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The Development Challenge.
The southern Africa region is currently undergoing a major political, economic and social transition, the outcome of which will be extremely important to the future interests of the United States. The brutal civil unrest that afflicted much of the region for more than three decades now appears to have subsided and the remaining autocratic regimes are rapidly giving way to fledgling democracies. Highly statist command economies are being restructured into open, free market economies where market forces rather than government bureaucracies determine the allocation of scarce resources in which conditions exist for the private sector to function as the engine of growth and job creation. A number of countries are already pursuing such liberalization measures as the privatization of state-owned enterprises, reduction in government functions and budgets, and deregulation permitting the private sector to expand. Interest in investment and trade is increasing. With improved trade throughout the region, the vital components for private enterprise development (market, money and management), which are currently in short supply, will become increasingly available and accessible.
Despite the progress that has been made, much more remains to be done before the roots of democracy and the foundations for a free market economy become irreversible. Residents of the region fear that the nascent democracies may topple in the face of ethnic tensions and economic pressures, especially since newly formed economic and political structures are weak. The World Bank has emphasized that in addition to the economic reforms already underway in the region, the following actions will be required to accelerate the region's aggregate economic growth. They include the reduction and rationalization of central government expenditures , improved investment policies, accelerating the expansion and diversification of exports, and improving the efficiency of the infrastructural base, especially through the reform of policies in the telecommunications and transportation sectors.
The final outcome of these political and economic transitions will depend on how well the governments in the region respond to the needs of their rapidly growing populations. The region is experiencing population growth rates that are presently among the highest in the world. The incidence of infant mortality and HIV/AIDS infection is also comparatively high. To make matters worse, the region is also prone to drought and food deficits since rainfall is highly variable, soils are fragile, and irrigation infrastructure is limited. Major droughts in 1992 and again in 1994 have inhibited efforts to increase agricultural productivity, and have required large infusions of food aid. Environmental degradation hasincreased, and the maintenance of biodiversity is threatened by the encroachment of human populations on wildlife habitats.
These developments bring with them challenges that require human and financial resources beyond the means of the individual countries within the region to supply. The problems identified transcend national boundaries. They are regional by nature and must be dealt with in coordinated fashion. This is an opportune time for the United States to advance its interests by supporting and strengthening the newly established democracies, stimulating economic growth, and reducing the need for costly humanitarian assistance in response to emergency situations.
Other Donors.
For decades the United States has been the major bilateral donor to the transport sector and the agriculture and natural resources sectors in the southern Africa region. USAID has collaborated with other donors on regional programs directed toward improved information and communications flow, rail and road infrastructure development, food security, human resources development, community-based natural resource management, and agricultural research. Since 1991, the United States has disbursed approximately US $426 million on regional programs in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region.
Two other significant donors in the region include the European Union (EU) and the Nordic countries. Through phase 1 of its Lome IV Convention, which ran from 1990-1995, the EU provided US $158 million for regional programs in the SADC region. The EU has focused its assistance on food security, agriculture and natural resources management, transport and communications, and human resource development. In carrying out its assistance, the EU is working closely with SADC, the regional organization responsible for coordination of development efforts in the region. The Nordic countries have obligated about US $360 million in support of regional programs between 1990 and 1995 (this sum includes pledges to the on-going SADC Program of Action).
Other major donors to SADC have included the World Bank, the African Development Bank, Great Britain, Germany, Canada, France, Japan, and Kuwait. The World Bank's support to SADC has focused mostly on regional transport and telecommunication infrastructure sectors. Private voluntary organizations and private and corporate foundations have also been active in the region.
FY 1997 Program.
USAID's approach for helping the southern African region to achieve equitable, sustainable economic growth and successful democracies is embodied in the Initiative for Southern Africa (ISA). The ISA complements bilateral programs in the region with programs that address development constraints needing a coordinated region-wide response or which help to build links between two or more countries in support of regional economic growth and democratic objectives. The ISA focuses in particular on addressing regional constraints to development in the areas of infrastructure, small and medium-scale business development, civic society and democratic governance and agriculture and natural resource management. Currently, the Initiative for Southern Africa (ISA) programs operate under a Start-up Strategic Framework which include provisional objectives, outcomes, targets and indicators. These program areas will be refined in the course of FY 1996 as USAID develops a long-term strategy for the southern Africa region.
Overall, the program supports three agency strategic goals, including building democracy; encouraging economic growth and protecting the environment.
Agency Goal: Building Democracy
Strategic objective number one of the ISA supports USAID's goal of fostering the growth of democraticinstitutions and political systems in recipient countries and regions. It contributes to U.S. foreign policy interests by promoting regional peace and stability. The formal structures of democracy are largely in place in southern Africa but what is far less well-rooted is a "culture of democracy" in which citizens understand and exercise their democratic rights and in which the fundamental obligation of accountability is accepted by their elected representatives and other participants in the formal structures of government. Through its individual country programs and the Southern Africa Regional Program (SARP), USAID assistance has been instrumental in promoting transitions from authoritarian rule to democratically elected governments in a number of countries. USAID also plans to extend its work in this area under the ISA through its five year, $10 million Southern Africa Regional Democracy Fund (SARDF). Initiated in FY 1995, SARDF will support mutually-reinforcing multi-country and region-wide activities to broaden citizens' appreciation of the importance of maintaining democratic advances. The Fund will also work to strengthen nascent civil society institutions by improving the capacity of indigenous organizations to inform citizens of their rights and responsibilities in a democracy, by providing training to enable legislators to more effectively represent constituents' interests and to manage the legislative process, and by empowering women to participate more fully in their nations' respective political lives. One of the grants awarded will train new female parliamentarians in Angola, Mozambique and Malawi, and encourage more women to run for local political offices.
Agency Goal: Encouraging Economic Growth
It is in the interest of the United States to help the southern Africa region to achieve equitable and sustainable economic growth. Just as U.S. investments in Asia and Latin America over the past three decades are now reaping substantial economic returns, USAID's assistance to this region is laying the foundation for expansion of U.S. exports and economic growth in the 21st century. In particular, USAID's investments in rail and road infrastructure over the past decade and current support for privatization and restructuring of telecommunications and railroads, are putting in place the key arteries along which trade and the information critical to private sector development will flow. The $100 million Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund, (SAEDF) established in late 1994, addresses the financial constraint faced by indigenous small and medium-sized enterprises. The accompanying technical assistance component will help these businesses to access and utilize effectively commercial financial resources. The Fund will be given added impetus by the Memorandum of Understanding that Vice President Gore signed with the SADC in December, 1995. In this agreement, the United States indicated its interest in assisting the twelve countries of SADC in developing a free trade zone, using the experience of the North American Free Trade Agreement as a guide. The members of SADC are anxious to replace aid with trade, and the USAID Regional Center located in Gaborone, Botswana is strategically placed to foster more and closer links between the countries in the region and the United States. Finally, USAID support for regionally-coordinated agricultural research and training has already begun to reap rich rewards in the form of an increased availability of higher yielding and/or drought resistant varieties of two of the region's most important crops for small farmers, sorghum and millet.
Three of the ISA's Strategic Objectives are fully consistent with and supportive of USAID's strategic goal of stimulating rapid balanced economic growth in recipient countries within the region.
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Encouraging Broad-based Economic Growth |
Stabilizing World Population Growth & Protecting Human Health |
Protecting the Environment |
Building |
Providing Humanitarian Assistance |
TOTALS |
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USAID Strategic Objectives |
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1. Enhance the Skills, Knowledge, and Capacity of Individuals and Groups Working to Strengthen Democratic Values and Processes in the Region - Dev. Fund for Africa |
2,445,000 |
200,000 |
2,645,000 |
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2. Increased Indigenous Business Development and Ownership - Dev. Fund for Africa |
12,890,000 |
400,000 |
13,290,000 |
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3. Establish Key Regional Conditions for Sustainable Increases of Agricultural and Natural Resources Productivity by Smallholders - Dev. Fund for Africa |
670,000 |
10,392,000 |
11,062,000 |
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4. Increased Efficiency, Reliability and Competitiveness of Regional Transport and Telecommunications Infrastructure - Dev. Fund for Africa |
11,715,000 |
11,715,000 |
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Totals - Dev. Fund for Africa - P.L. 480 Title II |
27,720,000 |
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10,792,000 |
200,000
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38,712,000 |
USAID Mission Director: Valerie Dickson-Horton
PROGRAM: INITIATIVE FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA
TITLE AND NUMBER: Enhance the Skills, Knowledge Base and Capacity of Individuals and Organizations Working to Strengthen the Democratic Processes and Values in Southern Africa,
690-S001
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1997: $3,000,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1996; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2000
Purpose: To enhance the skills, knowledge base and capacity of individuals and organizations working to strengthen democratic processes and values in southern Africa.
Background: Despite impressive gains in recent years, the roots of democracy in southern Africa remain shallow, and southern Africans fear their democracies may fail in the face of ethnic tensions and economic pressures. Among the critical weaknesses are a lack of widespread understanding of basic democratic rights and responsibilities and acceptance of such fundamental democratic tenets as the rule of law and human rights; governments lacking accountability and transparency; civic organizations, judiciaries and legislatures that are poorly equipped to hold government accountable for abuses of power; and the political marginalization of women and other major elements of society.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: Through its bilateral programs and earlier Southern Africa Regional Program, USAID assistance has been instrumental in a number of the transitions in the region from authoritarian rule to democratically-elected governments. Through its five year, $10 million Southern Africa Regional Democracy Fund (SARDF), authorized as part of the Initiative for Southern Africa (ISA) in August 1995, USAID will support multi-country and region-wide activities to extend the benefits of lessons learned throughout the region and to create linkages among groups across the region as a basis for building a regional network of mutually supportive advocacy and service groups promoting democratic values and processes.
Description: USAID's interim strategy is based on stakeholder discussions identifying impediments to democratization encountered throughout the region, and addresses impediments in three areas in which significant benefits from economies of scale and regional networking and sharing of experience can be anticipated. The strategy supports the initiatives of indigenous civil and governmental organizations that are working to ensure that (1) citizens understand how democracies function and their rights and responsibilities under their new democratic systems, (2) women's political participation increases, and (3) legislators have the knowledge and skills needed to effectively manage the legislative process, including an ability to build coalitions and resolve political disputes. A SARDF Project Committee, made up of citizens distinguished in democracy activities from throughout the region, has been constituted and is holding an inaugural meeting in February 1996. The meeting will review and approve SARDF grant-making criteria and initiate review of a longer-term strategy to promote democratic values and institutions region-wide under the ISA.
Host Country and Other Donors: Aid from other donors flows through a number of unconnected channels, e.g., official donors (both bilateral and multilateral), parliamentary groups, international organizations, quasi-non-government organizations (NGOs), independent NGOs, churches and academic institutions. Efforts to coordinate donor assistance at the national level have met with varying degrees of success. USAID is now actively coordinating with other donors as it commences its long-term strategy development process in Democracy and Governance.
Beneficiaries: Successful promotion and strengthening of democratic institutions will benefit the entire population of the region. USAID funding focusses on civil society organizations, women and legislators.
Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies: USAID will implement this activity through indigenous southern African NGOs and other entities, which may on occasion work with U.S. or other non-indigenous partners.
Major Results Indicators:
Baseline Target
Number of legislators employing skills or (0) (1995) 250 -500 trained (2002)
techniques transmitted through
project-supported activities
Number of organizations improving or (0) (1995) 50 (2002)
increasing civic education activity;
Number of organizations engaging for (0) (1995) 20 (2002)
first time in development or dissemination
of democracy-building information
Number of organizations employing new (0) (1995) 25 among five countries
or improved approaches for increasing (2002)
citizen participation in elected government (0) (1995) 10 among five countries
Number of assisted women's (2002)
groups/networks undertaking new advocacy
programs
Number of women employing skills or (0) (1995) 100 among five countries
techniques learned through project-funded (2002)
activities
PROGRAM: INITIATIVE FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA
TITLE AND NUMBER: Increased Indigenous Business Development and Ownership, 690-S002
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1997: $15,750,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 1999
Purpose: To provide increased jobs and incomes to the disadvantaged in southern Africa, USAID is financing the establishment of the Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund (SAEDF). SAEDF will provide financial services such as debt or equity financial guarantees and related technical and managerial services to small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). The fund will operate as an independent non-profit corporation but is expected to focus investments to ensure financial sustainability in order to continue to service the financial needs of SMEs.
Background: Investment and trade interest is seen to be increasing. The process is enhanced by the gradual cessation of civil strife in most of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries. The three vital components for enterprise development, "markets, management and money," are still in short supply, but with improved trade throughout the region, the markets will become increasingly attractive. The larger enterprises in most parts of the region will be able to take advantage of these new market opportunities, but SMEs will suffer from shortages of management and capital. More open markets, better management, and enhanced capital availability in the SME sector will ensure greater participation by lower income groups in the benefits of economic growth.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: The SAEDF has been established, with a sixteen-person board of directors (six representing southern Africa and ten from the U.S.), led by the chairman, Ambassador Andrew Young. The chief executive officer has been selected, and the SAEDF office opened in Johannesburg in January 1996. Fifty million dollars has been obligated and is available for SAEDF's immediate use. The technical assistance package to help the smaller of the SMEs to utilize the fund more effectively is in the final stages of design, and will come on stream as the Fund begins operations. Bilateral programs have already developed appropriate mechanisms to assist the fund to find suitable initial investments. In addition, under a separate activity USAID is supporting SADC efforts to move toward greater trade integration and liberalization. This effort will in turn enhance indigenous business development in the region by opening new market opportunities.
Description: The SAEDF will operate as an independent non-profit corporation but is expected to focus investments to ensure financial sustainability in order to continue to service the financial needs of SMEs. The SAEDF will be complemented by a technical assistance project aimed at improving the institutional capability of intermediary financial institutions in the region to service the technical, managerial and investment needs of the smallest enterprises in the SME sector. USAID will undertake analyses in support of this strategic objective and engage in policy dialogue with regional institutions, the private sector and governments, to expand trade and open markets.
Host Country and Other Donors: Since SAEDF will be able to meet only a fraction of the total annual investment needs of the SME sector (estimated between $800 million and $1 billion), USAID seeks to leverage its funds by encouraging other donors to participate in the fund directly or on a parallel or co-financing basis in SAEDF projects. Discussions have started with the Government of Japan, the European Union, the Nordic countries and the Commonwealth Development Fund.
Beneficiaries: Small and medium-scale enterprises in Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Tanzania, Mozambique, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.
Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies: SAEDF, Southern Africa Development Community
Major Results Indicators:1/
Baseline2/ Target2
An increase in the number of TBD TBD
indigenously-owned small and
medium-scale enterprises
PROGRAM: INITIATIVE FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA
TITLE AND NUMBER: Establish Key Regional Conditions for Sustainable Increases of Agricultural and Natural Resources Productivity by Smallholders, 690-S003.
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1997: $17,750,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1996; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 1999
Purpose: To establish the key regional conditions for sustainable increases in productivity of agriculture and natural resources by smallholders.
Background: Agriculture and natural resource-related production continues to be, the major force driving economic development in most southern African countries where over two-thirds of the population depends on agriculture for employment and income. The resource base -- including reserves of minerals, productive fisheries, and a diverse wildlife that sustains a growing eco-tourism -- less than eight percent of the land is arable, and subjected to growing degradation from drought, overgrazing and overharvesting. Productivity and production per capita declined in most countries over the past decade. USAID attempted to reverse this decline and to assist the region's poorest by investing in agricultural research on the subsistence food crops of small farmers -- sorghum, millet, cassava and sweet potatoes -- and in developing practices to sustainably manage wildlife in marginal areas.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: USAID assistance dates to the early 1980's, and has concentrated on assisting Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) coordination units to improve the effectiveness of regional research and training efforts in the agricultural and natural resource sectors, and in promoting community-based natural resources management in areas unsuitable for intensive agriculture. New activities financed under the Initiative for Southern Africa aim to encourage a greater role for the non-governmental sector in technology dissemination, environmental education, and in the analysis and development of appropriate environmental policies and strategies.
USAID provides support to the SADC agricultural and natural resources research coordination unit, Southern Africa Center for Cooperation in Agricultural Research (SACCAR), for its efforts in priority setting, regional coordination, and impact assessment, and sponsors the programs of three of the twelve regional research networks which SACCAR manages in collaboration with International Agricultural Research Centers and national agricultural research systems: the Sorghum and Millet Improvement Program and the Southern Africa Root Crops Research Network. In addition to providing the national agricultural research systems with high yielding varieties for local testing, these programs provide the national agricultural research systems with technical assistance, training and information. Over 25 final releases of sorghum and millet led to production increases in Namibia and Zimbabwe. Cassava and sweet potato lines are still in the selection stage in most of the SADC countries. Over 100 million farmers are targeted by SACCAR to receive improved crop, livestock and natural resource information and proven technologies. The research programs trained over 100 research scientists, 200 research technicians and over 800 national agricultural research systems decision makers and staff in various aspects of research management, thereby greatly strengthening regional program priority setting and implementation. Working with the ministers of agriculture and natural resources, SACCAR produced an eastern and southern Africa strategy for improving the working environment for agriculture in the region, which has been approved by the heads of state of the participating countries.
In order to assure local empowerment over natural resource assets, USAID has supported community-based natural resource management initiatives in four countries of the region -- Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- as well as regional networking and training initiatives supported by the SADC unit in charge of wildlife, which is based in Malawi. These community-based activities demonstrated that sustainable utilization of wildlife and indigenous plant species can be a viable alternative to unsustainable agricultural practices on marginal lands. Communities are now receiving hundreds ofthousands of dollars in new revenues each year through a variety of wildlife utilization schemes. Illegal activities have been reduced, employment generated and regional governments are now putting in place laws and policies which will promote and sustain these community-based efforts.
Description: USAID focusses on three major and two intermediate outcomes. The major outcomes are: (1) sustainable and profitable technologies and approaches developed and demonstrated for regional application, (2) regional policies in place which support sustainable productivity increases, and (3) mechanisms for regional sharing of information and technology institutionalized. The intermediate outcomes include: strengthened regional institutional capacity, and improved data and analysis for regional ecosystem management. Several activities initiated in FY 1995 requires additional funding in FY 1997, including a collaborative program with the World Conservation Union's Regional Office for Southern Africa. This program strengthens the capacity of the World Conservation Union's Regional Office for Southern Africa member organizations to effectively implement activities in the region in environmental economics, policy analysis, and environmental education. Support continues for a number of the ongoing agricultural research programs
, including community-based natural resources management activities and expanded data collection and policy analysis through such collaborations as the one initiated this year with regional universities through the University of Swaziland.
Host Country and Other Donors: In the agricultural and natural resource sector, host governments, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and donors collaborate on a daily basis. Many of USAID's programs are co-financed, and in the case of SACCAR, the SADC Member States contribute over 60% of the total operating costs. USAID remains the major donor in these two sectors. Other active donors are the European Union, German Aid Agency, and Nordic countries.
Beneficiaries: The primary beneficiaries of regional programs are the collaborating agencies and organizations through which assistance is delivered to smallholders, which benefit from institutional and human resource strengthening. The target groups of these organizations are an estimated 100 million subsistence farmers and smallholders living in marginally productive agricultural areas. .
Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies: The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and International Service for National Agricultural Research are grantees. Regional organizations such as the SADC Secretariat, SACCAR, World Conservation Union's Regional Office for Southern Africa, SADC/Wildlife, and several national universities are also acting as executing agents. International Non-governmental organizations such as World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, PACT or private contractors such as Chemonics are the implementors. In all cases, however, host governments are active participants and partners with USAID's regional programs.
Major Result Indicators:3/
Baseline4/ Target 2
Improved coordination of agricultural research programs on a TBD TBD
regional basis as evidenced by prioritized plans and investments
Improved dissemination of technologies TBD TBD
developed in regional programs to intended users
An improved data base on the region's natural resource TBD TBD
endowment upon which to base regional planning
Appropriate institutional models developed for TBD TBD
sustainable community-based management of natural resources
PROGRAM: Initiative for Southern Africa
TITLE AND NUMBER: Increased Efficiency, Reliability and Competitiveness of Regional Transport and Telecommunications Infrastructure, 690-S004.
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1997 $13,500,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1996; ESTIMATE COMPLETION DATE: FY 1999
Purpose: To increase the efficiency, reliability and competitiveness of regional transport and telecommunications infrastructure.
Background: Sustainable regional economic growth requires an efficient transport and telecommunication infrastructure. While the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region invested heavily in basic infrastructure in the past, its overall efficiency has been hindered by government monopolies, state-owned enterprises, restrictive polices, intrusive economic regulations, inefficient use of physical assets, and cumbersome and unreliable information generation and exchange. Additional investment has thus been discouraged, and overall transport and communications costs are increasing, reducing market opportunities for the private sector throughout the region, especially indigenous businesses and smallholder agriculture. USAID assistance to the sector dates to the early 1980's, when a primary objective was to reduce the region's dependence on transport through South Africa. A number of projects financed improvements to rail and road corridors, as well as operational improvements in government transport units.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: USAID's support is targeted towards improving efficiency of surface transport movement within the SADC region, assisting in restructuring the telecommunication sector in focus countries (Zambia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe), and improving the efficiency of the telecommunication network throughout the SADC region. In the rail sector, past USAID investments increased locomotive capacity on key regional rail links, restructured management of the TAZARA and Swazi rail lines, and made inroads in improving operating efficiencies in Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Building on these investments, USAID has sponsored the design and feasibility study of a rolling stock management information system to permit more efficient management of the region's existing rolling stock. In the transport sector, USAID support has been critical to the drafting of a set of regional protocols designed to harmonize policies, operating practices, and service standards governing transportation throughout the region. If implemented, these protocols will save both time and money for all who depend on cross-border transport of goods throughout the region, enhancing returns to intra-regional trade and investment. In the telecommunication sector, USAID is working with the Government of Zambia to assist in privatizing the national telecommunication company. This will lead not only to increased efficiency of existing services but will attract private investment, and with it, new technologies to this increasingly important sector. USAID is also assisting Zambia and Botswana to bring cellular telephone service to Lusaka and Gaborone and is providing advice and assistance to the new regulatory body in Zambia.
Description: The SADC Transport Efficiency project aims to restructure the transport sector through improved policies and technical improvements which increase efficiency and attract investment. Activities in the transport sector build upon a decade of USAID investment in the overall physical capacity of the railway corridors. Transport activities support the formulation of a regional transport sector policy agenda for the Southern African Transport and Communications Commission (SATCC). This agenda will enable SATCC to promote harmonized policies to encourage competition and improve efficiency. Additionally, USAID proposes to finance the procurement and installation of a rolling stock information system in the period March-June 1996 that will improve the operational efficiency of rail car deployment and utilization. A considerable savings of operating costs for the railway sector as wellas overall intermodal transportation is expected with the proposed installation of the rolling stock information system. SATCC states that the proposed Rolling Stock Information System will result in an annual benefit of 1.6 times the investment cost. In the telecommunication area, USAID is financing activities to improve the overall telecommunication network in the SADC region by assisting some of the SADC countries in their efforts at restructuring and privatizing. This activity will also help SATCC increase its capacity to assist SADC member countries to formulate policies in support of improved and efficient communication linkages within the southern Africa region and internationally.
A clear link exists between the development of SMEs and smallholder agricultural production and the availability of reliable and efficient regional transport and telecommunication networks. Furthermore, these activities will help develop a favorable climate for U.S. entrepreneurs to actively participate in joint ventures in telecommunications and other entrepreneurial activities in the SADC region.
Host Country and Other Donors: In the regional transport and telecommunication infrastructure sectors, USAID continues to play a dominant role along with the World Bank. USAID has collaborated with the World Bank on rail restructuring and privatization activities in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. USAID also coordinates its policy and regulatory reform program with the Canadian International Development Agency, which is implementing national capacity building programs to enable the rail sector to carry out needed reforms, and the design of its transport projects with the Overseas Development Agency of the United Kingdom. The World Bank is the major lender in the telecommunications field, financing restructuring activities in Tanzania and Zambia and a study of the telecommunication sector in Zimbabwe. The French aid agency has focused assistance on institutional reform of the rail sector, while the principal German aid agency, provided training modules at the national level for road and rail operators. The Japanese also have some activities in the region.
Beneficiaries: The entire population of the SADC region will benefit from the cost savings resulting from increased competitiveness and efficiency of the railways, as well as from the improved access to information provided by a reliable telecommunications system. The national railways, freight forwarders and commercial sector will directly benefit from the improved and efficient cargo tracking services provided by the national railways.
Principal Contractors, Grantees or Agencies: Price Waterhouse isl implementing the regional telecommunications restructuring program. A grant made to the International Telecommunication Union provides technical assistance to SATCC through two telecommunication specialists in policy and data base management. The Morrison Knudsen Corporation is assisting in undertaking the needs assessment, feasibility study and conceptual design for the rolling stock information system for the SADC railways. Abt Associates developed a policy framework for the technical protocols for the transport and communication sector. The final protocols are being developed by Nathan Associates.
Major Result indicators:5/
Baseline6/ Target2
Reduced rail transport costs; TBD TBD
Increased annual net tons carried/km on SADC railways; TBD TBD
Increased return on invested capital in SADC railways; TBD TBD
Increased level of investment in the public telecommunications operators; TBD TBD
Increased price competitivemness between US & SADC telecom operators, TBD TBD
Increased levels of intra-regional telephone traffic; TBD TBD