GUINEA

	FY 1998 Actual	FY 1999 Estimate	FY 2000 Request
Development Assistance	$9,200,000	$9,175,000	---
Development Fund for Africa	---	---	$10,000,000
Child Survival and Disease	$7,700,000	$7,786,000	$8,300,000
P.L. 480 Title II	$1,426,100	$2,248,000	$2,662,000

Introduction

The U.S. interest in supporting Guinea's development is based on the country's role as a positive and stabilizing force in the region. In addition to supplying troops for the U.S.-supported peacekeeping efforts in Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau, Guinea is accommodating the largest refugee population in Africa, coming from Liberia and Sierra Leone. Rich in mineral resources and agricultural potential, Guinea will also provide investment opportunities for U.S. investors attracted by the success of its ongoing economic and political reforms.

The Development Challenge

Guinea's human resource base and domestic economy are still recovering from the harsh rule under its former leader, Sekou Toure. Under his regime, civil society and the private sector were suppressed, a prosperous agriculture sector was devastated, the judicial system atrophied, and essential social services and infrastructure collapsed. State central planning destroyed the economy.

The current government has, however, undertaken a program of dramatic political and economic reforms. This program liberalized the economy, restrained public sector spending, controlled inflation, and stabilized the exchange rate. Primary school enrollment increased between 1990 and 1998 from 28% to 51%, and girls' enrollment from 17% to 35%. Implementation of the new national population policy will contribute to a reduction in population growth, and an increase in family planning services in over two-thirds of the public health centers.

For the past six years, Guinea has achieved increases in agricultural production, but without improved natural resource management, this growth cannot be sustained. In addition, several hundred thousand refugee farmers from Sierra Leone and Liberia have settled in a previously sparsely settled region containing one of the few remaining West African topical forests. This has created a serious environmental threat to the already stressed and fragile forest ecosystem, which if left unchecked, will result in significant environmental damage. Guinea's economic performance is also being adversely affected by the significant costs incurred by maintaining security at its borders, assisting international peace-keeping efforts in Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau, and sheltering 700,000 refugees.

In contrast to the instability in neighboring countries, Guinea has made significant strides toward building a democratic society. In December 1998, Guinea held peaceful, multi-party, presidential elections, the second in the country's history. These elections, in conjunction with the 1995 legislative elections, constitute a significant step forward in Guinea's democratic process. Guinea will continue to require strong support from USAID and the donors to strengthen its nascent democratic institutions and to narrow the gap which exists between its laws and the challenges to administrating government.

Guinea has enormous potential to become both an economic and political success. Without a much stronger human resource base, however, economic growth and democratization cannot be sustained. For this reason, USAID is making a concerted effort to build up that human resource base capacity within its basic education, natural resource management, democracy and governance, and health and family planning programs.

Other Donors

In 1997, Guinea's largest bilateral donor was France followed by Kuwait, Germany, and Japan). The United States was the fifth largest donor. Among the multilateral donors, the World Bank, the IMF, other U.N. Agencies, and the European Development Fund are among the leaders.

FY 2000 Program

The natural resource management activities will 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 build the capacity of local support organizations, transfer appropriate practices to 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. The USAID program will also provide assistance to enhance access to agricultural markets, stimulate non-agricultural enterprises, and help implement progressive resource-related policies at the local level. In FY 1999 USAID will begin implementation of an activity designed to address some of the environmental degradation caused by the influx of refugees into Guinea's forest region.

The family planning and maternal child health (FP/MCH), sexually transmitted disease (STD) and AIDS-prevention services activities will broaden access to and increase demand for health services, improve the quality of health care and strengthen the management and supervision of the decentralized primary health care system. The program will build on successes in responding to the demand for contraceptive products through the private sector. In addition, USAID is positioning itself to take the lead among donors in certain new health initiatives: micronutrients, bednets, integrated management of childhood illnesses and equity. USAID will continue to use monetized proceeds from P.L. 480 vegetable oil for investment in programs to promote nutrition and strengthen agricultural production.

The education activities will continue to support multi-donor efforts to reform the primary education. The reform aims to improve the quality and equity of primary schooling and increase local community participation. USAID assistance will improve the Ministry's planning, management, and decision-making capabilities; improve instruction through in-service teacher training and provide low-cost teacher and student materials; and improve opportunities for regional and gender equity by increasing local communities' capacity to directly support education. A major strategy to accomplish these goals is through increased community participation and decision-making, such as parent-teacher association development.

In the area of democracy and governance, USAID will expand support to reinforce the nascent civil society at the local level through training, institutional development, natural resource management and health and education programs. In addition, USAID will support civic education programs and targeted activities with national governance institutions such as the legislature and justice systems to increase the responsiveness of national decision-making to citizens’ interests. The program will also provide electoral assistance and support democratic local governance which requires the establishment of democratic institutions of political competition, rule of law, accountability, transparency and open public debate.

GUINEA

FY 2000 PROGRAM SUMMARY
(in thousands of Dollars)

USAID Mission Director, Harry F. Birnholz

USAID Strategic and Special Objectives	Economic Growth & Agriculture	Population & Health	Environment	Democracy	Human Capacity Development	Humanitarian Assistance	TOTALS
S.O. 1: Increased Use of Sustainable Natural Resources Management Practices - DFA - P.L. 480/II	300 ---	--- ---	4,000 ---	--- ---	--- ---	--- 1,600	4,300 1,600
S.O. 2: Increased Utilization of Reproductive Health Services and Products - DFA - CS - P.L. 480/II	--- --- ---	2,800 2,800 ---	--- --- ---	--- --- ---	--- --- ---	--- --- 1,062	2,800 2,800 1,062
S.O. 3: Quality Primary Education Provided to a Larger Percentage of Guinean Children - CS	---	---	---	---	5,500	---	5,500
S.O.4: Improve Local and National Governance through Active Citizen Participation - DFA	---	---	---	2,900	---	---	2,900
Totals: - DFA - CS - P.L. 480/II	300 --- ---	2,800 2,800 ---	4,000 --- ---	2,900 --- ---	--- 5,500 ---	--- --- 2,662	10,000 8,300 2,662

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ACTIVITY DATA SHEET

PROGRAM: Guinea
TITLE AND NUMBER: Increased Use of Sustainable Natural Resource Management Practices, 675-SO01
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 2000: $4,300,000 DFA; $1,600,000 P.L. 480 Title II
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1998 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2005

Summary: Guinean small landholders, who account for 96% of the rural population, have increasingly relied on extensive subsistence farming and environmentally inappropriate cropping patterns to satisfy their food needs. More marginal lands are being farmed, more fragile woodlands are converted to agriculture by slash-and-burn practices, and investment in the conservation of the natural resource base is very low. To help Guinea protect its fragile agro-ecological areas against accelerating environmental degradation, USAID initiated this objective in 1998, specifically to extend application of appropriate agricultural and natural resource management practices, increase income-generating opportunities for resource-poor rural households, and help Guinea conserve its natural resource base and biological diversity.

Small landholders, thousands of agricultural traders and small and micro-entrepreneurs, are direct beneficiaries of this objective. Strong emphasis will be placed on women, especially the socially and economically disadvantaged, as they play a crucial role in natural resource management. From the regional perspective, millions of people in other countries, whose livelihoods depend on the water flows in the three important rivers -- the Niger, the Senegal, and the Gambia -- which originate in the Fouta Djallon Highlands in Guinea, can be considered secondary beneficiaries. The success of this objective in improving water levels and river flows in the countries down-stream will contribute to sustainable economic activities in agriculture, livestock and fisheries throughout the region.

Key Results: The attainment of this objective will result in sustainable management of 100,000 hectares of tropical forests and 30,000 hectares of farm-land by: (1) improving the natural resource management capacity of community-based organizations; (2) increasing sustainable farm productivity; (3) developing income-generating non-farm small and microenterprises; and (4) establishing a policy environment which empowers local populations to manage their natural resources and promotes long-term investments in conserving the natural resource base.

Performance and Prospects: Ongoing USAID agricultural marketing, microenterprise development, and community-based natural resource management projects have made steady progress in achieving results. These activities lay a solid groundwork for the new agreement in natural resource management that was signed with the GOG in June 1998. USAID will launch in 1999 a new seven-year Expanded Natural Resource Management Activity that will build on the experience and lessons learned from ongoing USAID and other projects and become the centerpiece activity under this objective. In addition, USAID will begin implementation of a small natural resources management activity in the forest region of Guinea to address some of the environmental degradation caused by the influx of refugees.

Since 1993, through the pilot Natural Resource Management (NRM) project (1992-1999), USAID has assisted the Republic of Guinea in improving the management of natural resources in three targeted watersheds of the Fouta Djallon Highlands. The Guinean Forest Service has adopted a USAID model of joint community-government management of common natural resources which will greatly extend the impacts of the NRM project beyond the three targeted watersheds. Another positive result is the transformation of the public forest agent's role from a repressive regulation-enforcer to a technical advisor. Over 10,000 hectares of natural forest and community tree plantations have been protected through adoption of sustainable management plans. In addition, over 1,200 farmers have applied sustainable production practices on at least 170 hectares of land in project activity zones, improved natural resource management practices such as controlled burning have been widely adopted, cash crops have been introduced, and new village enterprises have brought additional income to villagers.

Under USAID’s Agricultural Marketing and Investment Project (AMIP, 1992-99), a Guinean NGO (FICA) has helped producers improve the marketing of their surplus farm production. FICA has recently established a market price information reporting system and a set of model commodity sales contracts which are being utilized on a pilot basis. These innovations have the potential to be extended on a wide scale to help improve efficiencies in Guinea’s agricultural marketing system. In addition, FICA is developing a management information system which will capitalize on AMIP-funded Leland Initiative Internet connectivity activities, nearing completion in three secondary Guinean cities, to improve its marketing services and information for farmers in outlying areas.

Under the Guinea Rural Enterprise Development Project (1991-99), a Guinean NGO/microfinance institution (PRIDE) has successfully established a national-level microcredit program which stimulates the development of micro- and small enterprises. To date, PRIDE has made more than 57,000 microcredit loans worth over $13 million, and 316 larger, medium-term loans totaling $500,000, and currently has a cumulative "portfolio at risk" of seven percent. Approximately 70% of loan recipients are women.

Other Donors: Natural resource management in Guinea is a multi-donor effort. The United Nations Development Program, France, Germany, Canada, the European Union, Italy, and the World Bank have supported activities in the ecologically fragile Fouta Djallon Highlands as well as in other regions of Guinea. Their total contributions are approximately about $270 million. The GOG has also contributed significantly to USAID and other donor activities.

Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies: USAID implements its ongoing activities through U.S. PVOs (Winrock, VITA, OICI), Guinean non-governmental organizations, U.S. Peace Corps, and the Guinean Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forests. Additional U.S. PVOs will be selected following a competitive bidding process for the new Expanded Natural Resource Management Activity.

Selected Performance Measures: Since activities under this Strategic Objective will be implemented in larger scale and scope in newly targeted geographic areas in Guinea, surveys will be conducted in 1999 to establish and/or refine the targets for the results indicators. These surveys will also serve to validate and/or modify the previously obtained baseline data.

Indicators	Baseline	FY2000	Target (2005)
-- Area of sustainably managed forests (hectares)	0 (1993)	40,000	100,000
-- Area of land under sustainable agricultural practices (hectares)	0 (1992)	300	30,000
-- Number of producers who invest in production practices	0 (1992)	1,700	15,000
-- Number of NRM plans developed by communities	0 (1993)	80	320
-- Number of non-ag production enterprises established or expanded	0 (1992)	10,000	29,000
-- Number of forests co-managed by community and government services	0 (1996)	3	12
-- Number of land-use agreements between land-owners and land-users	0 (1996)	40	125

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ACTIVITY DATA SHEET

PROGRAM: Guinea
TITLE AND NUMBER: Increased Utilization of Reproductive Health Services and Products, 675-SO02
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 2000: $2,800,000 DFA; $2,800,000 CS; $1,062,000 P.L. 480 Title II
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2005

Summary: Guinea's population of 6.8 million is rising quickly with a total fertility rate of 6.6% and a population growth rate of 2.8%. Contributing to the desire for many children is a high infant mortality rate, 210 per 1000. The maternal mortality rate in Guinea is 670 per 100,000. Based on these figures, the need for USAID to work in the health sector in Guinea is still needed.

Since 1992, USAID has helped increased the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) for modern methods from 1% to an estimated 3%. With the USAID program increasing the number of integrated health facilities, access of family planning services has expanded to over two million people in remote and sparsely populated regions of the country. Public knowledge of family planning and sexually transmitted illnesses and AIDS-prevention has also increased markedly due to USAID's information, education and communication (IEC) strategies. In addition, under a USAID program, a nationwide network of commercial outlets for family planning and HIV/AIDS-prevention products has been established.

Building on the current success of the previous health strategic objective, public sector integration and social marketing in the private sector, the new health objective expands its focus to include maternal and child health services and the treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. USAID Mission, in partnership with the Ministry of Health and other donors, is increasing utilization of these health services and products by increasing access, demand, and improving the quality of health care services and products. At the same time, USAID Mission with its partners, is strengthening management and supervision of Guinea's decentralized primary health care system. Critical to the success of the new objective is the building of sustainable partnerships with government ministries, donors, and NGOs and local communities.

The primary beneficiaries of USAID's current assistance under health are pregnant women, women of child-bearing age, children under five and sexually-active adults.

Key Results: The attainment of this objective will result in: (1) increased couple years protection (CYP), to approximately 88,173 in 2002; (2) increased number of integrated health centers in the target area to provide family planning services; (3) increased number of children 12 - 23 months receiving measles vaccine by age one; (4) increased prenatal care visits for women; and (5) improved management capacity to oversee the quality of work at health centers.

Performance and Prospects: Implementation performance has been slower than planned during the first year of the new health strategic objective. Public and private health sector activities, which previously were implemented under one agreement, were split apart and awarded separately. While this separation was considered essential to assure that both activities received adequate focus, it resulted in a slow down in implementation. The slow down in the public sector activity resulted from the long lead time required by the new grantee to begin implementation. It is expected that the 1st year slow start up will have no appreciable effect on the overall attainment of this objective..

In spite of these challenges, prospects in the years ahead appear favorable. In 1992, fewer than 200,000 condoms were distributed nationwide. This situation has changed enormously with over 3 million condoms sold in Guinea in 1998 through USAID activities. As a result of this increased distribution in condoms as well as in other family planning products, the CYP in 1998 was 44,254. One hundred and thirty-five of the one hundred and eighty-one health centers in the target area have been integrated and now offer family planning services.

Possible Adjustments to Plans: The health team is currently developing a strategy to address the problems identified above. The team has developed a 5 year budget plan and has revised annual estimates of funding needed during the early years of the health program. After a careful review of the program, the team has identified policy areas in which USAID has a comparative advantage and will become engaged in these areas with the GOG. Finally, the team has become active in a donor coordination group which meets quarterly and in some health areas and will be taking the lead to ensure donor coordination.

Host Country and Other Donors: Through government and donor coordination, a dedicated effort has been made to prevent duplication of efforts to ensure effective use of limited resources. This government-donor partnership has been crucial to establishing and sustaining the delivery of reproductive health services to Guineans. USAID and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) are currently the two major donors supporting reproductive health in Guinea and conducting similar activities in their respective target regions. UNFPA's budget is approximately $7.7 million for 1997-2001. Starting in 1999, the World Bank is also supporting reproductive health activities throughout the entire country with an estimated budget of $44 million dollars. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) provides assistance for the integration of immunization, nutrition and malaria- prevention activities into the national health system. The German Development Bank has co-financed social marketing activities with USAID at an estimated budget of $6.7 million from mid-1998 - 2002. A demographic health survey will start in the second quarter of 1999 with financing from USAID, UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank. Other donors include the European Community, the African Development Bank, the Italian Cooperation and Japan.

Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: Management Sciences for Health, Population Services International and its local affiliate, and Africare are the principal grantees for the implementation of the new family planning and health program.

Selected Performance Measures:

	Baseline	FY2000	Target 2002
Increased Couple Years Protection	40,834 (1997)	64,308	88,173
Increase in Integ Health Facilities	0% (1992)	90%	100%
Increased # children 12 - 23 months receiving measles vaccine by age 1	61.4% (1996)	72.8%	80%
Improved prenatal care    of women seeking PC)	14.8% (1992)	20%	25%
Improved manag cap in health facilities	2.7% (1998)	35%	76%

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ACTIVITY DATA SHEET

PROGRAM: Guinea
TITLE AND NUMBER: Quality Primary Education Provided to a Larger Percentage of Guinean Children, with Emphasis on Girls and Rural Children, 675- SOO3
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 2000: $5,500,000 CS
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2002

Summary: Since 1990, USAID has been part of a multi-donor effort to assist the Government of Guinea (GOG) implement its primary education sector reform program. The first phase of the reform, from 1990 - 1995, focused on increasing primary school enrollment, which stood at 28% (gross enrollment rate) in 1990. Initially, USAID leveraged increased GOG budget share for primary education. As a direct result, the GOG's allocation for its education sector budget rose from 13% of the national budget in 1989 to 26% in 1998. The second phase of the GOG primary education reform program (1996 - 2000) focuses on improving the quality and equity of education, and increasing local community participation in school-level education management. USAID supports these goals as part of a multi-donor effort, through the Fundamental Quality and Equity Levels (FQEL) Activity. The purpose is to ensure that an increasing number of school-aged children receive, on a more equitable basis, an improved quality of primary education which adequately prepares them for a productive role in Guinean society. The direct beneficiaries of USAID assistance in the education sector are the approximately 1.3 million primary school-aged children in Guinea and 14,000 primary school teachers. Intermediary beneficiaries include individuals and entities at the Ministry of Pre-University Education (MEPU) parents' associations, and community associations and Non Government Organizations (NGOs) that work to support primary schooling.

Key Results: The three intermediate results are: (1) Improving the MEPU strategic planning, management, and decision-making capabilities): a Fundamental Quality and Equity Levels' tracking and assessment system must be developed; (2) Improving instruction in primary schools: Provisional instructional objectives (Grades 1-4: math and French; Grades 5-6: math, French and science) have to be completed and approved by MEPU counterparts in a form suitable for instructional materials development; and (3) Improving opportunities for regional and gender equity in primary education: the number of primary schools with increased parental/community support in beneficiary regions needs to be increased.

Performance and Prospects: USAID was the first donor in Guinea to emphasize the issue of equity in primary schooling since the mid 1990's. USAID helped the Ministry of Education's Equity Committee to carry out a highly successful social awareness campaign for the education of girls and rural children in the mid-1990's. As a result, girls' gross enrollment rates for grades 1 - 6 rose from 17% to 37% between 1990 and 1998, and the share of girls enrollment in first grade went from 34% to 43%. Overall, the success of USAID and other donors' contributions to the GOG's education reform effort is reflected in the increase in the primary school gross enrollment rate, which rose from 28% in 1990 to 51% in 1998.

After their first year of implementation (1998), the U.S. NGOs World Education and Save the Children had reached the parent teachers' associations of 65 communities in some of the poorest areas in Guinea, providing them with practical skills training to improve their capacity to support primary education in their local schools. USAID activities strengthen strategic planning capacity and the link between planning and budgeting. Personnel are trained to analyze policy options within a context of budgetary and human resource limits. To improve classroom quality, USAID supports in-service teacher training and assists the National Pedagogical Institute to develop its capacity to produce low-cost teaching manuals and student materials. Eliminating biases and stereotyping in school materials and teaching methods is an important aspect of USAID's curriculum development effort. Several U.S. and Guinean NGOs are taking the lead in building the capacity of local NGOs and parent associations to increase community support for primary schooling. These efforts are taking place in some of the poorest rural communities in Guinea, where equity and access to education are major problems. USAID's Girls' and Women’s Education Activity works with the MEPU's Equity Committee and a newly formed National Working Group for Girls' Education to develop, plan, and manage activities that increase girls' and rural children's participation in education. Despite the progress to date, education activities have experienced delays due to the slow start-up by the one of the major contractors. These initial difficulties have been resolved, however, and implementation is proceeding according to the revised schedule.

Possible Adjustments to Plans: The two major activities in the education sector are projected to end in 2001, ahead of the 2002 PACD. In order to achieve the objectives set out in USAID/Guinea's strategic plan, the Education Team will design follow-on activities in FY 1999. These activities will be included in the new Strategic Objective Assistance Agreement which will be developed later in the fiscal year.

Other Donor Programs: The primary education reform program is one of the most successful examples of multi-donor cooperation. For the period 1996 - 2000, the World Bank education reform program will total approximately $53 million: 80% of this comes from the World Bank, 16% from the MEPU, and 4% from communities. USAID has committed $20 million, and the French Cooperation is financing approximately $5 million in technical assistance and training. The World Bank finances school construction, school nutrition programs, and school management micro-projects. The French Cooperation provides technical advice on monitoring and evaluation of program impact, personnel issues, and curriculum reform, particularly at the secondary level. Donors coordinate their activities through a series of joint reviews and informal round tables to collaborate on technical and policy issues. The GOG provides office space for technical advisors and pays the salaries of all Guinean participants in USAID's education activities as part of its contribution.

Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: USAID implements activities through a contract with Education Development Center and subcontractors Research Triangle Institute and Creative Associates, and grants to US NGOs World Education and Save the Children, and the local NGO affiliate of Plan International, "Plan Guinea".

Selected Performance Measures:

	Baseline	FY2000	Target(2002)
Gross Enrollment Rate	28% (1990)	56%	59%
Girls' Gross Enrollment Rate	17% (1990)	43%	46%
Rural Gross Enrollment Rate	21% (1990)	41%	44%
First Grade Admission Rate (7 years old)	49% (1997)	53%	53%
Girls' First Grade Adm Rate (7 years old)	40% (1997)	44%	44%
National Equity Strategy defined, approved, and being implemented		1999

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ACTIVITY DATA SHEET

PROGRAM: Guinea
TITLE AND NUMBER: Improved Local and National Governance through Active Citizen Participation, 675-SO04
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY2000, $2,900,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1998ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2005

Summary: The development challenge posed for the democracy and governance (D/G) strategic objective (SO) is to empower citizens at the grass-roots level to become accountable for actions governing their lives, at both the local and national levels. To meet this challenge, USAID has launched an objective whose purpose is to improve local and national governance through active citizen participation. In addition, USAID's New Partnerships Initiative supports private-public partnerships for improved governance across all four strategic objectives. Examples of these partnerships include training community level parent teacher associations, health management committees, and natural resource management committees.

The direct beneficiaries of these activities are the local population, and local government units charged with the responsibility of managing local human and financial resources.

Key Results: Four intermediate results for achieving the objective are: 1) Effective citizen participation in local government. Civil society strengthening activities in the Guinea Maritime region builds both local citizen organizations' and governmental units' capacity to democratically manage their own organizations and then to collaborate effectively with each other. As these activities increase citizen participation in local level governance they simultaneously increase citizen demand to participate in governance at more the national level. 2) A responsive National Assembly (NA). Through targeted interventions with the National Assembly, the D/G program will foster linkages between local and national level democratic governance. Following through on the successful NA educational visit to the U.S. in 1997, the D/G program will strengthen the NA’s capacities for internal administration and constituent relations. 3) More responsive political processes. Building on its activities in support of the presidential election (December 1998), USAID will provide support for both the upcoming legislative elections and municipal elections planned for the years 1999- 2000. 4) Effective articulation and promotion of citizen interests. A focused national NGO training program for key NGO partners working in each of USAID's four strategic objectives will increase these NGOs' capacity to articulate and advocate for their members' interests and to influence the GOG’s policies at the local and national level.

Performance Prospects: Given the positive initial steps Guinea has taken toward establishing a democratic society, the prospects for continued progress in this area is favorable. Many local government units now recover 100% of the local head tax, contract private businesses to manage weekly markets and other revenue-producing activities, and include citizens' participation in making decisions about important governance issues such as planning, budgeting, and infrastructure development. A U.S. study tour by 12 members of the National Assembly has resulted in a more responsive National Assembly to citizens' interests. For example, through advocacy by this group, a law already passed by the National Assembly and aimed at suing individuals for tardy payments of water bills was repealed as it was judged unfair to low-level wage earners. Due to effective training of poll watchers from various political parties and voters civic education campaign programs by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and support for the creation and function of the High Commission for the Electoral Process (HEC) provided by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Guinea experienced, on December 14, 1998, its most peaceful, highly participatory multi-party presidential election in its history.

The Cooperative League of the USA (CLUSA) provided training to 16 rural development communities and rural group enterprises, and technical assistance for improving the skills in mobilizing and managing local public resources. To ensure a free, fair and open multi-party presidential election, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) provided, at the national level, technical assistance to the Ministry of the Interior (MID), political parties, and to the High Commission for the Electoral Process. NDI trained 16,000 political party poll watchers and implemented voters civic education programs throughout the country in order to also ensure a more credible presidential election.

In FY 1999, USAID will continue to build on its positive experience as it prepares to expand its activities in the DG area. A number of studies will be undertaken to inform USAID's thinking on how best to formulate appropriate assistance packages in democracy and governance.

Possible Adjustments to plans: USAID's plans to strengthen the National Assembly in 1998 were delayed by unforeseen problems in recruiting an appropriate technical assistant. However, USAID has just completed a needs assessment of the National Assembly and the findings from this assessment will inform the design of USAID's assistance during FY1999. In addition, USAID will build on election results to develop activities for local government and National Assembly support in the year 2000.

Other Donor programs: France provides most of its support to strengthening government structures, particularly at the central level, and through material support and short-term training. The European Union and Canada provide support to NGOs and civil society strengthening, in material resources and training programs. Germany provides support (conferences and training programs) to civic advocacy groups, to state and independent media organizations, and to the National Assembly. The United Nations Development Program is currently developing a decentralization program with the GOG and hopes to get co-financing from other donors. The World Bank has recently begun its $180 million Village Support Project. USAID/Guinea intends to position its key partners (African Development Foundation (ADF), National Cooperative Business League (NCBA)) to leverage the Bank's resources and extend nation wide the D/G program's local civil society/governance strengthening activities.

Principal contractors and grantees: Activities are currently being implemented by the NCBA, IFES, NDI, ADF and some targeted NGOs. As USAID expands its activities, additional contractors and grantees will be identified.

Major Results Indicators:

	Baseline (1998)	FY2000	Target (2005)
% of comm in participatory impl of decision(s) made	10%	15%	40%
# of projects jointly designed/impl by local gov with civil society org	0	25	150
# of leg which organize consul mech with their constituents	0	5%	50%
Degree to which targeted elections are planned and held with part of major oppo pol parties, civil society	3 out of 5	3 out of 5	5 out of 5
# of advocacy initiatives designed executed by targeted civil society org networks.	0	50	300

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