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).
FY 1998 Development Fund for Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 82,036,000 FY 1998 P.L. 480 Title II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 45,770,000 FY 1998 Economic Support Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 15,000,000 Introduction.
The Africa Regional Programs provide Africa-specific technical expertise to support bilateral program development, address issues which are transnational (subregional or continent-wide), support the work of USAID central bureaus when a geographic focus is necessary, and facilitate Africa bilateral missions' use of centrally managed development assistance mechanisms. In addition to USAID bilateral missions and various central offices and bureaus, the programs involve work with host country government officials, African nongovernmental organizations, international organizations and other donors. In total, programs contribute to all Agency goal areas.Regional program objectives have been developed within the context of current state of affairs and U.S. national interests. Sub-Saharan Africa is in the midst of two difficult transformations: (1) moving from centralized, state-run economies to market-based free enterprise economies and (2) moving from authoritarian political systems to liberalized and democratically governed political systems. For the majority of African countries the commitment to these changes is strong, and much progress has been made. However, there remains a great deal to be done to institutionalize these changes and to make them irreversible. The U.S. has a strong interest in supporting these transformations. A prosperous, free Africa will have a beneficial effect on the U.S. economy, will provide a more effective partner to combat global threats to the environment and international health, will reduce U.S. and other donor requirements to provide funds due to crises, and will create greater political stability in an unstable part of the world, a part of the world where instability often results in war, hunger and refugees.
The Development Challenge The central development challenge facing sub-Saharan Africa is to mobilize resources for investment in both economic and social infrastructure. Overseas Development Assistance to Africa, after many years of growth, is now on the decline. Increasingly African countries will need to turn to the private sector, both indigenous and foreign, to provide investment funds needed for sustainable growth. But private investment will only be forthcoming in stable and supportive political and economic environments. At the same time, efforts have to continue to increase the efficiency of new investments. Improved allocation and use of new and existing resources is needed, and bilateral donors, host countries and multilateral organizations must work together to accomplish this.
Not only will Africans have to look to themselves for development financing, but they will also have to take more responsibility for designing and managing development programs. Perhaps the most striking change in Africa over the last few years has been the emergence of a strong cadre of sophisticated, well-trained, self-confident professionals. These men and women are taking charge of the development process and are looking at donors as partners rather than as managers and financiers of development.
Finally, there are many new efforts in Africa to move toward greater cooperation among the countries in the region. This cooperation takes several forms. First, there are a number of attempts to reduce barriers to the free flow of goods, capital and labor across national boundaries. This is particularly important as many African countries have markets which are too small to attract international investment. Second, there is the development of specific modes of cooperation within a sector, such as training or agricultural research. Much of this is done through networking which allows regional specialization. For example, not every country needs to do potato research. Rather one country can specialize in potatoes and another in beans and they can share their information. Finally, there hasbeen an exponential growth in the sharing of information of all kinds, and policy makers and technical experts in one country are increasingly learning from their colleagues in other countries.
Other Donors
Total donor commitment was approximately $19 billion in calendar year 1995 for development activities in sub-Saharan Africa. While real levels of commitment are dropping in the 1990's, cooperation among donors is increasing. There are a number of multi-donor coordination efforts at the sectoral level, and a number of U.S.-other donor partnerships at the bilateral level. At the multi-donor level, the US is working with the World Bank, Canada, The United Kingdom, Germany, and the Scandinavians and other major donors in policy reform, education operations research, the environment and health. On a bilateral level, the United States is working with the European Union and with Japan on democracy, food security and several health initiatives.
Some specific examples follow. USAID supported an Informal Donors Consultation Meeting on Health in West Africa to strengthen donor partnerships and complementarity of resources and expertise. Outcomes included support for a new West Africa Epidemic Preparedness initiative among several donors. USAID continues to work closely with UNICEF, World Health Organization African Regional Office (WHO/AFRO) and the European Union (EU) on strengthening the sustainability and effectiveness of immunization programs, malaria, and integrated management of the sick child as well as HIV/AIDS and health care financing issues. The Central African Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) is an example from the environment sector of USAID working successfully with other donors to achieve significant results. Together with the EU and the World Bank, USAID is creating an international awareness and developing a strategy to address the issues of deforestation and loss of biodiversity in the second largest rainforest in the world located in the Congo Basin, thus ensuring that this valuable resource is managed in a more sustainable manner. Finally, under the Transatlantic Initiative, the regional program and USAID/Benin are working with the EU in conducting a macro governance assessment, ensuring donor collaboration in this critical area.
FY 1998 Program
The USAID Africa Regional strategy for helping Africa manage more effectively its transition to sustainable political and economic transformation centers around three sets of activities. First, the program provides policy-relevant information and helps African countries and their partners use this information to improve the policies, programs and strategies required for sustainable development. Second, the regional program builds the capacity of Africa to manage its own development. Third, the regional program assists African countries and institutions to build more effective regional interaction to increase economic and technical cooperation.Already USAID is seeing the fruits of these activities in a variety of sectors. In the private sector, USAID is supporting networks of African entrepreneurs, and these have resulted in a number of joint investment and trade partnerships across country lines and in changes of government policies that over-regulated business. In basic education, health and child survival, USAID is supporting the development of public-private sector partnerships, and in HIV/AIDS private sector social marketing approaches, all of which could lead to more financially sustainable programs. In the environment, USAID helped build an Africa-wide effort to plan and monitor environmental activities based on partnerships with local groups. In the democracy area, many new newspapers and radio stations are making information more readily available, there are increasing numbers of free and fair elections, and governments are becoming more responsive to their citizenry.
Agency Goal: Encouraging Broad-based Economic Growth
Regional approaches, working with African regional institutions, are critical to the achievement of sustainable broad based economic growth in Africa. The last decade has seen most of the countriesin Africa move from negative rates of per capita economic growth to positive rates. In fact, 1995 saw average growth rates of more than 1% per capita, the highest in decades. However, per capita growth rates of one percent will not lead to an appreciable improvement in peoples' lives in any reasonable time-frame. To move Africa into self-sustaining growth, which will have positive impacts on population growth, health, and the environment, as well as lead to greater political stability, will require per capita growth rates of around 3% per year, which means increasing the overall growth in real Gross Domestic Product from the current 4% per year to 6% per year.This is a daunting task. It is one in which regional approaches, through mobilizing regional African public and private sector networks and organizations, can have a major impact. Whether transferring policy lessons or crop technologies across country borders, bringing decision-makers from one country to see how the private sector can work if allowed to in another, or providing fora for regional strategy and priority setting, African regional approaches are an important ingredient in accelerating the pace of economic change in Africa.
In the short-run Africa must continue the process of economic liberalization and regional cooperation to encourage private investment. Of particular importance is agriculture and agri-business. In the medium-term Africa must strengthen its capacity to design and implement more effective economic programs. In the long-run Africa must improve the efficiency and equity of its educational system to provide the education and skills that Africa's workforce will need to compete in the twenty-first century. Regional approaches, and the transfer of lessons through regional African information networks, are one key element in making such changes.
In the past year, there has been a substantial increase in African capacity to analyze and make policy recommendations in the enabling environment. Some of this analysis has resulted from joint partnerships between USAID's regional program, African research institutions, and African governments. For example, this has been noteworthy in the area of agriculture and food security where regional programs have had a major influence in building financial markets in Uganda, Tanzania, Swaziland and elsewhere. In the Southern Africa Region, the regional program provided the technical expertise to help the nations of the Southern African Development Community draft and agree to an historic trade protocol, designed to eliminate all trade barriers among these countries by the year 2005. In many cases, policy and market reforms have resulted in lower food prices for the poor and higher prices for farmers, as marketing inefficiencies were reduced. There have also been successes through partnerships within the private sector such as the African Business Roundtable which has used its prestige to leverage improvements in such areas as regional banking (providing for improved mechanisms for foreign currency exchange) and regional trade (removing border taxes, particularly informal taxes on cross-border trade). Finally, there have been successful donor-African partnerships such as in the African Economic Research Consortium which has created a regional masters' degree program in economics, by pooling the resources of fourteen Eastern and Southern African universities, and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), which has produced and disseminated in multiple languages a data base on African education systems.
In addition, the Leland Initiative has negotiated the liberalization of telecommunication policies in a number of countries, leading to broad-based access to the Internet. As a result, public and private entities in Mali, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda and Eritrea, for example, will be able to access the information and expertise necessary for sustainable economic and social development. In addition, this new rapid communication capability is being applied to, among other areas, the development of regional epidemic early warning systems.
Of course, these successes are just the beginning of what needs to be achieved. While much has been done, much more remains to be done. In particular, more African-led analysis, dialogue and policy reform must be done to open in the areas of financial markets, in which conservatism and lack of competition seem to be reducing access to financing for good investment ideas, and in labor markets to ensure that opportunity for access to jobs is equitable. Moreover, regional cooperation is in itsinfancy, and important agendas for cooperation among the countries of specific sub-regions such as Southern Africa, and among sector specialists such as health professionals need to be nurtured.
In FY 1998, the new Africa Food Security Initiative will make it possible for the Africa Bureau to continue support to regional organizations and networks in Africa that promote the rapid and efficient spread of badly-needed agricultural technologies. These technologies are essential to helping farmers improve their yields while also ensuring that their farming methods are environmentally sustainable.
Strategic Objective 1: Improve Policies, Programs and Strategies in the Area of Economic Growth in a Sustainable Way
Strategic Objective 5: An Improved Use of USAID Resources to Prevent, Mitigate and Respond to Humanitarian Crises
Strategic Objective 7: Broad Based Support for Africa Agency Goal: Stabilizing World Population Growth and Protecting Human Health
Of the total funding requested for population and health, $2,030,000 is planned for population activities and $28,372,000 is planned for health activities.While Africans are taking more of a leadership role in the development and sustainability of primary health care systems and the direct effects on lowering of mortality and decreases in fertility are being seen, all countries in sub-Saharan Africa are still facing difficulties. In recent years, considerable attention has been given to the serious threat posed by new, emerging and re-emerging diseases. The magnitude of the problem is illustrated by the appearance of several new organisms causing diseases of marked severity, such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other viruses such as Ebola virus. Simultaneously, other pathogens, including those which cause cholera, dysentery, meningitis, measles and yellow fever have reemerged and are having a considerable impact in sub-Saharan Africa.
Rapid population growth continues to impede development efforts throughout Africa. The past five years, however, have witnessed important fertility declines in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Kenya and South Africa. Ghana and Tanzania appear on the verge of similar declines and there is reason to expect that a "demographic transition," i.e. a shift from high birth and death rates to lower death rates and lower birth rates will spread from East and Southern Africa to the rest of the continent early in the next century.
USAID has been the principal provider of population and family planning program assistance and expects to continue its leadership role in the immediate years ahead. Because of the rapid expansion (and cost) of family planning programs, however, USAID will intensify its collaborative and cost-sharing efforts with other leading donors so that the new momentum on this vital front continues.
The regional program is aimed at improving the effectiveness and sustainability of population and health programs in Africa. This work has emphasized improved donor coordination. Working with regional institutions, like the Africa Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO/AFRO), significant momentum has been built to accelerate and intensify disease control, in particular malaria and immunization activities including the eradication of polio, throughout Africa. As this process continues, countries require assistance in developing local capacity to confront significant obstacles to respond appropriately to major epidemics through the strengthening of national technical and operational capacities. Our work with WHO/AFRO and other multi-lateral organizations will continue to focus on building capacity to strengthen country and regional surveillance networks for infectious diseases; to establish national and regional infrastructures for early warning of and rapid response to infectious disease threats through laboratory enhancement and multidisciplinary training programs.
Strategic Objective 2: Improved Policies, Programs and Strategies in Population and Health in a Sustainable Way
Strategic Objective 7: Broad Based Support for Africa Agency Goal: Protecting the Environment
Africa's rapid population growth is putting increased pressure on a limited natural resource base. Forests, soils and biodiversity are in particular danger. For example, our research shows that soil erosion in Rwanda (prior to the civil war) had reduced agricultural productivity to a major extent, reducing food security. Over the past few years, the regional program has supported an approach to this problem which emphasizes (1) local control over local resources, and (2) investments in the development and use of new resource-saving technologies.USAID is seeing important successes. In Mali, for example, the agricultural research program has transferred over twenty land and water saving technologies to farmers. In Zimbabwe, local control of wildlife has led to more sustainable use of this resource, protecting the biodiversity while at the same time providing an important source of income to local villages. The challenge is to expand these ideas. USAID's new program, the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment, is aimed at developing effective mechanisms to manage in a sustainable way the vast forestry and biodiversity resources of the Congo River Basin, the largest remaining relatively unthreatened rain forest in the world.
Strategic Objective 3: Improve Policies, Programs and Strategies in Protecting the Environment in a Sustainable Way
Strategic Objective 5: Improved Use of USAID Resources to Prevent, Mitigate, and Respond to Humanitarian Crises in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Strategic Objective 6: Improved Environmentally Safe Approaches to Prevent and Mitigate Agricultural Pest Crises Adopted by Host Countries, Regional Institutions, and International Organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Strategic Objective 7: Broad Based Support for Africa Agency Goal: Building Democracy
The dramatic transition toward democracy in Africa is both breath-taking and fragile. More than half of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa now have or are moving toward improved democratic governance. Free and fair elections are being held, the press is becoming remarkably open, legislatures are gaining independence from the executive, and governmental power is being devolved to local and regional units. In a sense, though, this revolution has been occurring in response to the examples in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union as well as to the frustration at the on-going financial crisis of overextended African governments and their utter failure to deal with corruption and poverty.A major problem is that the institutional base for this change is very weak. Governments are learning, though very slowly, to share power and involve its citizens. The press is learning that freedom brings responsibility. Civil society is learning that engaging government is hard work. The people are learning that newly elected governments do not mean overnight wealth. The regional program focus has been to support the development of these institutions through (1) building understanding of how to examine what is needed for long-term success in a democratic transition, and (2) providing assistance to a number of local groups to improve their capacity to lobby government in the areas of human rights and government's accountability to the interests of all people, not just a privileged few.
Strategic Objective 4: Improve Policies, Programs and Strategies in Building Democracy in a Sustainable Way
Strategic Objective 7: Broad Based Support for Africa Agency Goal: Providing Humanitarian Assistance
Over the past decade Africa has been beset by humanitarian crises, both those caused by nature and those caused by war and civil unrest. The Regional Program's objective in this area is to help avoid crises where possible and to coordinate the Agency's response in Africa when necessary. Over the past years some of USAID's greatest successes have resulted from our helping to avoid disasters -- droughts that did not lead to famines and pest outbreaks that were mitigated before they became major problems. The regional program's Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) continues to play a very important role in helping the donor community and African countries to temper the consequences of a serious disruption in the annual rainfall pattern in the northern Sahel.Our emergency response program to grasshoppers and locusts worked with the governments of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mauritania through the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to help survey and control locust and grasshoppers that presented a risk to sub-Saharan Africa. Our intention is to increasingly transfer this capacity to the governments of Africa, but it will take time to accomplish this. Promising research into biological control of locust and grasshoppers has the potential to reduce the dependence on the use of chemical pesticides, to reduce the risk to vulnerable organisms and protect the environment.
These programs, while managed by the Africa Bureau's Disaster Response Coordination Staff in USAID/W have direct benefits to recipient countries.
Strategic Objective 5: Improved Use of USAID Resources to Prevent, Mitigate, and Respond to Humanitarian Crises in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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 |
||||||
|
1. Improve the Policies,
Programs and Strategies in
Economic Growth
- Dev. Fund for Africa |
14,500,000 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
14,500,000 |
|
2. Improve the Policies,
Programs and Strategies in
Population & Health
- Dev. Fund for Africa II |
--- |
29,106,000 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
29,106,000 |
|
3. Improved the Policies.
Programs and Strategies in
Protecting the Environment
- Dev. Fund for Africa |
--- |
--- |
11,600,000 |
--- |
--- |
11,600,000 |
|
4. Improve the Policies,
Programs and Strategies in
Building Democracy
- Dev. Funds for Africa |
--- |
--- |
--- |
4,500,000 |
--- |
4,500,000 |
|
5. An Improved Use of
USAID Resources to
Prevent, Mitigate and
Respond to Humanitarian
Crises
- Dev. Fund for Africa |
200,000 |
--- |
7,700,000 |
--- |
--- |
7,900,000 |
|
6. Improved
Environmentally Safe
Approaches for Agriculture
Pest Control
-Dev. Fund for Africa |
--- |
--- |
600,000 |
--- |
--- |
600,000 |
|
7. Broad Based Support for
Africa
- Dev. Fund for Africa |
5,834,000 |
1,296,000 |
5,000,000 |
1,700,000 |
--- |
13,830,000 |
|
Other
- Economic Spt. Fund (1) - P.L. 480 Title II (2) |
15,000,000 --- |
--- --- |
--- --- |
--- --- |
--- 45,770,000 |
15,000,000 45,770,000 |
|
Totals
- Dev. Fund for Africa - Economic Spt. Fund - P.L. 480 Title II |
20,534,000 15,000,000 --- |
30,402,000 --- --- |
24,900,000 --- --- |
6,200,000 --- --- |
--- --- 45,770,000 |
82,036,000 15,000,000 45,770,000 |
(2) Includes P.L. 480 Title II for Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Sierra Leone and Sudan.
USAID/W AFR/SD Office Director: Jerome Wolgin
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: AFRICA REGIONAL PROGRAM
TITLE AND NUMBER: Improve the Policies, Programs and Strategies in Economic Growth in a Sustainable Way, 698-S001
STATUS: Ongoing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $14,500,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2001
Purpose: To improve the enabling environment for private sector growth, strengthen policy-analytic capacity and support the development of more effective primary education systems in sub-Saharan Africa.
Background: For Africa to grow, more of the financial resources for growth and more of the intellectual leadership for growth must come from within Africa. To a great extent this depends on African governments and institutions finding ways to make private investment more attractive, and this, in turn, requires policy and regulatory reform, and the strengthening of the institutions that manage the economy. It also requires more and better educated Africans.
USAID Role and Achievement to Date: The USAID Africa Regional Program is strengthening a number of African policy-analytic organizations such as the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). Through the Leland Initiative, USAID is supporting the linking of researchers and other policy-makers across Africa through the Internet and other electronic communications systems. In nine African countries, including Ghana, Mali, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Guinea, the regional program is supporting the restructuring of telecommunications policy to promote sustainable, low-cost internet availability. The program also is promoting sustainable financing of agricultural research, working with regional institutions in east and southern Africa, and national institutions in Uganda and Kenya. Partly as a result of our work to improving the efficiency of African National Agricultural Research Systems to conduct research in staple crops, the potato network in East Africa has over the past 15 years contributed significantly to the 40 percent increase in potato yield. In the African countries where USAID is involved with work in basic education (Uganda, Guinea, Mali, Benin, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa, Malawi and Ethiopia), the regional program is supporting USAID mission efforts to build more effective and financially sustainable education systems, and to leverage an increasing level of country financing for primary schooling. Given shrinking external resources and the strong need for African institutions to begin controlling their own destiny, we are leading an initiative to develop financing mechanisms that will help break the chain of donor dependency. Following extensive analysis of the "art of the possible", the initiative is now actually helping African institutions put together systematic workplans to this end. Mechanisms being developed include such things as establishing endowments, commercializing technology and arranging debt swaps, as well as the institutional changes needed for these mechanisms to work.
Description: The regional program works catalytically by linking U.S. expertise with African expertise in a mentoring role. African institutions and researchers suggest a set of important activities that need further analysis, and the Regional Program, through a series of grants and contracts, links key expertise in the United States with African counterparts, developing solutions to the problems and at the same time creating greater capacity for Africans to work independently. Moreover, through the process of networking with a variety of partners, including other donors, we act to spread these ideas to various places besides those we are working in. Finally, our African counterparts become champions for policy and strategy change and are often much more effective than outsiders in getting policy makers to "buy into" the new (and hopefully, better) ideas.
The Africa Food Security Initiative, beginning this fiscal year, will be used to support Africa regional networks and organizations that coordinate the spread of agricultural research results. These Africans organizations and the International Agricultural Research Centers work through a series of networksthat provide farmers access to new seed varieties and farming practices. In addition, particular attention will be paid to the linkages between agricultural production in African countries and household level nutrition.
Host Country and Other Donors: These are partnership activities. We are working with the World Bank, foundations such as Ford and Rockefeller, and a range of bilateral donors including the French, the Scandinavians and the Canadians. USAID plays a leading role in The Association for the Development of Education in Africa, which provides a multi-donor and host-country framework for addressing regional policy and technical issues.
Beneficiaries: We work primarily through Agency Country Missions. The immediate beneficiaries are African policy-makers and analysts. Improved policies and programs will benefit everyone, particularly the poor, in countries where these programs are implemented.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: The Regional program works with a wide variety of U.S. universities and contractors as well as with African institutions, universities, Government ministries, and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Among the institutions USAID is working with are Harvard Institute for International Development, Howard University, Michigan State University, Clark-Atlanta, African Economic Research Consortium, and University of Nairobi.
Major Results Indicators: Baseline Target
Primary Education Systems in 10 Countries
*Gross enrolment ratio-primary school
increased 72% (1990) 80% (2001)
*Increased primary enrolment 44.5%(1990) 48% (2001)
*% of Government recurrent budget
to education 20% (1990) 20% (2001)
*% of education budget to
primary education 37.5%(1990) 37.5%(2001)
*Increase in % of school-age
children achieving functional
literacy and numeracy No baseline data Baseline in place
Economic Growth
Baseline Target
- Share of private sector investment 55.4%(1996) 65% (2000)
to total investment (Avg for Africa)
- Macroeconomic stabilization
score 4.9 (1996) 7.0 (2000)
- Structural reforms score 7.8 (1996) 9.0 (2000)
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: AFRICA REGIONAL PROGRAM
TITLE AND NUMBER: Improve the Policies, Programs and Strategies in Population and Health in a Sustainable Way, 698-S002
STATUS: Ongoing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $29,106,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2001
Purpose: To improve the delivery of health and family planning programs, with particular emphasis on improving effectiveness, efficiency and creating sustainable financing.
Background: While health care and family planning services have been improving in both quantity and quality, these services are being largely underwritten by the donor community. African public and private health systems have been built to serve the urban middle and upper class communities. To a great extent, rural primary health care has been donor financed. This dichotomy must change, particularly as demands increase with population growth and donor resources shrink. In addition the strains which the HIV/AIDS pandemic will put on existing health systems will destroy their capacity to deliver services more broadly. Interventions to address the program, policy and strategies of African countries for the development of increased efficient and sustainable services are needed.
USAID Role and Achievement to Date: In the population and family planning arena, Africa Bureau regional activities have focused on issues expected to be critical in future years. For example, we have analyzed the status of urban services with the objective of helping major urban centers in Malawi, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Senegal meet future demands due to natural increase plus in-migration. To better address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, we mounted case studies in five East and Southern African countries -- Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa -- to understand the costs and potential benefits of integrating HIV/AIDS prevention with ongoing maternal-child health and family planning programs. These activities are continuing. The need to design programs for young adults has led to demonstration activities that include peer counseling and contraceptive distribution in several African countries, e.g., South Africa and Kenya, where the risk of unwanted pregnancy and contracting HIV is high.
Regarding the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we joined the World Bank in analyzing the consequences of premature AIDS deaths at the household level in Tanzania. Important insights were gained on coping mechanisms adopted by families regarding issues such as caring for orphans and maintaining incomes. We funded a major analysis of social science research needs in Africa by the National Academy of Sciences. In Uganda, where decreases in HIV prevalence have been documented in six separate locations, we are supporting an epidemiological investigation to pinpoint causes for this decrease. For employers, we sponsored the "Private Sector AIDS Policy Presentation," an analytical tool for corporations in Africa to use in reaching their employees.
Malaria remains one of the most important causes of child mortality in Africa. With Grant support from USAID, World Health Organization Africa Regional Office (WHO/AFRO) has made significant progress in strengthening Africa regional and national capacities for malaria control. USAID, with other collaborating partners has continued support for critical analyses such as assessing drug sensitivity and malaria in pregnancy and has begun implementing district-level malaria control programs in a select number of countries.
Under USAID grants to WHO/AFRO, program managers, technical officers and researchers from across Africa have developed skills in the areas of malaria policy and planning, monitoring and evaluation, and operational research for program management. Thirty-six African countries have developed or revised malaria control strategies and action plans in accordance with the regional malaria control strategy as a result of short-term training, workshops and direct technical assistance.
USAID/Missions in Africa are responding to the opportunities identified to improve malaria control within the newly adopted USAID Integrated Malaria Control Strategy for sub-Saharan Africa and the Africa Integrated Malaria Initiative (AIMI). District level malaria control programs are being developed in Kenya Malawi and Zambia through a combination of USAID Africa Bureau and Global Bureau resources. These resources are being complemented by the efforts of WHO/AFRO staff at the national level in the same countries where USAID grant funding is being used to focus on critical policy reform issues, such as changes in malaria treatment policy in Kenya and Zambia.
Africa regional programs have focused on strengthening the effectiveness and sustainability of immunization throughout Africa, including support to the "Kick Polio Out of Africa" initiative. Through grants to UNICEF and WHO/AFRO, Africa regional and national capacities have been strengthened to plan, manage, monitor and evaluate immunization programs. Through our regional grant to UNICEF and collaboration with the EU, countries such as Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Madagascar, Senegal, Mali and Burundi have budget line items to procure their own vaccines. Through the Regional Africa Disease Control Grant to WHO/AFRO, twenty-one countries implemented National Immunization Days in 1996 as part of the polio eradication initiative. Thirteen countries had polio vaccine coverage rates over 80%, including Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and South Africa.
USAID is also supporting a new epidemic preparedness and response initiative in West Africa. With our funds, Ministers of Health were brought together from thirteen West Africa countries and a strategy was developed to address the serious epidemics of cholera, meningitis, measles, and yellow fever in countries such as Mali, Senegal, Benin and Niger. Training and preparedness activities are proceeding in the subregion.
Description: USAID will be building on these achievements, continuing this work with special emphasis on issues of sustainability, quality of care, epidemic disease control, and private public sector partnerships. USAID will explore improved methods and systems to prevent or mitigate the spread of selected diseases in Africa.
USAID's approach will continue to: make careful investment in operational research to improve the effective use of resources and evaluate new tools and strategies; establish credibility and participate in agenda-setting, resource allocation and policy development dialogue both inside and outside the agency; focus attention on the pre-eminent obstacles (for example, drug resistance to malaria); monitoring and evaluation; leverage resources for program activities; emphasize information and management systems and the use of data for decision-making; promote public/private partnership; assure the rapid dissemination of lessons learned; and provide technical guidance to our Missions and partners.
Host Country and Other Donors: USAID will continue to work jointly with a number of donor and African institutions including the World Bank, WHO/AFRO, the European Union, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the governments in the region, and regional public health institutions.
Beneficiaries: The immediate beneficiaries are African policy-makers and analysts. Improved policies and programs will benefit everyone, particularly the poor, in countries where these programs are implemented.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: The Regional Program works with a wide variety of U.S. universities including Tulane, Morehouse and Johns Hopkins, consulting firms including the Academy for Educational Development, African institutions including universities, government ministries, and non-governmental organizations (e.g., Center for Applied Research on Population and Development , University of Zimbabwe, the Commonwealth Secretariat of East, Central and Southern Africa, Centre d'Etudes Superieures d'Administration et Gestion), multilateral organizations like the United Nations' Children's Fund, the World Health Organization, and U.S. agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of International Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Major Results Indicators
* Effective malaria control programs implemented and evaluated.
* Disease surveillance activities developed and implemented.
* National Immunization and Malaria programs supported by a strengthened WHO/AFRO.
* Medical barriers eliminated to provide
improved family planning services.
*Expanded family planning services in
urban areas.
* Information and/or counseling services for young adults and males established or expanded.
* HIV/AIDS, STI and MCH services integrated with FP programs.
* Expanded high impact HIV/AIDS programs developed.
* Expanded Child Survival Programs developed by USAID Bilateral Missions
* Reported outbreaks of epidemics due to cholera, meningitis, yellow fever, and measles in West Africa.
* Public sector financing of private provision of public health care.
* Reduced Barriers for private sector participation, provision and financing of health care.
Baseline
0 (1995)
0 (1995)
5 (1995)
2 (1995)
0 (1995)
0 (1995)
0 (1995)
0 (1995)
4 (1995)
9 (1995)
0 (1995)
0 (1995)
Target
20 (2000)
20 (2000)
25 (2000)
12 (2000)
8 (2000)
8 (2000)
5 (2000)
5 (2000)
8 (2000)
3 (2000)
5 (2000)
5 (2000)
(Note: indicators are measured in terms of numbers of countries.)
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: AFRICA REGIONAL PROGRAM
TITLE AND NUMBER: Improve the Policies, Programs and Strategies in Protecting the Environment in a Sustainable Way, 698-S003
STATUS: Ongoing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $ 11,600,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2001
Purpose: To help build the capacity of African governmental and private institutions to protect their natural resource base while at the same time increasing the productivity of these resources to provide for increased economic welfare.
Background: Africa's environment must be protected if the people of Africa are to be able to improve their well-being. Africa's environment must be protected if we are to avoid a catastrophic loss of unique genetic resources that are currently at risk. This can only happen if development and natural resource management are joined. Increased incomes can reduce pressure on fragile ecosystems and lands. Reduced population growth will do likewise. Both environmental protection and economic growth depend on a mutually respectful approach to sustainable development.
USAID Role and Achievement to Date: The USAID Africa Regional Program has been working with our Private Voluntary Organization Partners and host country governments to develop sustainable models for local management of Africa's resources. The Regional Program has directly influenced USAID mission programs, to the extent that the bulk of USAID's $350 million in investments in natural resource management and the environment now in place in Africa are either structured around approaches pioneered by the regional program, or are directly supported in ensuring that Mission results in this sector are achieved.
USAID was at the forefront of supporting local empowerment projects to ensure sustainable development in Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mali, Senegal, Niger, and Madagascar. Farmers in these countries now have local control over thousands of acres, heretofore being totally managed by the central government. Village upon village are earning sustainable income through the management of forests and wildlife in Southern and East Africa. This form of development is based on the premise that once communities recognize both the immediate as well as future benefits of protecting a common resource, they will work out rules and arrangements within the community to ensure that use of this resource base is sustainable.
Description: USAID continues to work with our partners to broaden the understanding of how these programs can be strengthened. USAID has invested in satellite-based monitoring systems, and are encouraging our African government partners to develop environmental management capacity and policies that will protect sustainable use. USAID started a new program in the Central African rain forest, the Central African Regional Program for the Environment, whose purpose is to save that invaluable resource before timber interests and the needs of local farmers begin to make major inroads in this largely virgin area.
Host Country and Other Donors: Perhaps in no other area does USAID have as rich an array of partners as in protecting the environment. These collaborative efforts include working with the World Bank and other donors in helping African governments and their partners to develop National Environmental Action Plans. USAID has partnerships with a wide variety of U.S. non-profit organizations - The World Resources Institute, World Wildlife Federation and the Wildlife Conservation Society to name a few. USAID helps non-profits to develop and strengthen African organization to do the same type of work.
Beneficiaries: The immediate beneficiaries are African policy-makers and analysts. Improved policies and programs will benefit everyone, particularly the poor, in countries where these programs are implemented.
Principle Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: The African Regional Program works with American and African non-profits, such as World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, African Wildlife Service, and institutional contractors to help implement this program. USAID also works with U.S. Agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Agency and the Forest Service to carry out programs.
Major Results Indicators:
Baseline Target
*Multidonor support increases networks for 21 NEAPS (1995) 40 NEAPS(2000)
in Africa
National Environmental Action Plans (NEAPS)
*Key enabling conditions affecting 12 countries 16 countries
NM programs identified 6 conditions (1996) 6 conditions (2000)
*Local institutional and USAID capacities 4 countries (1995) 10 countries (2000)
strengthened to support the development of
appropriate infrastructure needed for sustainable
natural management, including sustainable
financing mechanisms
*Income-generating activities 4 countries (1995) 10 countries (2000)
through the exploitation of natural
resources in a self-sustaining and
environmentally sound manner increased
*Increased scaled-up community 6 countries (1995) 12 countries (2000)
based NM initiatives in Africa
*Government policy affected resulting in 6 countries (1995) 12 countries (2000)
changes (e.g., to give district councils
authority to manage indigenous resources)
in order to awaken appreciation of wildlife
and NM in local peoples
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: AFRICA REGIONAL PROGRAM
TITLE AND NUMBER: Improve the Policies, Programs and Strategies in Building Democracy in a Sustainable Way, 698-S004
STATUS: Ongoing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $ 4,500,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2001
Purpose: To improve the institutional foundations for sustaining the transition to democracy in Africa.
Background: The African people have decided that they want to live in democratic societies. They have also made it clear that they want an end to corruption and to waste in their governments. While elections have occurred in a majority of African countries, the resulting governments have often been weak and ineffective. A few have been overthrown by military regimes. Democracy will survive in Africa over the long term only when the institutions for democracy and democratic culture become so strong that any idea of returning to authoritarianism will be unthinkable.
USAID Role and Achievement to Date: USAID Regional Programs have focused on four major themes: (1) development of improved African analytical capacities for conducting strategic assessments; (2) promoting fair and competitive elections; (3) strengthening civil society groups, particularly human rights groups; and (4) the integration of democratic institutions throughout the Agency's Africa development program with particular emphasis on supporting decentralization and developing the ability of civil society groups to articulate their interests and petition government at all levels for redress. The regional Program has championed the idea, for example, of local control over natural resources. This is a major issue in the Sahel where government foresters were seen as the leaders in stealing natural resources from local populations. Support for reform of forestry codes has resulted in the transfer of control to local users. The USAID Regional Program has also been instrumental in developing local community involvement in education, including the devolution of much authority to local districts and communities.
Description: With democratic consolidation occurring in much of Africa, the regional program will focus renewed attention on improving USAID and African understanding of how to strengthen democratic and good governance, particularly the synergism with other sectors of the economy. A major focus will be on developing African capacity to analyze, accelerate and rationalize the process of decentralization and devolution of authority that is occurring throughout Africa.
Host Country and Other Donors: The Regional program has been working with other donors (particularly the European Union) to better understand the synergism and conflicts between economic and political liberalization.
Beneficiaries: The immediate beneficiaries are African policy-makers and analysts. Improved policies and programs will benefit everyone, particularly the poor, in countries where these programs are implemented.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: The Regional Program works with a number of U.S. non-profit institutions such as the National Democratic and the International Republican Institutes (NDI and IRI, respectively), as well as with several consulting firms such as Associates in Rural Development and Associates for International Resources and Development and U.S. universities, such as the Harvard Institute for International Development.
Major Results Indicators:
Baseline Target
*Formal macro Democracy and Governance 5 countries (1995) 20 countries (2000)
Strategic Assessment Framework applied
by Africa Bureau Missions
*Strategic Plans developed 0 countries (1995) 8 countries (2000)
for supporting democratic local
governance, covering civil society and local
government rules.
*Democracy and Governance strategies 0 countries (1995) 8 countries (2000)
developed that cut across other sectors
including, e.g., decentralization
in education, health, agriculture, natural
resources management sectors.
*African capacity to conduct 3 countries (1995) 10 countries (2000)
strategic democracy and governance
self-assessments developed.
*Improved African capacity to develop and 0 countries (1995) 5 countries (2000)
advocate constitutional and governance
reforms for consolidating and deepening democratic
institutions and culture.
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: AFRICA REGIONAL PROGRAM
TITLE AND NUMBER: An Improved Use of USAID Resources to Prevent, Mitigate and Respond to Humanitarian Crises in Sub-Saharan Africa. 698-S005
STATUS: Ongoing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $ 7,900,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2001
Purpose: To prevent the humanitarian disasters that plague Africa and, where prevention is impossible, to mitigate its effects as quickly as possible.
Background: Africa has experienced numerous humanitarian disasters, both natural and man-made. While drought cannot be prevented, famine can. In the past decade, Africa has not experienced a major famine that resulted from drought or other natural disasters. This major success is a result of improved capacity within Africa, and supported by external donors, to identify drought conditions early and to provide timely, strategic and effective assistance when needed.
USAID Role and Achievement to Date: To date, wherever USAID's Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) and the Africa Emergency Locust/Grasshopper Assistance (AELGA) activities have been introduced, famines have not resulted from drought. By providing more timely and accurate information about evolving drought situations to key decision makers, more appropriate preemptive actions can be taken to prevent famine conditions from developing. In 1996, FEWS alerted USAID, select donors and African governments to a serious disruption in the annual rains in the northern Sahel, which led to intensified early response planning.
Description: The USAID Regional Program has been established to provide assistance to bilateral missions in responding to and preventing major disasters. The two areas in which the Regional Program is focussed are first, predicting and mitigating the effects of drought and, second, responding quickly to grasshopper, locust, and other pest outbreaks. Regarding the first intervention, FEWS is located in fifteen drought-prone countries and monitors weather patterns and economic and social conditions (e.g., food prices, livestock sales, and migration) in affected areas. FEWS also provides information for targeting food assistance to the most vulnerable groups. Regarding the second, AELGA provides quick and timely assistance to missions and host countries where food harvests are threatened by outbreaks of locusts and grasshoppers. AELGA is an example of how international organizations can work together with host countries toward preventing the onset of pest-induced disasters. In cooperation with other donors and the affected countries, AELGA has planned a regional preventive program for the Greater Horn of Africa. In addition, AELGA has bilateral and regional training programs that aim at maximizing appropriate responses to imminent pest outbreaks at the local level.
Capacity for conflict management and resolution is an area in which Africa is lacking with respect to institutional and human resources. The Regional Program will continue to support efforts to improve the capacity of African governments and regional institutions to manage conflict and to assist in the demobilization of combatants. The current initiative aims to promote ideas of communication and dialogue to instill in Africans a belief that a common ground exists for the resolution of conflict. This activity promotes an innovative approach dealing with conflict, through a 13-part television magazine and radio series to be developed, filmed, and aired in Africa.
Host Country and Other Donors: The Regional Program works with a number of African governments, African regional institutions, and private organizations, as well as with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP) of the United Nations, and other donors.
Beneficiaries: The people of Africa, especially those living in drought/locust prone regions.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: The Regional Program works with several American firms, as well as with U.S. Government Agencies such as the United States Geological Survey (USGS), NASA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Major Results Indicators: Baseline Target
*Number of cases in which droughts were not
identified by FEWS earlier than elsewhere in the
international community. 0 0
*Host Country's crop protection units able to detect
and mitigate locust and grasshopper outbreaks
without external intervention 0 countries(1996) 6 countries (2000)
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: AFRICA REGIONAL PROGRAM
TITLE AND NUMBER: Improved Environmentally-safe Approaches to Prevent and Mitigate Agricultural Pest Crises Adopted by Host Countries, Regional Institutions, and International Organizations in sub-Saharan Africa, 698-S006
STATUS: Ongoing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $ 600,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2001
Purpose: Under this SO, AA/AFR/DRC (the operating unit) intends to achieve results that will safeguard the environment and ecosystems and ameliorate and prevent environmental threats to public health.
Background: In the aftermath of the 1985 to 1989 locust plague, it was realized that widespread pesticide spraying could have been avoided if an early warning mechanism had been available, and enhanced spraying techniques, biological control methods, and other tactics were used instead of hazardous pesticides. The Africa Emergency Locust/Grasshopper Assistance (AELGA) is aimed, in part, at helping to achieve this strategic objective.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: Since 1990, the Africa Bureau has funded biological control research through the AELGA activity. In 1995, a biological pesticide was registered through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for use on rangeland grasshoppers in the United States. Much of the field work was carried out in Africa under the USAID grant. Other important achievements have been the removal and destruction of out-of-date, banned pesticides in Niger and Zanzibar (50,000 liters and 400 metric tons, respectively). Finally, a total of 126,300 liters of pesticide donated by Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe were transported at AELGA's expense to other developing countries in Africa to control desert locusts. Other AELGA-initiated research has involved examination of botanical compounds that might serve as repellents to locust and grasshoppers.
Description: Safeguarding the environment is the main thrust of this strategic objective. FY 1997 funds under this SO will be used to mitigate environmental hazards through training of host country crop protection staff to decrease their dependency on chemical pesticides through the use of pest management. Research into biological controls for locust and grasshoppers has been funded through April 1997 using prior year budgets. Large scale field tests in 1996 have justified further involvement in applied research to develop commercially produced biopesticides in the U.S. and in Africa.
Also under this SO, activities will be funded to ameliorate conditions and prevent environmental public health threats by reducing surplus pesticides, enhancing the capability of host country personnel to use pesticides safely, disposing of expired pesticides, and convincing host country partners to accept recommendations from environmental assessments.
Host Country and Other Donors: Donor coordination is essential to encourage host countries to adopt environmentally sound pesticide laws and regulations. Currently, 18 supplementary environmental assessments have been conducted jointly with African countries to ensure that the host countries follow accepted USAID environmental procedures, thus making them eligible for U.S. assistance.
Pesticide disposal has been arranged with host countries (Tanzania and Niger) and the Dutch and Germans, i.e., to safely package and ship expired pesticides to the Netherlands to be incinerated. AELGA has worked closely with the governments of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia to promote their donations of excess, viable pesticides to other Sub-Saharan African countries experiencing major locust outbreaks.
In Madagascar, Eritrea, and Mali biological control research is be accomplished in coordination with the host country ministries of agriculture and local universities.
Beneficiaries: The end customers are rural African families who are safeguarded because their environment is protected through proper and timely application of pesticides to control locust and grasshoppers. Rural Africans benefit from the safe application and disposal of U.S. funded pesticides. With breakthroughs in the biological control research, these new pesticides will augment, and reduce reliance on chemical pesticides, and the potential for improved rural health and improved environment will result.
Principal Contractors and Grantees: Technical assistance is provided through an interagency
agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which in turn has contracted with the University
of Maryland/Eastern Shore and the University of Missouri/Columbia. Biological control research is being
conducted through two grants with Montana State University. The FAO is the grantee providing rapid
response, early warning, and locust control services.
*Host Country pesticide warehouses managed 0 Countries (1996) 5 Countries (2001)
in an environmentally sound manner
*Biological pesticides used on locust and 0 Pesticides (1996) 2 Pesticides (2001)
grasshoppers for emergency control
Major Results Indicators: Baseline Target
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: AFRICA REGIONAL PROGRAM
TITLE AND NUMBER: Broad Based Support for Africa, 698-S007
STATUS: New
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $ 13,830,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: Ongoing
Purpose: To provide support to address Africa-wide issues that are intrinsic to Africa Bureau program management and/or provide support that is broader than that provided to a single bilateral country program or sub-regional program.
Background: A tenant of the USAID Africa Bureau's management goal is that Agency resources are budgeted and implemented for specific country and regional programs to the maximum extent possible. However, there are some Africa-wide issues and management needs that transcend national and/or regional boundaries. To this end, the Africa Bureau funds a discrete set of activities which address these problems, issues and needs. Among these activities are: funding for program development and support; the USAID Africa Bureau-wide Special Self Help Development Fund to promote small civic endeavors; undergirding support for an enhanced role for U.S. and indigenous private voluntary organizations (PVOs); a limited fund for initiating worthwhile unsolicited proposals which address concerns that go beyond the mandate for a particular USAID Mission; and a fund to promote economic policy reform.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: Though disparate, the activities supported have the common focus of enhancing the way the Africa Bureau manages its development resources. Funding is used to service certain regional needs or where it is premature to budget resources to a specific country or group of countries yet funds can be used to plan and prepare for specific interventions. Over the years, funds have been used for similar activities which have been well invested in developing new support mechanisms, strengthening Africa Bureau program management, enhancing U.S. policy interests by building indigenous support and for developing fundamental and far-reaching economic policy reform programs. By the very nature of activities supported, measurable achievements are limited as there is a constant need to continue to invest in new and better ways to play a catalytic role in the enhancement of program management.
Description: The Africa Bureau funds a number of support activities under this strategic objective including: a) Program Development and Support, a small reserve ($300,000-$1,000,000 annually) to design, support and/or evaluate program, projects or activities, including pilot activities, where such activities can not be appropriately charged to an individual project or activity and are not directly related or linked to existing programs in a particular country or USAID Mission. Recent examples include studies such as a multi-donor study on aid effectiveness in Africa, program design related to the Greater Horn of Africa Initiative and the Leland Initiative for telecommunications linkages in Africa, and a management study for Guinea Bissau. b) Africa Special Self Help Program ($3-$5 million annually), which enables USAIDs and U.S. Ambassadors (in specifically identified non-USAID presence countries) to respond quickly and with minimal red tape to requests from indigenous communities for small (generally $2,000 or less), self-help activities which have an immediate impact and will advance U.S. interests. Examples include providing sewing machines for a community center for adult vocational training; providing a brick-making machine for communities which want to enhance their houses or community buildings; class rooms, books or equipment needed to enable school children to be educated in their communities. c) Support for InterAction, a U.S. PVO consortium which brings together U.S. and African Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and PVOs on a regular basis to discus Africa-wide issues and lessons learned. A grant of a couple hundred thousand dollars annually provides a critical collaborative mechanism between the NGO community and USAID and among U.S. and African PVOs and NGOs. d) Unsolicited Proposal Fund (about $2 million annually) for unsolicited development-related proposals which initially may not fall under specific bilateral programs but aresupportive of Agency objectives and U.S. national interests. e) Africa Economic Policy Reform Program ($4-8 million annually), subject to availability of funds) which between 1985 and 1994 funded 36 economic policy reform programs in 23 African countries, programs which helped bring about critical policy changes in important areas such as agricultural marketing, girls' education, and supplemental assistance to offset the impact of the devaluation of the West African franc.
Host Country and Other Donors: By the nature of supporting program management rather than implementing country program, there is little measurable correlation with host country and other donors support, especially where funds are used for precursor activities or program formulation. However, in providing the framework for PVO support, there is the clear expectation that, over time, the strengthened PVOs will enhance their ability to raise private contributions and to work collaboratively with host country and other donor resources. Likewise, when economic policy reform programs are formulated, at that point, other donors and the host country must have an identified and clearly discernable role.
Beneficiaries: The ultimate direct beneficiaries of improved management and well-formulated programs and activities are the millions of people in Africa who receive well-targeted and effectively programmed U.S. assistance.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: In most cases the grantees and/or implementing agencies are to be determined at the time in the future when specific tasks are to be implemented. It is known that local indigenous community-based organizations will implement activities under the aegis of the Ambassador's Special Self Help programs and the Peace Corps is often instrumental in implementing these activities. Strengthening PVOs has been a collaborative process undertaken in cooperation with InterAction, a U.S. PVO, and this symbiotic relationship may warrant continuation. The Overseas Development Council is producing case studies documenting lessons learned and effectiveness of aid in Africa specifically related to the Greater Horn of Africa.
Major Results Indicators: Not Applicable
![[USAID Home]](/images/usaid.gif)
[USAID Home] |
[CP 98 Home] |