WPC 2 ZBn Xx  @;X@Bibliogrphy6@Bibliography$=('L'-*'ȯ2.'-E Doc Init-6@Initialize Document Style'-*'ȯ2.'-E    I. 1. A. a.(1)(a) i) a)DocumentҲa1DocumentE+'ȯ2.Document Style(D_$=('L'-!*'F *  ׃  2qea2DocumentE+'ȯ2.Document Style(D_$=('L'-!*'*    a3DocumentE+'ȯ2.Document Style(D_$=('L'-!*'0     a4DocumentE+'ȯ2.Document Style(D_$=('L'-!*'   . a5DocumentE+'ȯ2.Document Style(D_$=('L'-!*'  2Ke p p ca6DocumentE+'ȯ2.Document Style(D_$=('L'-!*'  a7DocumentE+'ȯ2.Document Style(D_$=('L'-!*' ` ` ` a8DocumentE+'ȯ2.Document Style(D_$=('L'-!*' ` ` ` Tech Init"6@Initialize Technical Style-"*'ȯ2.'-E  1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 Technical2 } -^ a1Technical+'ȯ2.Technical Document StyleD_$=('L'-#*' 4!     a2Technical+'ȯ2.Technical Document StyleD_$=('L'-#*' *    a3Technical+'ȯ2.Technical Document StyleD_$=('L'-#*''   a4Technical+'ȯ2.Technical Document StyleD_$=('L'-#*'&   28 $  .  a5Technical+'ȯ2.Technical Document StyleD_$=('L'-#*'&   . a6Technical+'ȯ2.Technical Document StyleD_$=('L'-#*'&!"  . a7Technical+'ȯ2.Technical Document StyleD_$=('L'-#*'&#$  . a8Technical+'ȯ2.Technical Document StyleD_$=('L'-#*'&%&  . 2e*j &Pleading-$6@Header for numbered pleading paper*'ȯ2.'-E'(   ,#x  @;X@# X  y*dddyy*dddy HH1 HH2 HH3 HH4 HH5 HH6 HH7 HH8 HH9 H10 H11 H12 H13 H14 H15 H16 H17 H18 H19 H20 H21 H22 H23 H24 H25 H26 H27 H28   Ӳa1Right Par+'ȯ2.Right-Aligned Paragraph Numbers'L'-4*'8)*@   a2Right Par+'ȯ2.Right-Aligned Paragraph Numbers'L'-4*'A+,@` `  ` ` ` a3Right Par+'ȯ2.Right-Aligned Paragraph Numbers'L'-4*'J-.` ` @  ` `  2Da4Right Par+'ȯ2.Right-Aligned Paragraph Numbers'L'-4*'S/0` `  @  a5Right Par+'ȯ2.Right-Aligned Paragraph Numbers'L'-4*'\12` `  @hh# hhh a6Right Par+'ȯ2.Right-Aligned Paragraph Numbers'L'-4*'e34` `  hh#@( hh# a7Right Par+'ȯ2.Right-Aligned Paragraph Numbers'L'-4*'n56` `  hh#(@- ( 20[2a8Right Par+'ȯ2.Right-Aligned Paragraph Numbers'L'-4*'w78` `  hh#(-@pp2 -ppp X0Í ÍX0Í Íҫx  @;X@<  9`("Courier 10cpiXx  @;X@<  9`("Courier 10cpiXixP7P,xA`&Univers (Scalable)TxP7P,xA`&Univers (Scalable)ixP7P,xA`&Univers (Scalable)O P7P) `(CG Times (Scalable)ixP7P,xA`&Univers (Scalable)ixP7P,xA`&Univers (Scalable)ixP7P,xA`&Univers (Scalable)ixP 7P,xA`&Univers (Scalable)ixP 7P,xA`&Univers (Scalable)2#|x#ixP7P# SAHEL REGIONAL PROGRAM Đ FY 1997 Development Fund for Africa: $522,194 Introduction. The 47 million people in the nine Sahelian countries (Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Gambia, GuineaBissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal) are among the poorest in the world. The countries' annual per capita GDPs range from $200 to $700. The Sahel Regional Program (SRP) supports U.S. interests by increasing food security, thereby reducing the need for costly emergency assistance programs; by promoting political stability and by encouraging marketoriented development. The Sahel Regional Program complements USAID's bilateral programs in West Africa by supporting intra-regional dialogue and agreements to foster economic growth, democratization and food security that are beyond the scope of bilateral efforts but vital to sustainable economic and social progress in the region. The Development Challenge. The Sahel has a number of serious development challenges. The fragile ecological system, marked by historically high rates of deforestation, soil degradation and erosion, and a rapidly expanding population places a large portion of the population at continuous risk. Even in "good" years, the region is speckled with pockets of high vulnerability to food insecurity. Food security is further reduced by low and highly variable rates of economic growth. The region has a number of countries which have begun to shift to more participatory, more democratic institutions. The continued existence of these fragile institutions depends on establishing and maintaining sustainable, broadbased economic growth. Past attempts by governments to manage national economies via stateowned and operated agricultural and industrial parastatal organizations, and via extensive regulation and taxation (both formal and informal) in almost all parts of business activity, have pushed a large portion of economic activity into the informal sector, where training and access to credit and regional and world markets are limited. The region has become more and more dependent on food imports (increasing annually at 12%), while export activity has not kept pace (increasing annually at 5%). Only about 6% of total recorded trade in West Africa is intraregional. The Sahel has a number of development constraints, but there are also some opportunities. The states have recognized that they are interdependent, both among themselves and with the coastal states, and have taken steps to adjust to this reality. One of the oldest and most positive steps was the creation of the Permanent Interstate Committee for the Control of Drought in the Sahel (CILSS), which, despite the high food vulnerability of the region, has been credited with helping to avoid famine by increased coordination both among CILSS states and with the donors in their consortium, the Club du Sahel. Jointly, CILSS and the donors have established one of the best early warning/monitoring systems in Africa. CILSS has also recently expanded its mandate to include relations with coastal states, which represent important markets for both productive inputs and locally produced goods. Finally, there is a growing emphasis on greater participation at all levels of civil society. Until recently the bloc of West African countries which use a common monetary system (the African Financial Community Franc, or CFA), employed monetary and fiscal policies which held inflation at low levels relative to the nonCFA countries, but which also destroyed their competitiveness in the world markets. In January 1994, the countries in the two CFA monetary unions devalued the CFA by 50%, the first devaluation since the currency was created in 1948. This devaluation, along with intensified structural adjustment programs and debt rescheduling, has placed these countries on a course which is much more optimistic for growth and development. The Sahel Regional Program is structured to advance this process, which will be sustained in the transition to the broader, West Africa regional strategy, which USAID will develop during 1996 and 1997. Other Donors. The Sahel Regional Program (SRP) is characterized by a uniquely close and cooperative relationship among donors to the Sahel. The program supports USAID membership and participation in the Club du Sahel, the donor consortium and counterpart to the CILSS system. Club membership is comprised mainly of bilateral donors Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, France, Germany, Netherlands and the United States and a few multilateral donors the European Union, some of the U.N. specialized agencies and the World Bank. Major contributors to the CILSS system are Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States. The Club was organized for a variety of purposes. It serves as a forum for discussing development issues with Sahelian state and civil society partners and as a means of coordination among the donors, as well as providing an analytical base for the development forum. Its 1996 budget is approximately $2.2 million. The United States is the largest donor (26%), followed by France (18%), Canada (14%) Germany (12%), the Netherlands (11%) and Switzerland (11%). Donor flows to CILSS are comprised of both direct financial and project support and indirect support in the form of limited technical assistance. USAID provided about 22% of the total CILSS 1996 budget of approximately $73 million. FY 1997 Program. The Sahel Regional Program has three strategic objectives, which together contribute to increased food security and ecological balance in Sahelian West Africa. The program undertakes truly regional activities, that is, addressing issues that cut across national boundaries, and that also complement bilateral programs. The SRP especially focuses on Africanled dialogues on important regional policy and program issues, and on donor coordination. Local participation in policy and program formation is promoted. The majority of the program is implemented through CILSS institutions: INSAH (the Institute of the Sahel), CERPOD (Center for Studies and Research on Population and Development, which is part of INSAH), AGRHYMET (Regional Agroclimatological, Hydrological and Meteorological Institute), and programs at CILSS headquarters. Agency Goal: Encouraging Broadbased Economic Growth. While the Sahelian countries have a greater relative share of regional trade than other parts of West Africa, it is still well below potential, which represents a considerable loss in growth potential. The 1994 devaluation of the CFA helped eliminate a major constraint, but there are still numerous formal and informal barriers to trade which continue to limit individuals' abilities to benefit from the improved macroeconomic environment. Strategic Objective 1 of the Sahel Regional Program pursues broadbased economic growth by addressing policy and regulatory impediments to the development of local markets and exports, especially the enabling environment affecting agriculture and commerce. A minimal $121,000 is planned for this strategic objective in FY 1997, intended primarily to maintain communication on activities funded in FY 1996. The program supports two types of activity: (1) dialogue on monetary and trade policy at the regional level; and, (2) private sector efforts to identify and eliminate barriers to trade in the region. The first activity puts analyses into the hands of stakeholders and policy decision makers and brings these actors together to negotiate policy changes that affect more than one state in the region. The second is focused on assuring that stakeholders, particularly those in the private sector, are active participants in the identification and implementation of concrete steps to reduce barriers to trade in the region. The Livestock Action Plan (LAP) for Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Togo is an example of a specific trade barrier reduction activity under Strategic Objective 1. The LAP is implemented by CILSS, which provides policy analysis and facilitates dialogue on policy and regulatory issues, as well as a forum for negotiation. A combination of government and private sector individuals in the five countries have worked together successfully to eliminate several formal and informal constraints to livestock trade. The activity was expanded to Togo and Ghana in FY 1996 and may include Niger in FY 1997. The Program also helped establish the West African Enterprise Network (WAEN), a private organization with chapters in eleven West African countries, which takes a very practical approach to strengthening the business environment in the region. For example, it has helped organize contact between banks across monetary systems in the region to facilitate trade transactions, and it has been designated as the private sector contact for dialogue on policy issues in several countries and by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).  Strategic Objective 1:Assist National Governments, Regional Institutions and Private Sector Associations to Identify, Clarify, and Implement Policy Options which Promote Trade and Investment in the West Africa Region. Agency Goal: Building Democracy The second strategic objective addresses USAID's strategy of enhancing the presence and capability of intermediary organizations, such as labor unions, business associations, media outlets, educational institutions and civic groups in West Africa as aspects of effective civil societies. The topics of the analysis and dialogue promoted by Strategic Objective 2 support the SRP strategy of environmental protection and encouraging broadbased economic growth in the region. A total of $645,000 is planned for this strategic objective in FY 1997, of which $594,789 is attributed to individual country levels. Attention is focused on strengthening civic actors through regional networking and dialogue to share effective strategies for decentralizing resource management and improving the balance of power between civil society and government entities from the community to the national level. Three sorts of activities are undertaken in achieving the strategic objective: a) strengthening the capacity of groups in civil society particularly representatives of grassrootslevel organizations to actively participate in the dialogue, b) supporting their actual attendance at regional conferences, and c) supporting the development by Sahelian institutions of materials that will serve as the basis of discussion at the regional level. One of its primary effects is to strengthen the presence and capacity of rural organizations in the establishment of regional policies and programs, especially as they relate to decentralized authority for natural resource management.  Strategic Objective 2:Promote Dialogue on the Role of Civil Society and Communal, Local and National Governments in Achieving Regional Objectives in the Management of Natural Resources, Food Security, and Market Development. Agency Goal: Stabilizing World Population Growth and Protecting Human Health Strategic Objective 3 supports decision makers' access to important environmental and food security information by improving the regional monitoring systems of selected West African institutions. USAID supports specialized regional institutions under CILSS. Activities at AGRHYMET and CERPOD provide services to CILSS member states (environmental monitoring, population policy and demographic analysis). Support includes measures to improve institutional sustainability, including assurance of the provision of information and analytical services to member states (population policy and analyses, natural resource management, agricultural policy and food security analyses and related dialogue that reflects regional, as well as national information). A total of $4,334,000 is planned for this SO in FY 1997, with $3,983,017 attributed to country levels . The activities supported by the regional program are aimed at increasing the capacity of West Africans to guide their own institutions in their own interests, and to make policies that take account of natural synergies and economies of scale. An important part of the activity under this strategic objective is aimed at maintaining (and improving) coordination between and among donors, CILSS, and West African states. This coordination helped the CILSS system complete a major reorganization which has resulted in muchimproved financial, management and administrative systems and improved program planning in CILSS. There is some longerterm concern over the ability of the West African states to sustain levels of financing needed to support regional institutions, but careful management, identification and pursuit of common priorities, and coordinated donor support can help overcome this constraint. In fact, CILSS is now well into implementing its first Threeyear Workplan under the reorganization. This Plan guides the institution's activities and helps to focus donor assistance.  Strategic Objective 3:Decision Makers have Ready Access to Relevant Information on Food Security, Population and the Environment n SAHEL REGIONAL PROGRAM _ FY 1997 PROGRAM SUMMARY ă #TxP7P##ixP7P# | ddx Z ddx Z | *  *#O P7P# Encouraging Broadbased Economic GrowthStabilizing Population Growth & Protecting Human Health  Protecting the Environment Building Democracy Providing Humanitarian Assistance  TOTALS *  *USAID Strategic Objectives*  *1. Assist National Governments, Regional Institutions and Private Sector Associations to Identify, Clarify, and Implement Policy Options which Promote Trade and Investment in the West Africa Region Dev. Fund for Africa  121,000      121,000*  *2. Promote Dialogue on the Role of Civil Society and Communal, Local and National Governments in Achieving Regional Objectives in the Management of Natural Resources, Food Security, and Market Development. Dev. Fund for Africa     50,211  50,211*  *3. Decision Makers Have Ready Access to Relevant Information on Food Security, Population and the Environment Dev. Fund for Africa  81,278 101,857 167,848   350,983*            * Totals Dev. Fund for Africa 202,278  101,857  167,848  50,211   522,194 #ixP7P# Note: The $522,194 shown in this table excludes $4,577,806 in Sahel Regional Program funds which have been attributed to country planning base levels. `V(#)Sahel Regional Program Officer in Charge: Joan Atherton #ACTIVITY DATA SHEET PROGRAM: SAHEL REGIONAL TITLE AND NUMBER: Assist National Governments, Regional Institutions and Private Sector Associations to Identify, Clarify, and Implement Policy Options which Promote Trade and Investment in the West Africa Region, 625S001 STATUS: Continuing PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1997: $121,000 DFA INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2002 Purpose: To improve trade and investment in SahelWest Africa by strengthening African leadership and intraregional cooperation in determining trade and investment policy and regulation in the region. Both public and private sector participation are supported. Background: Analysis of economic performance in the Sahel has surfaced a continuing need to broaden and deepen markets for agricultural and industrial goods if food security is to be increased. This requires that governments pursue some form of economic cooperation. Despite various formal efforts at market integration and regional economic cooperation, the market has remained shallow and thin, with little private sector participation in decision making. USAID Role and Achievements to Date: The Sahel Regional Program has supported three activities: the Mali/Burkina Faso/Cote d'Ivoire/Ghana/Togo Livestock Action Plan (LAP); the West Africa Enterprise Network (WAEN), and a Permanent Interstate Committee for the Control of Drought in the Sahel (CILSS) trade policy project. USAID's role has been to provide strategic technical assistance and institutional support to 1) enhance the voice of the private sector on key issues and 2) bring practical applications and approaches to a nontransparent, highly politicized policymaking process. In the two years since the WAEN was created, USAID technical assistance has helped it grow into a selfsupporting organization with chapters in 11 countries and a total of about 300 members, most of whom operate small businesses as defined under the Agency's New Partnership Initiative. USAID has helped establish a collaborative effort among CILSS, the governments of Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Togo and interested parties in the private sector which has helped to reduced tariffs and taxes on livestock, led to simplified export licensing and other documentation, and helped improve market information on livestock trade in the region. The government and private sector operators in Niger have asked to be included in this activity. The CILSS trade policy activity is constructed to facilitate dialogue on and coordination of the elimination of trade barriers in the region, and has adopted the USAID approach as a model. Description: This activity pursues broadbased economic growth by supporting African stakeholders to identify and address policy and regulatory impediments affecting agriculture and commerce. These stakeholders then define and take actions that enhance the development of intraregional markets and exports. Planned funding for this strategic objective in FY 1997, at $121,000, is intended to help maintain contact and communications among principal actors in the region and to monitor activities begun in FY 1996. To achieve greater intraregional trade volumes and reduced transaction costs, USAID supports negotiation of intercountry reforms at regional fora and analyses of monetary and trade issues of importance to West African countries. The first activity is focused on stakeholder participation and development and implementation of action plans by private sector groups interacting with public sector decision makers. USAID provides technical assistance and strategic direct support to ensure that the negotiations occur, and that progress is made. For example, in 1995, privatepublic dialogue resulted in the complete abolition of export taxes on the Malian and Burkinabe livestock headed to the Ivorian market. The second activity is primarily research and dialogue, where U.S. technical expertise in agricultural commodity trade is provided to African partners who use it as the basis for formulating their policy positions. Identification of potential local markets and impediments to exploiting those markets allows specific groups of stakeholders to reach agreement on needed reforms. Host Country and Other Donors: West African states and the principal bilateral and multilateral donors to the region recognize the potential of intraregional trade to strengthen broadbased economic growth. The rapid success of the WAEN has drawn considerable donor interest, with a real possibility that it would become donordependent because of excessive donor support. At USAID insistence, a unit has been created in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (associated with the Club du Sahel) to coordinate donor support to the WAEN to avoid the problem of excessive donor interference. German, European Union, Canadian and French assistance has been committed to support the network. USAID assistance to the WAEN will be phased out in 1997. Direct support to the LAP, which has embodied both public and private sector actors, has shifted to the CILSS trade policy activity to which Canada, France and the Netherlands are also contributing. Under this activity, USAID will begin work with ECOWAS in pursuing the latter's mandate of regional economic integration. USAID will assist ECOWAS to implement specific trade protocols and to establish a forum for policy negotiation following the successful models already developed by the SRP. Beneficiaries: The majority of the Sahelian adult population is rural and agrarian, and engages in livestock production and trade. Urbanization in the coastal states is occurring rapidly, and these cities and towns are the fastestgrowing markets for livestock products. Thus, at least half of the 260 million people in West Africa who produce, trade, and consume local products are likely to benefit from lowered trade restrictions, increased trade, and increased economic activity. Major beneficiaries will be the rural poor, especially women, because they tend to produce the commodities with the greatest potential for increased regional trade, and urban poor consumers for whom the costs of purchasing local commodities declines. Since women principally purchase and prepare food in urban areas, a substantial benefit will flow to them. Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: Activities are implemented through grants to The Club du Sahel and to CILSS, and via contracts between USAID and U.S. entities, including The Mitchell Group, and Management Systems International. Major Results Indicators: ` ` ` hhhpppBaseline   Target Number of countries which use comparative advantage as a basis for setting trade policy.ppp0 (1993)    6 (2002)X0ÍX0Íu#ixP7P# ÍCILSS member country policies and action plans.u Transactions costs for major commodities in regional trade reduced 20%.hhhppp0% (1993)  <20% (2002)o#ixP7P# ÍCILSS, USAID and private sector analyses.o #ACTIVITY DATA SHEET PROGRAM: SAHEL REGIONAL TITLE AND NUMBER: Promote Dialogue on the Role of Civil Society and Communal, Local and National Governments in Achieving Regional Objectives in the Management of Natural Resources, Food Security, and Market Development, 625S002 STATUS: New PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1997: $645,000 DFA INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2002 Purpose: To promote dialogue and mutual action on issues of political and economic participation, pluralism and effectiveness and responsiveness of government. Background: Regional cooperation plays an important role in encouraging transition to and consolidation of democratic institutions and improved governance. The use of a regional framework to facilitate the sharing of information, exchange of experiences, and the identification of problems and alternative solutions can lead to efficiencies in developing approaches to democracy and improved governance suitable to the Sahelian context. Sharing of perspectives, ideas and experiences among governments, NGOs and private sector actors in the region will serve as a catalyst for democratization and improved governance. And regional exchanges, analyses, and debates can play a unique role in fostering African leadership and expertise in defining principles, and shaping institutions and approaches consistent with realities of West African countries. Since the source of much internal conflict is rooted in issues of democracy and governance, regional exchanges on these issues can provide a framework for reducing the potential for intra and interstate conflict. USAID Role and Achievements to Date: A series of the Permanent Interstate Committee for the Control of Drought (CILSS)/Club du Sahel (Club) studies and meetings, catalyzed with USAID funding and expertise, culminated in The Praia Declaration, the outcome of a CILSS/Clubsponsored Regional Conference on Land Tenure and Decentralization in Praia, Cape Verde in June 1994. The Declaration consists of policy recommendations which bear on the legal recognition of local institutions, the authority of citizens to constitute new jurisdictions and the recourse of citizens faced with arbitrary decisions. In a written "platform", rural grassroots representatives attending the Conference asked that: 1) CILSS establish a permanent arrangement to monitor the implementation of the Praia recommendations and proposed that their network of rural organizations be incorporated into the process and 2) that the rural network be accorded observer status at all CILSS meetings which concern rural organizations. To date, national workshops to disseminate the results and recommendations of the Praia Conference have been held in eight Sahelian countries, several countries have initiated national followup actions, the rural network has been given official status at CILSS meetings, case studies of country experiences with decentralization are underway and an inventory of legal statuses and recent changes is being done with USAID direct support and technical assistance. Description: This activity contributes to three of the Agency's goals in an integrated fashion: encouraging broadbased economic growth; building democracy; and protecting the environment. This strategic objective responds to the need for institutionalized economic and political participation and decentralized democratic governance in order to sustain improvements and ensure program impact in Sahelian Africa. Planned funding for this strategic objective in Fy 1997 is $645,000, of which all but $50,211 is attributed to individual country levels. Attention is focused on strengthening institutions through regional networking and dialogue to support the development of an effective partnership between civil society and government entities from the community to the national level. Experience has shown that devolution of governance in the Sahel allows local markets to flourish, contributes to food security and improves the effectiveness of natural resources management; hence this activity cuts across and reinforces the other two activities in the Sahel Regional Program. Three sorts of activities are being undertaken to achieve the strategic objective: a) strengthening the capacity of groups in civil society to actively participate in the dialogue, b) supporting the dialogue between these groups and government entities at regional conferences, and c) supporting the development by Sahelian individuals and institutions of materials that will serve as the basis of discussion at regional exchanges. These materials include, for example, documentation of the special constraints faced by women, herders and other traditionally disadvantaged groups in obtaining and using natural resources; building a database of successful experiences in decentralized natural resources management; and documentation of local public service provision funded locally and of alternative land tenure conflict resolution practices. Host Country and Other Donors: Two of the major activities have been designed and are being implemented by CILSS, representing the nine Sahelian states who are its members. The activities receive funding from Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, France, the United States and the United Nations SudanoSahel Office. Participation by WAEN members (11 country chapters with 350 members and a regional network) in policy debates on economic policy is regarded as contributing to civil society development and debate. USAID supports the WAEN through its contribution to a trust fund managed by the Club du Sahel. The Club du Sahel is supported in its collaborative activities with the CILSS to foster dialogue by France, Germany, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Japan and the United States. Beneficiaries: Direct beneficiaries are members of rural communities who achieve greater control over their local natural resources and better, more localized mechanisms for conflict resolution. Since 80% of the population in the Sahel is rural, approximately 37 million people could benefit directly. Problems of women, pastoralists and youth in resource control and access are specially targeted. Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: USAID provides support to this activity via grants to the Club du Sahel and CILSS and via contracts with U.S. entities, including The Mitchell Group, Inc., the University of WisconsinLand Tenure Center and Associates in Rural Development (ARD). Major Results Indicators: ` ` ` hhh-pp2Baseline   xxATarget Number of regional meetings on the role of civil society and governance in improving natural resources management, public service delivery and food security. hh#(-ppp0 (1994)  <xxA8 (2002)o#ixP 7P# ÍSource: minutes and accounts of meetings.o Number of planning,implementation and followup of decisions in which relevant stakeholders are included.` `  hh#(-pppNone (1993)  <xxxMajority (2002) Percent of decisions which reflect positions put forward by stakeholders. hhh(0% (1993)  <60% (2002) #ACTIVITY DATA SHEET PROGRAM: SAHEL REGIONAL TITLE AND NUMBER: Decision Makers have Ready Access to Information on Food Security, Population and Environment, 625S003 STATUS: New PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1997: $4,334,000 DFA INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2002 Purpose: To improve food security and environmental equilibrium in the Sahel Background: Activities under this SO are at the core of the regional program. They emphasize information and analysis of regional issues, especially natural resource management, environmental policy, population policy and programs, and economic analysis in support of improved food and agricultural policies in the region. The intent is to enhance and expand efforts at regional coordination that have been successfully undertaken by the regional institutions such as the Permanent Interstate Committee for the Control of Drought in the Sahel (CILSS)/Club du Sahel (Club) complex, supported by the member states, by USAID, and by other donors. Regionallevel policy decisions and guidelines regarding environment, population, food security, and food aid relate directly to the goal of the CILSS and have been supported by the member states for some time. This effort reinforces the realization by AGRHYMET (Regional Agroclimatological, Hydrological and Meteorological Institute), INSAH (the Institute of the Sahel) and CERPOD (The Center for Studies and Research on Population and Development) that a broader, West African, orientation is necessary to achieving sustainable growth in the Sahel, as well as commensurate policy decisions and policy implementation by CILSS member states. USAID Role and Achievements to Date: USAID and other donor support to the CILSS system over the years has helped assure that population policy programs, donor coordination, food security monitoring, and disaster mitigation systems are fairly well established. Major accomplishments are: 1) that food crises in the Sahel have been averted by helping CILSS member countries to create food early warning and food monitoring systems; 2) that efficiencies have been gained from the coordination of food aid, food policy; and 3) that food need assessments in the region have improved in accuracy. The region has made a strong commitment to keeping its population in balance with its limited resources, with all nine countries moving from pronatalist to profamily planning policies over the past 10 years. CILSS has taken the lead in implementing the Africa Annex to the Desertification Convention, which has been drafted and signed, and the Early Action Programme for Africa has been initiated. Primarily with USAID support, all of the CILSS institutions have begun to strengthen their analytic, financial, management and strategic planning systems, and they have begun to institute client "needs" surveys. Description: This activity supports Sahelian institutions in the generation of information on important food security and environmental topics, and facilitates access by Sahelian and donor decision makers to that information. Planned funding for this strategic objective is $4,334,000, of which all but $350,983 is attributed to individual country levels. Through the activities under this effort, monitoring systems for the key variables in the fragile Sahelian environment are created and strengthened. Program activities have been implemented via USAID projects which provide support to regional institutions under the CILSS umbrella (CILSS headquarters, INSAH, CERPOD and AGRHYMET). Activities related to AGRHYMET and CERPOD help provide services to CILSS member states (resource monitoring, early warning, population policy, strategy, and action plan development and implementation). Support to INSAH helps with institutional development and the provision of services to member states (natural resource management, agricultural policy and food security analyses and related dialogue). Support to CILSS headquarters fosters discussion of key policy issues in a regional context, and enhances system management capacity. Host Country and Other Donors: These activities support key CILSS services to its nine member states, and are collaboratively funded with France, Germany, the Netherlands, the European Union, the United Nations specialized agencies, Canada, and the United States. The Club du Sahel facilitates donor coordination on food aid and antidesertification measures in the region. In addition to the donors to the CILSS, the Club also receives support from Japan, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland. Beneficiaries: Direct beneficiaries are CILSS member states and indirectly their rural populations via improved information, better strategic planning, and imported regional cooperation in the areas of agricultural and food policy research; natural resource management; population policy making, program planning and demographic research and related information exchange on food security and natural resource themes. Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: USAID provides support to this activity via grants to the Club du Sahel and CILSS and via contracts with U.S. entities, including Associates in Rural Development, Futures Group, Inc., Michigan State University, Bureau of the Census, University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University, Family Health International and the INTERCRSP university consortium (Virginia Polytechnical Institute and State University, managing entity). Major Results Indicators: ` ` ` hhhpp27BaselinexxxTarget Number of (CILSS) country rationales and concerted actions for food security, natural resource management, and population which reflect sound development methodologies and access to regional information systems, NEAPs, population policies, and food security policies.` ` ` hhhppp0 (1993)   6 (2002)}#ixP 7P# ÍSource: CILSS member country policies and action plans.}