and productivity, along with improved, participatory management of forest and other natural resources. Since economic incentives are prerequisites for inducing behavioral changes in natural resource management, the USAID program will also enhance access to agricultural markets, and help implement progressive resource-related policies at the local level. In FY 2000, USAID implemented agro-forestry and other natural resource management activities in Guinea's environmentally sensitive Fouta Djallon highlands (the watershed for three principal rivers of West Africa), and the Forest Region, including areas where environmental degradation has been accelerated with the influx of refugees. The violent clashes along Guinea's borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia, which started in September of 2000, have forced the suspension of the activities in the Forest Region, but USAID was able to quickly redeploy these project resources to other high priority geographic areas. In FY 2001 and FY 2002, USAID will continue to expand its activities within the Fouta Djallon highlands and possibly to other areas, including Upper Guinea, where UNHCR plans to move 80,000 refugees. As soon as the situation permits, USAID will resume its activities in the Forest Region.
USAID's interventions in health and family planning has improved donor collaboration in both the public and private sectors and developed effective, sustainable responses to the critical health constraints of the country. This strategic objective was instrumental in promoting the government's adoption of a national "Safe Motherhood" strategy (focussing on essential obstetric care), an integrated management of childhood illness action plan, as well as an exhaustive review of the national child immunization program. A wider acceptance of family planning (FP) practices in Guinea is evidenced in the 37 percent client increase of new FP clients at health centers in the USAID target areas. In addition, donor coordination and the successful leveraging of funds resulted in the implementation of a nationwide anemia study, considered to be the most comprehensive of its kind in a developing country.
The Education Strategic Objective continues to use effective low-cost strategies to enhance the quality and accessibility of basic education in Guinea. Interactive radio instruction for all six primary school grades is creating a groundswell of enthusiasm among 800,000 schoolchildren, and is introducing new teaching strategies, gender sensitivity and holistic learning methods to the country's 17,000 teachers in the private and public elementary school systems. At the national level, the Ministry of Education has used the Fundamental Quality and Equity Levels (FQEL) planning tool (developed with USAID assistance) extensively as the basis for primary education reform. Community participation activities also continue to reinforce school management through community training and empowerment in over 200 villages in target regions. These activities show a significant correlation between community empowerment and better school management, as well as an increase in girls' enrollment.
USAID has exercised strong leadership to help reshape the nature of Guinean politics toward more democratic norms at national and local levels, with conflict prevention as a crosscutting theme through its democracy and governance strategic objective. A USAID-sponsored three-day conflict prevention workshop, considered a breakthrough by domestic and international observers, brought together high-level administration, political, military and civil society leaders to openly discuss key problems affecting Guinea. USAID supported inter-party dialogues on national issues, generating a tremendous response by party leaders and members. This led directly to development of a Code of Good Conduct for peaceful legislative elections, the President's personal call for dialogue, and a Guinean-initiated inter-party working group to address issues of conflict. At the local level, training in revenue generation is building sustainable relationships between municipality governments and their communities through greater accountability and transparency.
Activity Data Sheets
- 675-001, Increased Use of Sustainable Natural Resource Management Practices
- 675-002, Increased Use of Essential Family Planning/Maternal Child Health and Sexually Transmitted Infections/AIDS-Prevention Services and Practices
- 675-003, Quality Basic Education Provided to a Larger Percentage of Guinean Children, with Emphasis on Girls and Rural Children
- 675-004, Improved Local and National Governance through Active Citizen Participation
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
