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INITIATIVE FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA
>> AFR Regional Overview >> ISA Overview
Development Challenge Summary Tables
Program Summary
USAID Search: Initiative for Southern Africa
Previous Years' Activities
2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 199751
Introduction
The southern Africa region, which contains Africa's most well-developed infrastructure and diverse natural resource base, has the potential to lead the rest of Africa into a more prosperous 21st century. The region comprises 14 countries spanning a geographical area the size of the continental United States, with a population of close to 200 million people. Through the Southern African Development Community (SADC), established by treaty in 1992, these countries are committed to regional economic cooperation and integration, as well as the environmentally sustainable use of the region's natural resources, human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Achievement of these objectives will create a larger, more stable and democratic trading partner with the United States.
With the creation of a larger integrated market, southern Africa will attract substantial domestic, regional and foreign investment and will have a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of over $175 billion. As southern African nations move forward on needed economic reforms, trade with the United States continues to expand. Seven of the top ten exporters from sub-Saharan Africa to the United States under the Generalized System of Preferences are members of SADC. Full achievement of a regional free trade area by 2008 is expected to contribute to a significant increase in economic growth, employment, and the standard of living throughout the region.
In response to the positive changes taking place in the region and the region's potential, USAID is undertaking the Initiative for Southern Africa (ISA). The purposes of the ISA are to encourage the region to continue with growth-oriented reforms; to expand economic and political cooperation; and to support the integration of South Africa's industrial, financial and technical resources into the regional economy in a manner that stimulates mutually beneficial development. The ISA complements and supports broader U.S. foreign policy initiatives, such as the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.
The Development Challenge
The countries of the region share many common features, including recent rapid economic and political changes and a commitment to a common development path. The debate in the region is no longer whether regional cooperation and integration should be pursued, but when, in what sectors, and under what institutional arrangements. Key challenges for increased regional achievement include underdeveloped democratic norms and standards, economic disparity and competing markets, as well as the devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic, politico-military conflicts, and recent natural disasters. Progress to date, especially in regional market integration and sustainable, well-established democracies, has not been without setbacks given the complexity of working with and through regional organizations.
The Initiative for Southern Africa's regional approach is USAID's response to these developmental and institutional challenges. Implemented by USAID's Regional Center for Southern Africa, the ISA is designed to work in several ways that differ from and complement USAID's bilateral programs. USAID's regional program interfaces with SADC and other regional partners including the private sector and non-governmental organizations and focuses on the challenges of regional integration that are largely cross-border in nature and beyond the reach of bilateral programs. USAID has actively participated, with regional partners, in promoting policy reform efforts at the national level in southern Africa, particularly those related to democratization and the liberalization of macroeconomic and trade-related policies. The ISA also supports the development and implementation of region-wide agreements, treaties and declarations in the areas of gender equity; transport and communications; trade; finance and investment; shared watercourses; and other transboundary natural resources.
Other Donors
USAID cooperates with other donors in promoting economic growth and increased cooperation in the region. Major donors involved in promoting regional market integration include the European Union, the United Kingdom, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank. USAID also collaborates with France and Canada on regional activities for improving trade, communication and information exchange; rail and road efficiency; finance and investment; food security; community-based and transboundary natural resource management; and agricultural research.
FY 2002 Program
USAID will sharpen its focus in four principal areas of regional significance: building democracy, encouraging broad-based economic growth through regional market integration, sustainable management of shared natural resources, and expanding commercial markets for agricultural technologies and commodities.
While formal democratic structures are largely in place in southern Africa, the region lacks a "culture of democracy" in which citizens understand and exercise their democratic rights and where governments consistently demonstrate accountability. USAID support for the promotion of democratic "best practices" throughout the region is generating increased momentum and achievement in the development of standards in areas such as anti-corruption initiatives, conduct of elections, and media diversity.
USAID's investments over the past decade to improve rail and road infrastructure efficiency, customs and trade liberalization, continued support for privatization, and restructuring of telecommunications and railroads are contributing to enhance the flow of trade and information critical to private sector development. FY 2002 activities will focus on areas critical to the region's economic integration and growth, such as implementation of a regional free trade area, and development of a finance and investment framework for the region to facilitate foreign investment. The Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund will continue to address the financial constraints faced by previously disadvantaged enterprises in the region.
Environmental degradation is a major problem in southern Africa. Continued expansion of livestock, crop production, and clearing of indigenous trees requires that communities and governments pay special attention to management of natural resources. Other major regional problems include latent and potential conflicts over the management of transboundary water and other resources. USAID's community-based natural resource management program has demonstrated that the sustainable use of wildlife and indigenous plants is a viable alternative. The 2002 program will build upon this approach as a foundation for a new, more ambitious effort to promote cooperation across national boundaries in the management of resources such as water, wildlife, and ecosystems.
USAID support for regionally coordinated agricultural research has reaped rich rewards through increased availability of higher-yielding and/or drought-resistant varieties of the region's important food crops. USAID will continue to focus on increasing the role and participation of commercial markets in marketing these agricultural and livestock technologies to accelerate adoption and facilitate agricultural trade in the region.
Activity Data Sheets
- 690-001, Increased Regional Capacity to Influence Democratic Performance
- 690-002, A More Integrated Regional Market
- 690-005, Create Capacity for More Informed Regional Decision Making
- 690-011, Broadened U.S.-SADC Cooperation
- 690-012, Increased Regional Cooperation in the Management of Shared Natural Resources
- 690-013, Expanded Commercial Markets for Agricultural Technologies and Commodities in the SADC Region
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
