Note: This document may not always reflect the actual appropriations determined by Congress. Final budget allocations for USAID's programs are not determined until after passage of an appropriations bill and preparation of the Operating Year Budget (OYB).

ERITREA

FY 1998 Development Fund for Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $10,500,000
FY 1998 P.L. 480 Title II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 3,178,000
FY 1998 P.L. 480 Title III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 5,000,000

Introduction

Eritrea is Africa's newest nation, having formalized its independence from Ethiopia by popular referendum in 1993 after a costly 30-year independence struggle. The long struggle left Eritrea with neglected and devastated institutions and infrastructure; however, it also forged a strong determination to build a self-reliant new nation, economically and politically. Eritrea is important to U.S. interests because it controls major trade routes and Red Sea ports and islands. Eritrea's two deep water ports and shipping lanes in the Red Sea and the size and volatility of its neighbors give it strategic importance in the Mideast and Horn of Africa regions. It is also a principal life line for humanitarian assistance to the Horn region through the port of Assab, where war and famine recently threatened 25 million people.

Eritrea is determined to develop a new stable democracy and a self reliant, broad-based economy in a region characterized by political extremists, instability, and collapse. USAID assistance to Eritrea supports U.S. interests by promoting both the recovery and growth of a market-based economy and the emergence of democratic governance to underpin national stability in this historically volatile region.

The Development Challenge

Eritrea is small, arid and rugged, located north of the Horn of Africa along the southwestern coast of the Red Sea neighboring Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Yemen. Its multi-ethnic population, divided equally between Muslim and Christian religions, is estimated at three million. Its natural resources include deposits of gold, copper, gas and oil, a large marine fishery, salt flats, broad grazing land, and potential tourist sites.

Eritrea's economic goals are several: rebuilding energy and transportation infrastructure; establishing sustainable education, health and pension systems; developing a broad-based private sector; and promoting foreign investment. Foremost among its political goals are strong local and national government, a democratic constitution and legislature, and revitalized regional structures. The successful reintegration of ex-combatants and refugees has also been an important concern.

Eritrea's severe poverty is in large part due to decades of war and neglect. Health and nutrition indicators are poor. The Eritrea Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 1995 lists infant mortality at 72 deaths per 1,000 and under-five mortality at 136 deaths per 1,000. Life expectancy is approximately 50 years. The population growth rate is 2.6%.

Most Eritreans depend on agriculture for their survival, but Eritrea's location at the northern limit of the Sahelian rainfall zone constrains foodgrain production. There are opportunities for export crop production, however. Food security is thus limited by rainfall as well as a lack of export income. The capabilities of government and the private sector, notwithstanding dedicated personnel, are limited by a lack of education, training, and experience.

Despite these constraints, the potential for rapid rebuilding and development in Eritrea is high. The country was once the most industrialized in Africa and has the legacy of a hard-working labor force and good public and private management. Its location at the crossroad of the Middle East and Africa is advantageous to trade. Considerable remittances from Eritreans abroad demonstrate their determination to rapidly rebuild their country.

A careful steward of limited resources, commended by the International Monetary Fund, the new government is determined to avoid the mistakes of other African countries. With no large national debt, a commitment to the principles of a market economy and democracy, and progress made in attracting foreign investment, Eritrea could achieve self reliance within a decade.

Eritrea's leadership is strongly supportive of, and a leading participant in, the Greater Horn of Africa Initiative (GHAI) and the principles of African leadership, regional integration, conflict prevention, and food security. Given its strategic position from the standpoint of both geopolitics and trade, and because of the high potential for instability in neighboring states, strong support of Eritrea's determined effort for self-reliance is in the U.S. national interest.

USAID has been successful in helping Eritrea resolve two of the most sensitive problems in the region: the demobilization of thousands of ex-fighters and the resettlement of tens of thousands of refugees and internally-displaced through the provision of considerable food and agricultural inputs. Recognizing that a healthy, productive population is Eritrea's most important resource, USAID is also working with the Ministry of Health to strengthen Eritrea's primary health care system. USAID is also supporting training and institutional linkages to build democratic governance and private enterprise and helping to expand local government and rural banking.

Other Donors

A formal mechanism for donor coordination is not yet established in Eritrea, and there has not been a Consultative Group meeting for Eritrea since 1994. Overall, donor assistance for 1996 was on the order of $100 million, of which the United States provided about 15%. Italy, Germany, the European Union (EU), and the United States are currently the largest donors. The Scandinavian countries, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) also have sizeable assistance portfolios. The World Bank has recently negotiated its first two major loans--a community development fund and port rehabilitation--and is considering loans for regional hospitals and primary education.

USAID has been effective in collaborating with the World Bank, UNDP, and UNICEF in strengthening Eritrea's health system and building administrative and financial management capabilities. In the last two months, USAID was particularly successful in facilitating multi-donor efforts leading to a major reform of food policy in Eritrea.

FY 1998 Program

Supportive of U.S. interests and the GHAI, USAID's strategy is to help Eritrea achieve its goal of self reliance within a decade. This will involve, above all, building the human capital, key institutions, and linkages which underpin successful nationhood. Of particular concern are those problems which involve the most acute human need and the potential for crisis such as chronic food deficits, debilitating health problems, and limited government capabilities -- problems which are worse in the predominantly Muslim, and potentially destabilizing, lowlands.

To respond to Eritrea's determination and needs, USAID is entering into a "development partnership" with the Eritrean government to improve rural incomes and food security, primary health care, and democratic governance. Food security was the earliest area of USAID involvement due to the large amounts of P.L. 480 Title II assistance and agricultural inputs provided to assist the post-conflict recovery, demobilization, and resettlement. USAID plays a major role in dialogue on food policy and supports several smaller agricultural production-enhancing activities.

USAID provides considerable health and population assistance which is now focused on building the government's capacity to manage the delivery of primary health care services nationally. In response to the Government of the State of Eritrea's (GOSE) expressed needs, USAID launched a sizeablegovernance capacity-building effort through university, management institute, constitutional commission, and ministerial training. Recently, USAID also negotiated a large program to increase rural incomes through P.L. 480 Title III food assistance which will help rebuild rural roads and expand rural enterprise.

Agency Goal: Encouraging Broad-based Economic Growth

With Eritrea's liberal investment code and a tradition of and location for commerce, the prospects are good for rapid economic growth in Eritrea's urban areas and their trade corridors. However, rapid growth in these areas without complementary growth and linkages in lowland, predominantly Muslim western areas of the country would leave half the population in poverty with likely destabilizing effects. In addition, rainfall limits food production in these lowland areas.

Thus, consistent with U.S. economic interests and the GHAI, USAID's primary strategic objective in Eritrea is to help make food more available in these rural areas through increased enterprise and trade. USAID is building on the experience of its food and agricultural assistance--for example, breeding livestock for dispossessed farm households--to stimulate rural income growth. A combination of bilateral and P.L. 480 resources support the rebuilding of rural roads and rural banking, farmer associations, cooperatives, and enterprises which expand rural income and trade.

USAID assistance has contributed to several important achievements supportive of national and household food security: improving livelihoods for one thousand refugee families from Sudan and hundreds of ex-fighters; preventing locust damage to grain harvests; spurring a shift away from government food handouts in order to create a cash food economy and safety net; and providing foodgrain in food-deficit areas (500,000 beneficiaries). Notwithstanding these achievements, Eritrea remains critically and structurally food deficient.

The primary guarantor of food security in Eritrea will be a robust and diversified rural economy including trade in food. To have any catalytic impact on rural economic growth, even in selected areas of Eritrea, considerable resources will be needed to continue expanding roads and enterprise over the next several years.

Agency Goal: Stabilizing World Population Growth and Protecting Human Health

Of the total funding requested for the population and health strategic objective in FY 1998, $200,000 is planned for population activities and $3,000,000 is planned for health activities.

Eritrea has an epidemiological profile that places its health status among the worst in the world. A generation of war obliterated health services in Eritrea. Recurrences of severe drought, epidemics of disease and displacement of populations have resulted in extremely high morbidity and mortality rates, especially among women and children. Due to relatively greater inaccessibility to health services, harmful traditional practices, food insecurity and endemic diseases (e.g., malaria), maternal and child health is generally poorer in the predominantly Muslim lowlands. This situation results in poorer health status in these communities, debilitation of the family, and increasing--and potentially destabilizing--disparities between regions.

USAID is responding to this dire situation by empowering the GOSE to build an effective primary health care service delivery system. Specifically, USAID's strategic objective one is "increase use ofsustainable, integrated primary health care services by Eritreans." Through its broad health and population program with the Ministry of Health (MOH), grants to UNICEF and U.S. private voluntary organizations (PVOs) as well as U.S.-based contracting organizations, USAID investments will improve the government's capacity to manage the delivery of primary health care services as well as increasing access to and availability of these services. USAID investments support the management, logistical and financial systems which support the delivery of PHC services while also increasing the awareness and demand for health care services among Eritreans.

USAID assistance to the health sector began in 1994 with grants to UNICEF, the award of a geographically-focused child survival project and support to the Ministry of Health through a U.S. based contractor to initiate the Ministry's primary health care agenda. USAID assistance targeted the expansion of the child immunization program, construction and renovation of health care facilities, the development of PHC policy guidelines and the development of Eritrea's regionally-important salt iodization capacity. USAID-sponsored assessments and technical assistance have enabled the MOH to develop drug policy and treatment guidelines, develop a national family planning curriculum and train health practitioners, initiate cost-recovery for services and strengthen the national Health Management Information System (HMIS). USAID will monitor the impact of their assistance both nationally and in three early impact zones located in the central region of Eritrea. With the arrival of two USAID-funded health officers, substantial technical assistance, training and procurement are now underway.

Agency Goal: Building Democracy

Since the popular referendum in 1993 to formalize the Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia, Eritrea's leadership has moved steadily, if cautiously, toward the establishment of democratic structures of government. While the GOSE retains some tendencies towards authoritarianism and centralization -- due both to the statist structure inherited from the earlier dictatorship and to the newness of government administration by former fighters -- the commitment to democracy is strong among those who fought for independence. This commitment is demonstrated by recent steps taken to ensure public education and debate on a constitution and local elections scheduled for mid 1997; and the building of local government and the judiciary.

USAID, in support of U.S. interests and in close collaboration with the Embassy and the UNDP, has initiated a substantial governance capacity-building effort to support and reinforce the establishment of a democratic government in Eritrea. The focus of this effort has been training at all levels: a university linkage to build the faculties of law, public administration, journalism, and political science; grants to enable broad outreach by the Constitutional Commission; a U.S. linkage for the Eritrean management institute; in-country training for judges and local officials; work in strengthening the national women's organization; and a broad participant training program. This effort, and the possibility of additional assistance to establish a legislature, indigenous non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other elements of a democratic system, will require significant--if incremental--funding over the next several years.

Although USAID's efforts in this area are relatively recent, intermediate results are already evident: partnerships between major American universities and Eritrea's university, and a broad and successful outreach effort by the Constitutional Commission. Nevertheless, USAID involvement in the democracy-building process in Eritrea can be sensitive, particularly to its proud and determined leadership. Thus, USAID must continue with a range of capacity-building assistance over a broad front and often through intermediaries such as universities. This broader approach also requires adequate and skilled USAID staffing.

Agency Goal: Protecting the Environment

Eritrea faces the environmental degradation common to many countries in Sahelian Africa: deforestation, marginal land agriculture, unprotected coastal resources, urban sprawl, etc. The new Eritrean government is keenly aware of these problems and has taken actions primarily through the Ministries of Agriculture and Marine Resources to mitigate them. These actions include large-scale reforestation and watershed treatment, research on and policing of coral reefs, and environmental education, planning and assessments.

USAID's strategic objectives are cross-cutting and support the Agency goal of environmental protection. U.S. food assistance has provided resources for considerable conservation work in upstream watersheds, improvements in food systems, and upgrading of the national tree nursery program. In working through PVOs/NGOs and local organizations and cooperatives, USAID will have access to grassroots institutional structures for environmental awareness, planning and protection.

Governance activities can be especially supportive of environmental protection. Increasing knowledge and professionalism in law, journalism, and public administration will improve understanding and resolution of environmental issues. Building capacity of government officials in key ministries (including Agriculture and Marine Resources) through short and long-term training will improve the capabilities of those ministries.

Two successes are already evident: USAID's assistance has provided support to the Ministry of Marine Resources to prevent overfishing and to the Ministry of Agriculture to reduce per hectare application of locust control pesticides by 15% through training provided to agricultural extension agents and farmers. In addition, a USAID supported research project shows promising laboratory trials of biological control methods for locusts and grasshoppers.

Agency Goal: Providing Humanitarian Assistance

Until recently, Eritrea needed and was a recipient of considerable humanitarian assistance ($49 million from the United States in 1993-94) to help sustain its population after the war and through a drought year. Eritrea is now completing this transition from emergency to development despite a drought-induced decrease in agricultural production since 1994. USAID's regular Title II food assistance, as discussed above under Economic Growth, is now focused on helping Eritrea achieve food security over the longer term, as the need for emergency food assistance decreases. All food aid in Eritrea is sold to support the establishment of a cash-based rural economy, a food safety net, and the improvement of critical infrastructure. Non-food humanitarian assistance has been effectively utilized to control locust outbreaks at their inception, a threat to food security, not only for Eritrea, but also for the all sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

ERITREA
FY 1998 PROGRAM SUMMARY

Encouraging

Broad-based

Economic

Growth

Stabilizing

World Population

Growth & Protecting

Human

Health

Protecting

the

Environment

Building Democracy

Providing Humanitarian Assistance

TOTALS

USAID Strategic Objectives
SO1: Increase Use of Sustainable, Integrated Primary Health Care Services by Eritreans

- Dev. Fund for Africa

- P.L. 480, Title II

---

---

3,200,000

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

3,200,000

---

SO2: Increase Income from Growth of Rural Enterprise with Emphasis on Targeted Groups and Exports

- Dev. Fund for Africa

- P.L. 480, Title II

- P.L. 480, Title III

5,300,000

---

5,000,000

---

---

---

1,000,000

---

---

---

---

---

---

3,178,000

---

6,300,000

3,178,000

5,000,000

SO3: Capacity for Accountable, Decentralized Democratic Government Built and Accessible to Citizens

- Dev. Fund for Africa

500,000

---

---

500,000

---

1,000,000

Totals

- Dev. Fund for Africa

- P.L. 480, Title II

- P.L. 480, Title III

5,800,000

---

5,000,000

3,200,000

---

---

1,000,000

---

---

500,000

---

---

---

3,178,000

---

10,500,000

3,178,000

5,000,000

USAID Mission Director: Glenn Anders

ACTIVITY DATA SHEET

PROGRAM: ERITREA

TITLE AND NUMBER: Increase Use of Sustainable, Integrated Primary Health Care (PHC) Services by Eritreans, 661-SOO1

STATUS: Continuing

PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $3,200,000 DFA

INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2000

Purpose: To increase use of sustainable integrated primary health care services by Eritreans through improving access to reproductive and child health services, enhancing client demand for reproductive/child health services and improving the quality of PHC services.

Background: Maternal, child, and infant mortality rates are extremely high in Eritrea and are exacerbated by widespread poverty, deterioration of the health infrastructure and a lack of education opportunities for many Eritreans. Building on its history of providing health services during its liberation struggle with "barefoot doctors" and minimal technology, the government is institutionalizing a fresh approach in establishing a primary health care system. Beginning in 1994, USAID developed a major bilateral project and grants to U.S. private voluntary organizations (PVOs) and to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to provide technical specialists, training, equipment, and renovations to assist the Government of State of Eritrea in establishing an effective and sustainable primary health care system with a concomitant awareness and demand among local communities for the services delivered. The magnitude of the health problems, the small number of donors and limited capacity of a recently-downsized Ministry of Health (MOH) have complicated the start-up of USAID-funded activities.

USAID Role and Achievements to Date: Although there are many donors and PVOs assisting Eritrea in the health sector, USAID is now the MOH's primary donor-partner. USAID is providing the critical inputs necessary for MOH and associated organizations to develop effective and sustainable primary health care. Achievements to date include development of the National Primary Health Care Policy, a 30% expansion in child immunization, the streamlining of central MOH staffing, and an increase in the first phase in user service fees from 1% to 25% of total costs.

Description: The major activity to achieve this objective is the $15 million Eritrea Health and Population Project. This project provides nine person-years of specialized assistance, 300 person-months of training, supporting vehicles (12), medical and office equipment with related supplies, and selected building renovations. These inputs, primarily for the MOH but also for women and youth groups, will be concentrated in the three most populated zones of the country over a period of five years. They will enable the development of the requisite management systems, institutional structure, technical capacity, and client awareness for effective and sustainable primary health care. This project is supplemented by several grants to U.S. PVOs and one to UNICEF to support complementary activities that improve individual health centers in rural areas, provide iodization facilities for the salt industry, and expand vaccination coverage. The MOH's cautious use of resources, prudent recurrent costs, and cost recovery policy ensures sustainability of these activities. The substantial capital investment in building and equipping new rural health care facilities by the government and other donors will also contribute to achieving this objective.

Host Country and Other Donors: The MOH provides the total cost of its central and local staff, as well as salaries for medical staff at health centers and stations. The MOH also covers the major portion of its other operating costs. Several donors -- Germany, Italy, the European Union, and the World Bank -- provide concessional funding to build health facilities, particularly in the rural areas. Several international PVOs with whom USAID maintains close contact (e.g., Save the Children and Christian Outreach) provide assistance for the improvement and operation of individual rural health facilities. USAID has establishedclose collaboration with the World Bank to facilitate a $10 million loan for regional hospitals and regional planning which will complement USAID's assistance.

Beneficiaries: Approximately 1,000,000 mothers and children under five in the central-western zones are the primary direct beneficiaries of these activities, although it is expected that these activities will have nationwide impact, benefitting an additional 500,000 mothers and children.

Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS), Family Planning Service Expansion And Technical Support (SEATS), Opportunities for Micronutrient Interventions (OMNI), Africare, World Vision, PSI and UNICEF. 


Major Results Indicators:                     Baseline     Target

National health policy adopted               None (1994)     Completed (1996)

Operating costs recovered                    1% (1994)      25% (1998)

Targeted health centers trained/equipped     None (1994)      100% (1999)

ACTIVITY DATA SHEET

PROGRAM: ERITREA

TITLE AND NUMBER: Increase Income from Growth of Rural Enterprise with Emphasis on Targeted Groups and Exports, 661-SOO2

STATUS: Continuing

PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $6,300,000 DFA; $3,178,000 P.L. 480, Title II; $5,000,000 P.L. 480, Title III

INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2005

Purpose: To increase the ability of the rural population to access food in targeted rural areas through increased income, production, marketing, external trade, and improved distribution.

Background: Eritrea suffers from chronic food deficits and subsistence-level agriculture. For a country with a large rural population, agriculture contributes a surprisingly small share to national income: about 25%. Nevertheless, it is the source of sustenance and livelihood for almost three-fourths of the population, and thus, is of critical importance to the rural economy. For this reason, USAID has, since 1993, provided significant amounts of food and agricultural assistance to sustain the livelihood of rural populations, including demobilized fighters and returning refugees, affected by the war and, later, drought.

The experiences gained from this assistance and USAID's considerable expertise with food aid and agricultural development led to the support of a number of other food and agriculture-related activities requested by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) and the Eritrean Relief and Refugee Commission (ERREC). There are opportunities for USAID assistance to make a significant difference through the support of catalytic intervention and dialogue in several critical areas of the rural economy, including food policy analysis, crop protection, storage and processing, horticultural development, the formation of associations and cooperatives, the expansion of enterprises and the upgrading and extension of banking services. The linkage with the food security objectives and activities in the Greater Horn of Africa Initiative (GHAI) will be important. The use of P.L. 480 food resources, combined with small amounts of Development Assistance, have proven particularly effective as demonstrated by USAID-supported food monetization and the changes in government food aid policy.

USAID Role and Achievements to Date: Eritrean decision-makers find USAID an honest and informed partner in dialogue on food issues, providing support on improving rural food security policy. USAID has just recently become the largest food aid donor in Eritrea. Food assistance has facilitated the repatriation of 25,000 refugees from Sudan and provided livestock, seeds and tools which enabled 2,500 resettled refugee families to earn a livelihood. USAID-funded training continues to upgrade skills for locust control and integrated pest management among the Plant Protection staff, agricultural extension agents and farmers. Ongoing research in biological control of locusts and grasshoppers shows promising laboratory trials with locally collected fungi. If field trials prove successful, a further reduction in chemical pesticide use is expected. USAID support has also enabled ex-fighters to develop food and agricultural enterprises. Most recently, U.S. food assistance under the new Title III program addresses the structural food deficit. Proceeds from monetization of these commodities supplement the Ministry of Construction's secondary road rehabilitation program. The new Rural Enterprise Investment Partnership (REIP) program will directly benefit from the upgraded roads as agricultural products will be marketed domestically and for export. USAID is the first donor that successfully negotiated a bilateral food aid grant with the Government of the State of Eritrea (GOSE) since the food aid monetization proclamation was issued in January 1996.

Description: USAID is supporting Eritrea's effort to achieve food security through a range of activities. These include the $13.4 million Rural Enterprise Investment Program (REIP) program which focuses on the operational improvement of the Commercial Bank of Eritrea (CBEr) to enable the institution to provide better banking services to more people in rural areas of three administrative zones with agricultural potential. The REIP program will also offer technical services to small and medium-size rural enterprisesto improve their productivity and marketing. Two additional elements of this program (the Trade Investment Facilitation Fund [TIFF] and the Critical Infrastructure Support Fund [CISF] with $1.0 million each) offer USAID the opportunity to respond to immediate needs expressed by the GOSE. In FY 1997 TIFF funds are being used to produce high quality maps for a feasibility study of a sugar cane plantation in the south-western part of Eritrea. The CISF funds offer much needed engineering services from the Natural Resource Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the small dam program of the Ministry of Agriculture. Supplemental irrigation is considered a high priority to mitigate the effects of erratic rainfall. The P.L. 480 Title III program supports the GOSE in the implementation of its food security policy which forms the basis of the bilateral food aid grant agreement. In addition to providing cereal grains ($20.0 million over three years) to food deficit areas for sale in retail outlets, it supplements the Ministry of Construction's budget for the rehabilitation of secondary rural roads. These roads are critical in improving the ability to market high value agricultural products to domestic and international markets. The P.L. 480 Title II program is now limited to monetization in support of an irrigated agriculture program in the eastern lowlands. This spate irrigation (utilization of excess runoff) project is considered a pilot activity of considerable importance since the Ministry of Agriculture intends to replicate this concept in a number of additional seasonal streams flowing from the highlands towards the Red Sea. Several centrally funded research and training grants to resolve agricultural problems show promising results and will reduce the level of chemical pesticide use in the control of locusts and grasshoppers as well as in pest management in general.

Host Country and Other Donors: Several donors, including Germany, Italy, the European Union (EU), and the World Bank, are also providing considerable concessional assistance for rural road and agricultural development projects. Due to the number of donor-assisted activities in rural areas and the lack of any formal coordination mechanism, USAID has collaborative working relationships with other donors in the areas of food policy (EU) and irrigated farming (Israel). While USAID is a comparatively small donor, its importance increased considerably due to the successful negotiation of a bilateral food aid grant agreement at a time when no other donor was providing food aid assistance.

Beneficiaries: The direct beneficiaries of USAID assistance will be approximately 10,000 rural households. However, the entire rural population of the central-western zone of approximately one million will ultimately benefit from greater food availability. Additionally, 848 households benefit from the spate irrigation in the eastern lowlands.

Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Africare, World Vision, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Virginia State Universities, Michigan State University, U.S. Trade Development Agency, Centre for International Cooperation of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Agricultural Cooperative Development International. 

Major Results Indicators:                  Baseline     Target

Decrease in non-emergency food aid      75,000 mt       zero

Strategic food grain reserve               zero         50,000 mt

Secondary roads rehabilitated                -          200 km

Additional number of enterprises
receiving banking services                Zero          2,000

Annual rate of increase in total
employment in assisted enterprises           -          10%

Additional value of exports from
assisted enterprises                         -          $6.0 million

ACTIVITY DATA SHEET

PROGRAM: ERITREA

TITLE AND NUMBER: Capacity for Accountable, Decentralized Democratic Government Built and Accessible to Citizens, 661-SOO3

STATUS: Continuing

PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $1,000,000 DFA

INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1995; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 1999

Purpose: To build the skills, knowledge, and institutional infrastructure necessary to establish and administer democratic governance.

Background: As a newly independent nation, Eritrea is now building the institutions and processes of democratic governance. This effort is well informed by the organizational experience of the long struggle for independence; by the sizeable number of professional Eritreans in Europe and the United States; and the lessons learned from other nation-building experiences. The success in building democratic institutions and processes of governance will determine the future of the Eritrean state. The USAID strategy for democracy and governance evolves from the earlier, initial support for the Independence Referendum and builds on activities initiated under the amended Technical Assistance Project (TAP). These activities include, among others, support for the Constitution Commission, and institutional strengthening of the Central Bank of Eritrea. The development of the strategy was initiated in mid-1995 as a result of meetings with the President's Office and several key institutions involved in the earlier design of the USAID Democracy and Governance project. In late 1995, an amendment to the TAP was developed to incorporate many of the elements of the Democracy and Governance project: assistance to build capacity in the judiciary, local government, the university, and the new management institute.

USAID Role and Achievements to Date: Though there are a number of other donors working in the area of democracy and governance, USAID is in the vanguard. It is a tribute to the U.S. reputation in this area and to USAID's comparative advantage that the Government of the State of Eritrea (GOSE) has asked USAID to take the lead on a number of democracy and governance issues. With USAID's role primarily that of capacity building and institutional strengthening, the influence of USAID's assistance will likely be widespread and long-term. While USAID's activities are relatively new, two achievements are noteworthy: the establishment of an influential, U.S.-Eritrea university partnership in the critical areas of law, journalism, and public administration; and a country-wide civic education and outreach effort by the Constitution Commission, which has developed and submitted a draft Constitution for public debate.

Description: The democratic governance strategic objective addresses capacity building in three areas: (1) the legal and judicial system, (2) participation in development of democratic governance, and (3) accountable governance at local, regional, and national levels. USAID activities in support of capacity building include: (1) a $1.3 million partnership between the University of North Carolina and the University of Asmara featuring the exchange of faculty and graduate students in law, journalism, and public administration, and $550,000 to improve University facilities and equipment in these areas; (2) a $1 million grant for governance capacity-building that supports in-country training programs for judges, officials and village leaders and the new Eritrean Institute of Management; (3) a broad $2 million participant training fund to send selected officials and leaders to the United States and third countries for specialized training; (4) a $1 million grant through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to support the Constitution Commission's educational and outreach activities; and (5) a $1.35 million grant to train, advise, and equip Eritrea's new Central Bank in improved monetary and fiscal management. Over the next few years, as the structure of the democratic government develops, additional activities may include assistance for the national legislature, indigenous non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other institutions of democracy. Training activities supported by the GOSE and other donors, complementary to USAID's activities, also enhance the existing capacity within government institutions.

Host Country and Other Donors: The United States, although often providing assistance through intermediaries such as the UNDP and U.S. universities, is now the leading donor in building democratic governance. Other bilateral donors such as Germany, Norway and Italy provide training and equipment in selected governance areas. The World Bank has piloted a Community Development Fund which involves aspects of democratic governance.

Beneficiaries: The direct beneficiaries are the civil servants who are expected to receive training and other assistance. Also benefitting directly are the various government institutions and NGOs which will participate in activities designed to strengthen their institutional capacities. Ultimately though, the entire nation will benefit from more competent and accountable democratic governance, with concomitant strengthening of the rule of law.

Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: University of North Carolina, National Council of Negro Women, United States Information Agency, National Center for State Courts, and World Learning. 

Major Results Indicators:        Baseline          Target

Constitution Ratified            N/A               Mid 1997

Representative Elections         N/A               Late 1997

Judiciary Trained                10% (est.)       75% by mid 1998

Courtrooms Refurbished            0               Courtrooms in three zones by mid 1998
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