Early on, USAID concluded that measuring success by measuring how much money had been spent was insufficient and often counterproductive. Tangible development results in the host nation are the only true standard of success, and to achieve such results, USAID concluded that it must choose among diverse mandates and concentrate its resources on a few pivotal and mutually reinforcing issues.

Since 1993, USAID has established a strategic framework for sustainable development that encompassed five specific objectives.

These five strategic objectives comprise just 18 sub-objectives, detailed below. USAID's country and regional programs have been reorganized to focus on specific, strategic objectives within this framework.

USAID's record is the best rebuttal against empty claims that foreign aid does not make a difference:

FIRST, PROMOTING BROAD-BASED ECONOMIC GROWTH

USAID has three principal objectives fundamental to achieving its goal of promoting broad-based economic growth:

Strengthening markets builds the framework and infrastructure needed for economic growth. Expanding economic access and opportunity enables the poor, women and other disadvantaged groups to participate in economic growth. Expanding and improving education equips people with skills and knowledge to actively take part in economic growth. Work in each of these areas reinforces progress in the others.

Strengthening Markets

Open and competitive private markets stimulate economic activity and accelerate growth, providing increased incomes and employment. USAID assistance to strengthen markets focuses on establishing an "enabling environment," comprising policies, institutions, regulations and attitudes conducive to dynamic economic growth.

USAID has helped strengthen the regulatory framework for stock and bond markets in Jordan, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. This has reduced fears of insider trading and built investor confidence. With increased access to domestic and foreign capital flows, firms on the Sri Lankan and Indonesian exchanges that have raised new capital since 1990 have created approximately 30,000 and 400,000 new jobs, respectively, and Jordan was one of the best performing emerging market exchanges in 1995.

In Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union, the agency specifically assists countries in making the transition from command economies to private sector-oriented, market-driven economies. These programs have strategic value: the cost of assisting in the transformation of command economies pales in comparison to the political and military costs of a Cold War-style confrontation. The privatization of state-run enterprises and the dismantling of state monopolies in production, processing, marketing, and the distribution of goods and services are critical to the transition to free markets.

Since 1993, USAID has helped 11 countries in Europe and the New Independent States privatize more than 151,000 enterprises.

Progress toward privatization has been uneven among the countries in the region, but -- on balance -- those nations receiving USAID privatization assistance have come further, faster, than even the most optimistic observers could have hoped several years ago.

USAID has helped to liberalize agricultural markets in Egypt, Zambia and Zimbabwe, leading to expanded agricultural production, heightened private sector activity and increased rural incomes.

In Zimbabwe, public spending for agricultural marketing and support has declined by $160 million since 1993. As a result of reduced government intervention in the market, the poorest households in Zimbabwe now have about 5 percent extra monthly income.

USAID efforts to help construct, rehabilitate and maintain urban and rural roads in nations such as El Salvador, Guinea, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Tanzania and Uganda have helped to invigorate the private sector in these nations. USAID-supported farm-to-market roads increased commerce and halved transportation time and cost in the project areas.

In Tanzania, with USAID assistance and advocacy, private sector involvement in the national road program increased significantly. By 1994, 90 percent of the contracts were in the hands of private firms. Privatization has reduced transport and freight charges by 20 percent.

Expanding Economic Access and Opportunity for the Poor

Even where markets are functioning well, economic benefits are uneven because of differential access to information, technology, credit and other resources. USAID activities particularly target small-scale farms and non-farm enterprises that provide much of the income for the poor in the developing world. Moreover, many ofUSAID's activities in this area focus on women, who make up more than half of the productive population and are disproportionately represented among the poor.

Research to provide improved agricultural technologies and policies is a good case in point. Much of the food production for domestic use in developing countries occurs on small farms. Women are particularly important, since they constitute the large majority of farmers in developing countries. USAID's support of research for better technologies and policies helps to boost the productivity of these small farms in a sustainable way. Increased productivity means more food at lower cost, benefitting both the farm family and consumers. Since the poor spend a very high percentage of income on food, they benefit both in terms of food security and available income for investment in education, health or enterprise.

The returns to the rice research programs of the USAID-supported International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines exceed $30 billion per year. The real price of rice and wheat has declined for the last 25 years due to productivity advances, with the result that hundreds of millions more people have enough food at prices they can afford.

One of USAID's most enduring successes in expanding economic opportunity has been its microenterprise programs.

USAID's support of $3 million led to the creation of BancoSol in Bolivia, a licensed commercial bank that provides loan and deposit services exclusively to poor microentrepreneurs. At the end of 1994, after less than three years of operation, BancoSol had served over 305,000 clients -- most of them Indian women -- with loans averaging $400 each and had become a profitable enterprise. The bank makes more loans every month than the rest of Bolivia's banks combined.

Evaluations of successful microenterprise programs found that 10 of the 11 institutions the agency examined were operationally efficient and reached large numbers of poor people with their services. Five of the institutions were fully profitable and generated positive returns on assets comparable to commercial financial institutions.

In 1994, USAID microenterprise and small farm loans helped create over 99,000 jobs in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Niger and Peru. More than 225,000 poor households, microenterprises and small farms in nine developing countries received USAID-assisted loans in 1994.

USAID programs help small farmers by supporting land reforms that establish land titles, permit farmers to monetize their holdings, and facilitate the sale and transfer of property. Property rights give small farmers incentives to diversify and increase production and reinforce rural stability, discouraging migration and undercutting the leverage of narcotics exporters.

In Peru, USAID supports a program of the Instituto Libertad y Democracia to develop an effective system to register property. The project has made possible the titling of 154,000 properties at an average cost of $14 per title. It also has simplified the procedures for registering a business and dramatically lowered costs.

Expanding and Improving Access to Basic Education

Investments in education, particularly basic education, do more than increase the economic productivity. They also contribute to improving health, slowing population growth, consolidating democracy, and increasingsound environmental management. In Africa, where some of the most significant advancements have been seen in education, the comprehensive Education Sector Support programs, carried out in collaboration with other donors, emphasize policy reforms.

Since 1989, enrollments increased from 50 percent to 65 percent in Benin and from 27 percent to 40 percent in Guinea. USAID-supported policy reforms in Guinea have resulted in a near doubling of the portion of the national budget devoted to education from 1990 and 1994 (from 14 percent to 25 percent).

In Latin America and the Caribbean, USAID programs have contributed to significant improvements in the quality and efficiency of education, especially in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

In Honduras, the percentage of students graduating from sixth grade rose from 53 percent to 70 percent between 1985 and 1994. With USAID assistance, nearly 60,000 primary teachers have received training in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua since 1987.

USAID programs have also supported the development of teaching materials and the distribution of textbooks.

Over 26 million textbooks have been distributed to primary students in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua since 1986. In Ghana, between 1989 and 1994, USAID helped raise the proportion of primary school students with textbooks from 10 percent to 74 percent.

USAID's programs often target women and emphasize linkages between education and environmental and family planning activities.

In Nepal, after the first year of USAID's program, the number of literate Nepali women increased by 30%.

SECOND, ADVANCING DEMOCRACY

Democratic countries are less likely to attack their neighbors, generate refugees, or disintegrate in civil conflict. Democracies also provide more stable markets for U.S. exports and for U.S. business and investments.

USAID democracy programs are targeted on four objectives:

During the last year, USAID was able to support historic democratic breakthroughs in Haiti, South Africa, Cambodia, and the West Bank and Gaza.

Strengthening the Rule of Law and Respect for Human Rights

The rule of law protects citizens against the arbitrary use of state authority and against the lawless acts of other citizens. It ensures that all citizens are treated fairly and are given equal opportunity under the law. Internationally recognized human rights provide a framework for citizens to interact with each other and with the state.

USAID's programs employ different approaches to strengthen the rule of law, including:

Ensuring legal protection of citizens' rights and interests;

In South Africa USAID supported the South Africa Legal Defense Fund, whose attorneys handled cases involving women's right to inherit property and constitutional questions such as the right to bail and use of racial classifications.

Enhancing fairness of the administration of justice;

With USAID assistance, the Honduran attorney general's office was created. During 1995, more than 12,000 criminal prosecutions have been presented around the country. For the first time in the history of Honduras, corruption charges have been pressed against 73 high- and mid-level government officials, including national and local political officials.

Improving the timeliness with which justice is administered; and increasing citizen support for conformity with international human rights standards.

Fostering Genuine and Competitive Political Systems

USAID plays an important role in helping to ensure free and fair electoral contests and to enhance political competition. USAID has helped to create impartial and open electoral laws and regulations and supported the establishment of accountable and effective electoral institutions:

Following the flawed 1994 elections in the Dominican Republic, the USAID-supported election commission initiated an investigation into the irregularities; unfortunately, the report's findings were not implemented. However, Dominican civil organizations, also assisted by USAID, called for the introduction of a political accord limiting the president's four-year term and precluding presidential reelection. The Dominican Congress passed the accord, with some modifications, and new presidential elections are scheduled for May 1996.

USAID also has helped to improve local and international monitoring and assisted political parties in becoming more responsive to constituents.

In Thailand, USAID's Women in Politics Program provided political party training to more than 1,000 women in five northern provinces before the 1995 local elections. Of the 289 women who ran, two-thirds had received training, and 109 were elected.

Increasing Politically Active Civil Societies

Nongovernmental organizations constitute a vital channel for sharing information and conveying theinterests of ordinary men and women to the institutions of government. A vibrant civil society also protects individuals and their communities from arbitrary or unilateral decisions by governments or economic interests.

USAID has been helping farmers' groups in the Philippines to analyze agricultural policies. When a draft executive order on tariffs was released that would have given special incentives to a few industrialists and increased packaging costs for most farmers, USAID- trained groups helped modify the original order and ultimately facilitated a consensus on agricultural policies that will make local farmers more competitive in markets created by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

By monitoring government performance, local civic organizations create strong pressure for accountability. They also inculcate democratic values and provide new leaders with opportunities to rise.

As a result of USAID's media program in Zambia, open discussion of both politicians and policies is now common in the Zambian news media. Private sector journalists now account for 45 percent of working journalists, up from 24 percent in 1993. In addition, the state monopoly on electronic media was broken in December 1994 when Zambia's first privately owned radio station began broadcasting; six additional private licenses are now pending.

More Transparent and Accountable Government Institutions

The behavior of government officials can support or undermine development and democracy. Strengthening performance, respecting ethical standards, consulting broadly to ascertain citizen interests, sharing information and acting in an open manner, diffusing power by sharing decision-making with local government -- all these help ensure that government decision-making is impartial and informed.

USAID programs support the development of more transparent and accountable government by using the following approaches: increasing local government participation; increasing citizen access to government information; strengthening mechanisms to promote ethical standards in government; increasing civilian control over military and police forces; and strengthening the effectiveness and independence of legislatures.

To transfer municipal management lessons learned in the United States to Paraguay, USAID developed a program for city-to-city contacts. This program matched the governments of Asuncion and Metro Dade County in Florida. Through several exchanges, the mayor of Asuncion was convinced of the usefulness of public hearings. Public budget hearings were held in Asuncion for the first time ever in 1995. Fifty proposals presented by the attending citizens were adopted.

THIRD, STABILIZING WORLD POPULATION AND PROTECTING HUMAN HEALTH

USAID family planning, health, and nutrition programs have helped save millions of lives and contributed decisively to substantial declines in mortality and fertility rates. By slowing population growth rates and addressing major public health concerns such as HIV/AIDS and emerging diseases, USAID increases the chance that developing nations can sustain growth and the improvement of living standards.

The strategy for attaining USAID's goal of stabilizing world population and protecting human health relieson achieving four closely related objectives:

Reducing Unintended Pregnancies

Unsustainable rates of population growth consume economic gains, drive environmental damage, and destabilize political and social institutions. High fertility is often unwanted and translates into rapid population growth; more than one-third of all births in the developing world are the result of unintended pregnancies. These unintended pregnancies often adversely affect the health and well-being of women and their families, and thus constitute an obstacle to development that goes far beyond numbers.

Expanding the availability, quality, and use of family planning services is one of the most direct and cost- effective approaches for reducing unintended pregnancies, preventing abortions, and decreasing fertility rates.

In the 28 countries that have received the largest amount of population assistance, average family size has decreased from approximately 6.1 children in the 1960s to 4.2 in the 1990s. Kenya's total fertility rate declined from 8.1 in 1987 to 5.4 in 1993 -- one of the most dramatic declines in fertility ever recorded. Morocco's total fertility rate declined from 4.0 to 3.3; Egypt, 5.8 to 3.9; Bangladesh from 5.8 to 3.4.

Whether couples choose to avail themselves of services depends on how well-informed they are about the benefits of family planning and the services available. USAID has been particularly effective in supporting innovative use of communication campaigns to disseminate information.

Following a 1994 communications campaign in Bolivia, health clinic visits increased from 11,800 in 1993 to 29,200 in 1995 -- an increase of 147 percent.

Reducing Child Mortality

Despite the considerable success of child health programs, an estimated 12 million children die each year in the developing world of preventable causes, including pneumonia, diarrhea and vaccine-preventable diseases. Malnutrition is a major contributing factor in over half of these deaths. Child mortality is a transcendent development issue, undermining social cohesion and eroding the optimism of entire societies.

USAID's child survival programs develop and apply cost-effective, sustainable interventions to reduce and prevent the principal causes of illness and death in infants and children.

Critical lifesaving health services supported by USAID prevent more than 4 million infant and child deaths annually. Between 1985, when USAID launched the Child Survival Initiative, and 1995, infant mortality rates in USAID-assisted countries declined by 20 percent.

USAID played a leading role in the research and development of low-cost interventions to treat diarrhea, a major cause of child mortality. Oral rehydration therapy, the administration of rehydrating fluids by mouth, hasbecome a mainstay of diarrheal disease programs, averting hundreds of thousands of child deaths annually, and was a product of breakthrough USAID work in Bangladesh.

There now are over 100 national diarrheal disease control programs, and oral rehydration salts are produced locally in 60 countries. As a result of USAID's investment in these programs, the deaths of more than 1 million children are prevented annually. By increasing access and the correct use of oral rehydration therapy, an additional 1 million lives could be saved every year.

The Expanded Program for Immunization, developed with USAID's financial and technical support, has become a cornerstone of child health programs. USAID is the major donor for disease control activities and participates in the current global initiative for the worldwide eradication of polio.

In 1994, polio was officially declared eradicated in the Western Hemisphere and USAID's multiple immunization programs played a major role is this eradication.

USAID is at the cutting edge of establishing effective prevention and treatment protocols for acute respiratory infections, the leading cause of death today among children under five. USAID also has supported groundbreaking research in developing and testing a new, integrated approach to treating sick children. The integrated approach targets pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles and malnutrition, which together cause almost three-quarters of deaths in children under five in developing countries.

USAID invests in the development, testing and introduction of health technologies, making programs more cost-effective and health services safer and more widely accessible.

One technology, SoloShot, a single-use syringe, eliminates the risk of transmission of blood-borne diseases (such as hepatitis and HIV) through contaminated needles and syringes.

About 43 million children under five around the world are at risk of blindness because of vitamin A deficiency.

USAID supports Nepal's National Vitamin A Deficiency Prevention and Control Program. Using extensive USAID-sponsored field research, female community health volunteers distribute vitamin A capsules. In 1995, approximately 1 million children received capsules from these volunteers. To date, more than 12,000 volunteers have been trained in distribution techniques, and coverage in participating districts has been as high as 90 percent.

USAID also supports research to increase the supply and lower the cost of vegetables, which for many people constitute the most important dietary source of vitamin A, iron, zinc and other micronutrients. Greater productivity of nutrient-rich vegetables not only contributes directly to nutrition of low-income people, it represents a major economic opportunity, especially for women.

The USAID-supported Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center based in Taiwan, works around the world to improve and disseminate better strains of vegetables rich in vitamins, resistant to pests, and meeting the needs of small, low-income producers on small farms and in home gardens.

Reducing Maternal Mortality

An estimated 585,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth each year in the developing world. The developing country average of 450 to 500 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births is roughly 100 times that in developed countries.

The major complications of pregnancy and delivery can be prevented or treated through family planning and appropriate prenatal and postpartum care. USAID plays a lead role in developing and testing the methods and curricula needed to train health professionals in reproductive health practices.

In Egypt, the percentage of pregnant women receiving prenatal care rose from 14 percent in 1988 to 53 percent in 1993, and the percentage of births assisted by trained personnel increased from 25 percent in 1991 to 65 percent in 1993.

Reducing Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV Transmission

As the HIV/AIDS epidemic unfolds, it creates additional strains on overburdened social, health and economic infrastructures in developing countries, where resources are limited and competing demands are increasing. After notable improvements in the health status of children over the past two decades, infant and child mortality rates are rising as a result of HIV/AIDS.

Within a short timeframe -- eight years -- USAID led the way in establishing global standards of practice for the prevention of HIV. USAID's strategies include rapid assessment data collection methods, mass media techniques, sexually transmitted infection (STI) treatment protocols, commercial marketing expertise to expand the availability and use of condoms, and computer modeling analyses of the future trends of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its socioeconomic implications.

In collaboration with other donors and national governments, USAID has reached millions of people with HIV prevention education, distributed and sold hundreds of millions of condoms, and trained thousands of educators, counselors and health providers.

Recent computer modeling of the epidemic has enabled USAID to begin estimating the impact of its interventions.

In Kenya, it has been estimated that between 1991 and 1994, the condom promotion intervention alone averted over 110,000 HIV infections and over 1.3 million other STIs.

Important progress has been made in assisting developing country governments to recognize the magnitude and impact of the AIDS epidemic and in gaining their commitment as full partners in combating the problem.

In Honduras, USAID worked with the Ministry of Health to project the social and economic impact of HIV/AIDS. The findings led to the creation of a Honduran AIDS advisory committee, chaired by the first lady of Honduras, and focused needed media attention on the epidemic.

FOURTH, ENCOURAGING SOUND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Productive lands, forests, and coasts provide the underpinnings for economic growth that is both broad and sustainable. Clean air and water are essential to a decent quality of life. Degradation of the global environment -- loss of biological diversity and global climate change -- ultimately endangers everyone on earth.

USAID's environmental strategy seeks to mitigate these global environmental threats and to promote sustainable development by pursuing five environmental objectives:

Conserving Biological Diversity

USAID programs help improve the management of protected areas and promote sustainable use of biological resources. One of the agency's highest priorities is to increase grassroots commitment to conservation, especially among those communities living in and around parks and reserves. USAID community outreach programs give local people a stake in conservation in countries around the world.

In Guatemala, USAID has worked closely with the government to expand the country's national park system from 148,000 acres to 2 million acres. As a result, key areas of the Peten forest -- the largest tropical forest in Latin America north of the Amazon -- are now protected. As a result of an intensive outreach program in Guatemala's Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, logging and agricultural encroachment decreased by 90 percent.

Endowment funds represent long-term, stable sources of conservation financing and USAID has helped launch a variety of mechanisms to build financial solvency in local governments and conservation organizations.

USAID support of Costa Rica's conservation fund, for example, has helped reduce the park service's dependence on external donors for its operating costs from 27 percent in 1992 to 11 percent in 1994. In Uganda, the agency used another approach -- helping the government tap into the country's flourishing ecotourism industry by increasing park entrance fees -- to help conservation efforts become self- supporting. Park entrance fees generated $700,000 in 1994, up from $66,300 collected in 1991.

Sustainable land management strategies are helping to reduce pressure on biodiverse ecosystems. USAID's investments in agroforestry technologies and policies is leading to new approaches favoring sustainable management of forest lands.

In Indonesia, new forest management technologies are reconciling local peoples' need for livelihood with conservation of biodiversity and habitat. Partnerships involving international research centers, local NGOs and government officials have fostered alternatives to land clearing, using approaches where timber, fruit and other forest products are sustainably harvested while the forest remains intact, providing large contiguous areas suitable for mammals, birds and other flora and fauna.

Reducing the Threat of Global Climate Change

USAID's efforts respond to a growing scientific consensus on the link between the emission of heat- trapping greenhouse gases and a rise in the Earth's temperature. This increase could lead to shifts of agricultural zones, rising sea levels, spreading ranges of tropical diseases, and weather-related disasters. USAID's climate change portfolio is directed toward reducing net greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector and from land use.

In Krakow, Poland, USAID is introducing low-cost alternatives to 100,000 coal-based domestic stoves and 3,000 small coal-burning boilers. The agency helped Polish companies form joint ventures with eight U.S. energy technology and engineering firms, which together planned to increase energy efficiency and reduce the emission of particulates.

More than 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions are related to uncontrolled slash and burn agriculture in the tropics. In addition to eliminating habitat in world's richest and most diverse biomes, non- sustainable cultivation destroys important carbon sinks, and results in increased emission of other important greenhouse gases.

USAID's strategy for combatting deforestation includes both technological and policy approaches to stabilize tropical agriculture. Integration of trees and shrubs helps to recycle nutrients, mimicking the natural forest and reducing the pressure to clear more land. USAID also supports research that increases the productivity of less fragile grassland ecosystems.

Improving Urban Planning and Pollution Management

Nearly half the people in developing countries live in urban centers. The number of "megacities" with populations of over 8 million will climb from 22 in 1994 to 33 by the year 2015. Poorly managed urban growth has caused severe pollution and undermined economic productivity and public health. Women and children, who predominate in urban marginal communities, are central clients for these programs. USAID supports efforts to increase access to safe water, to improve sanitation, and to create decent and affordable shelter. It also supports programs that help improve urban management, promote pollution prevention and control, and facilitate long-term planning.

In Cairo, where water-borne illnesses cause between 2,000 to 5,000 deaths annually and the loss of millions of work days, the Agency supports infrastructure improvements to treat wastewater entering the Nile River and Lake Maryut, Egypt's principal source of drinking water. In 1994, agency targets for removing organic contaminants from water at the USAID-supported wastewater treatment facilities at Alexandria and Cairo were exceeded by up to 80 percent.

USAID helps local authorities find new ways to address long-standing problems.

A USAID-assisted municipality in India -- Ahmedabad -- recently became the first Indian municipality to issue a municipal bond for urban infrastructure, including a sewage treatment plant.

USAID also works to improve access to public services by facilitating private-public partnerships.

The city of Machala, Ecuador struggled with severe sanitation problems because 50 tons of garbage went uncollected each day. USAID helped create a private enterprise that used bicycle carts to collect garbage for more than 50 percent of the population.

USAID provides policy advice and introduces new technologies in pollution prevention and waste management.

In Central and Eastern Europe and the New Independent States, the agency funded over 100 waste minimization demonstration and impact projects that illustrated how low-cost technologies can reduce pollution while providing economic returns of anywhere from $30,000 to $2 million each year per plant.

Increasing the Use of Environmentally Sound Energy Services

The demand for energy is increasing seven times faster in developing nations than in the industrial nations. Poor administrative and operational practices inhibit efficient energy production; unreliable electricity supplies inhibit economic growth. Moreover, escalating energy demands and inefficient energy use add to the global greenhouse gas burden, increase local and regional air pollution, and deplete non-renewable fuel resources.

USAID is helping design and implement major restructuring of what had been centrally-controlled, yet often unaccountable government monopolies. In Ukraine, USAID's streamlining has helped institutions establish a national regulatory commission, six generation companies, and 27 local power and heat supply companies. These reforms are creating a competitive market supply of electricity and significant incentives for energy conservation.

USAID has also focused on policy and pricing reforms.

In Egypt, increased energy efficiency resulting from reforms and facility repair have averted annual emissions of 70,854 tons of sulfur dioxides, 1,760,000 tons of carbon dioxide and 2,708 tons of nitrous oxides in Cairo and Alexandria.

Sustainable Natural Resource Management

USAID focuses its activities under this objective on the four most important renewable resources for sustainable development: forests, water resources, agricultural lands, and coastal resources. USAID responded to the dramatic decline of the world's forested areas by promoting community forestry and sustainable timber harvesting for commercial enterprises.

The Government of the Philippines, with USAID's assistance, began transferring direct management responsibility for more than 494,000 acres to 22 communities. Improved management practices have increased tree cover and reduced soil erosion into local streams while raising incomes from the sustainable harvesting of non-timber forest products.

Improved land management techniques to improve soil and water conservation have been developed and adopted. Research advances are also being made in the development of crop varieties more tolerant to drought and other adverse conditions found in many areas through the Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) and other USAID-funded agricultural research.

Programs in Senegal have increased the number of households usingagroforestry, "live fences," alley cropping, and crop rotation by more than 50 percent. In Mali and Zimbabwe, the introduction of high- yielding maize and drought-resistant sorghum, combined with improved cultivation techniques, has increased yields by up to 50 percent and led to higher economic returns for local farmers.

USAID also works with its land grant university and international agricultural research center partners to develop more sustainable approaches to crop management. Integrated pest management research is helping to reduce the harmful environmental and health effects of pesticides.

Cassava mealybug had devastated cassava, Africa's chief food staple, across some 30 countries. By identifying, collecting and multiplying a parasitic wasp from South America, two international agricultural research centers mounted a successful effort to control this imported pest using only biological means. The wasp, harmless to other insects and the environment, has created economic benefits worth an estimated $3 billion. Africa's poorest people, who depend on cassava as their dietary staple, have benefitted the most.

Natural resources and fragile ecosystems are also protected through better approaches to enhancing the sustainable productivity of land and water resources.

In Bangladesh, the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management with USAID support, is promoting small-scale fish farming. Working with partner Bangladeshi NGOs in several locales, the effort involves 30,000 farmers -- mostly poor, landless women. In 1995, the effort contributed an additional 5,000 metric tons of fish to the national catch, worth $5 million. The potential is enormous -- there are some 2.5 million permanent and temporary ponds in Bangladesh. Nutrition and income are both improved while at the same time, pressure on Bangladesh's wild fish stocks is reduced.

FIFTH, PROVIDING HUMANITARIAN RELIEF AND ASSISTING NATIONS IN TRANSITION

In response to the changing dynamics of humanitarian relief, USAID focuses more on prevention and transition out of crises as a way to stanch the escalating costs and human suffering caused by complex emergencies. Humanitarian and transition assistance focuses on three objectives:

To coordinate and centralize its efforts in this unique development endeavor, USAID has established an Office of Transition Initiatives.

Preventing Crises

Droughts may be unavoidable, but famine is not; internal tensions are inevitable, but social collapse is not. USAID's primary concern is in preventing transient difficulties from becoming complex crises with a life of their own. This requires planning, prevention, and regional approaches.

One of the most successful disaster early warning programs sponsored by USAID has been the Volcano Disaster AssistanceProgram. In late 1994, the program provided equipment and technical assistance to the local volcano observatory in Papua New Guinea to help local officials determine an appropriate evacuation plan. When the Rabaul volcano erupted in 1995, 40 percent of the buildings in the town were damaged or destroyed, but only four people were killed, compared to over 500 people killed in a similar 1937 eruption of Rabaul.

By developing stronger links between research and technology transfer programs and PVOs working to restore stability and food security, USAID has helped to spawn a powerful new approach to mitigating the effects of drought and disaster.

The Southern Africa drought of the early 1990s could have become a major disaster. Because of rapid response by a coalition made up of international agricultural research centers and PVOs, farm families received seed of drought resistant crop varieties which produced a harvest when other crops would have failed. A similar approach, combining grass-roots relief organizations with international research centers has successfully restored rural productivity in areas of Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia and other countries ravaged by war and civil strife. Restoring the productivity of livelihood for the large portion of the population engaged in agriculture is a critical step for sustainably reestablishing food security and also for reducing potential conflicts over land, water and livestock resources.

In situations where the possibility of famine or protracted civil conflict is high, USAID is breaking new ground in the field of prevention.

Since 1994, the United States has worked with African governments and with other donors in the Greater Horn of Africa Initiative. This regional program helps the poor nations of the Horn anticipate and limit the impact of acute and chronic problems. Through the GHAI, a consensus on food security goals has been established and mechanisms to address root causes of political conflict have been established. Early warning and prepositioning plans are being implemented to contain famines, to facilitate the early delivery of relief, and to minimize social dislocations and the displacement of populations.

Meeting Urgent Relief Needs

Timely and effective emergency relief activities include meeting critical human needs, enhancing short- term food security and coordinating emergency activities with other countries and relief organizations. The majority of refugee populations are women and children and USAID's programs address their specific needs at the point of crisis and help them and others reintegrate into society for sustainable development as the crisis abates.

In 1995, USAID responded to 57 declared disasters of all kinds in 51 countries. Nearly 24 million people received emergency food aid. In 1995, USAID responded to 39 officially declared natural disasters, including 20 floods, three epidemics, two hurricanes, four droughts, a volcanic eruption, a volcanic mudslide and a locust outbreak.

On May 9, 1995, the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever around the town of Kikwit, Zaire, caused by the Ebola virus. USAID funded plane loads of supplies, carrying plasma-substitute, protective medical clothing, and other critical equipment to Zaire. In all, approximately 7,000 pounds of supplies and an emergency epidemiological team were dispatched to Zaire, and the virus was stopped from spreading.

Urgent relief also addresses chronic and predictable needs in nations isolated by location and by continuing hostilities.

In Armenia, the collapse of the Soviet Union, blockades, and the continuation of local conflicts caused a breakdown of central urban heating systems and the virtual disappearance of electrical service. A "winter warmth" activity, which began in 1993 and continued into 1996, provides heating kerosene and heaters to vulnerable population groups and to schools during the winter months. More than 200,000 families, roughly 25 percent of the total population, have received critical heating assistance and schools have been able to remain open during the winter.

Helping Nations Emerge from the Cycle of Crisis

Nations emerging from natural or manmade crises have unique needs that are not addressed by either emergency relief or long-term development assistance. Transition activities are designed to help a nation return from crisis to the path of sustainable development. Such activities include supporting demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants into the civil society; addressing the needs of displaced and vulnerable populations; promoting civil-military relations; removing land mines; supplying prosthetics; and encouraging conflict resolution.

Working with other donors and international organizations, USAID has supported demobilization of soldiers and the reintegration of ex-combatants into civilian societies in El Salvador, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nicaragua and Uganda.

Through USAID support of El Salvador's National Reconstruction Program, approximately 11,000 ex-combatants have received credit for agricultural production or microenterprise development, and 20,000 people, about 43 percent of whom are women, have been trained in trades and agriculture. In its effort to reactivate the El Salvadoraneconomy, USAID also has provided approximately $34 million for the purchase and distribution of farmland through the Land Bank. More than 28,000 beneficiaries, including more than 16,000 non-combatant squatters, have received land titles. Twenty-six percent of the total number of recipients are women.

In other regions, USAID is assisting in the reunification of children and their families. The Displaced Children and Orphans Fund is assisting in documenting, tracing, and reunifying unaccompanied children in Angola, Liberia, Mozambique, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

In Rwanda, USAID has helped to register and document more than 40,000 children -- about half the total number of separated children in camps and transit centers.

Well-designed relief programs are springboards for development, and development programs play a key role in prevention and transition from crises. USAID's effort in Haiti in 1995 illustrates how development and humanitarian assistance programs reinforce each other to produce lasting benefits.

USAID helped feed 1.2 million people and put thousands of Haitians to work repairing and rehabilitating the country's productive infrastructure. As of January 1995, 1,000 miles of irrigation canals were rehabilitated, opening almost 67,000 acres of land to full cultivation; over 550 miles of roads were rehabilitated, providing market access for over 800,000 people; and over 16,000 acres of land were protected through conservative measures.

USAID's initiative in Mozambique is another example of how short-term relief and long-term planning can help war-ravaged nations regain stability rapidly.

In 1992, Mozambique ended its 16-year-long civil war amidst one of the worst droughts of the century. In a joint effort with other donors, Mozambique and private voluntary organizations, USAID provided emergency food, water and medical aid; financed election support; helped demobilize military troops; and supported land mine clearance and road rehabilitation. Today, more than 91,000 soldiers have been demobilized, multiparty elections were held, tens of thousands of refugees have returned to their homes, and Mozambique's economy has taken a marked upturn.