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).
SAHEL REGIONAL PROGRAM
FY 1998 Development Fund for Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,868,000 Introduction
The 48 million people in the nine Sahelian countries (Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal) are among the poorest and least food secure in the world. The countries' annual per capita gross national products (GNPs) ranged from $180 to $930 in 1994 and eight of the nine countries ranked among the 25 lowest in terms of the 1996 Human Development Index. The Sahel Regional Program (SRP) supports U.S. interests in improving living standards for the poor by increasing food security, thereby reducing the need for costly emergency assistance programs; by promoting political stability; and by encouraging market-oriented development. The Sahel Regional Program complements USAID's bilateral programs in West Africa by supporting intraregional dialogue and agreements to foster economic growth, democratization, poverty reduction and increased food security. These regional efforts are beyond the scope of bilateral efforts but vital to sustainable economic and social progress in the region.The Development Challenge.
The Sahel has a number of serious development challenges. The fragile ecological system, marked by historically high rates of deforestation, soil degradation and erosion, and a rapidly expanding population place a large portion of the population at continuous risk. Even in "good" years, the region is dotted with pockets of high vulnerability to food insecurity. Food security is further reduced by low and highly variable rates of economic growth. The region has a number of countries which have begun to shift to more participatory, more democratic institutions. Progress has been made, especially in Mali and Senegal, but there are also some countries which have lost ground, notably Gambia and Niger. The continued existence of these fragile democratic institutions depends on establishing and maintaining sustainable, broad-based economic growth. Past attempts by governments to manage national economies via state-owned and operated agricultural and industrial parastatal organizations, and via extensive regulation and taxation (both formal and informal) in almost all parts of business activity, have pushed a large portion of economic activity into the informal sector. However, informal sector economic participation limits access to training, credit and regional and world markets. The Sahel has become more and more dependent on food imports (increasing annually at 12%), while export activity has not kept pace (increasing annually at five percent). Only about six percent of total recorded trade in West Africa is intraregional.The Sahel has a number of development constraints, but there are also some opportunities. The states have recognized that they are interdependent, both among themselves and with the coastal states, and have taken steps to adjust to this reality. One of the oldest and most positive steps was the creation of the Permanent Interstate Committee for the Control of Drought in the Sahel (CILSS), which, despite the high food vulnerability of the region, has been credited with helping to avert famine -- by increased coordination both among CILSS states and with the donors in their consortium, the Club du Sahel. Jointly, CILSS and the donors have established one of the best early warning/monitoring systems in Africa. CILSS has expanded its mandate to include relations with coastal states, which representimportant markets for both productive inputs and locally produced goods. Finally, there is a growing emphasis in the region on greater participation at all levels of civil society.
Until recently the bloc of West African countries which use a common monetary system (the African Financial Community, or CFA, Franc), employed monetary and fiscal policies which held inflation at low levels relative to the non-CFA countries, but which also undercut their competitiveness in the world markets; so much so that real per capita GDP declined by over three percent per year between 1986 and 1993. In January 1994, the countries in the two CFA monetary unions devalued the CFA by 50%, the first devaluation since the currency was created in 1948. This devaluation, along with intensified structural adjustment programs and debt rescheduling, has placed these countries on a course which is much more optimistic for growth and development; largely due to the devaluation and improved competitiveness, real per capita GDP grew at two percent in 1995 and is expected to have increased another 2.5% in 1996. The Sahel Regional Program is structured to advance this process.
Other Donors
The Sahel Regional Program is characterized by a uniquely close and cooperative relationship among donors to the Sahel. The program supports USAID membership and participation in the Club du Sahel, the donor consortium and counterpart to the CILSS system. Club membership is comprised mainly of bilateral donors - Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, France, Germany, Netherlands and the United States - and a few multilateral donors - the European Union, some of the U.N. specialized agencies and the World Bank. The Club will observe its twentieth anniversary in 1997 and, as a part of a review of achievements, is conducting an overview of the impact of aid to the Sahel over the past 20 years. Also, as a part of the review of achievements over the past 20 years, the United States, Holland, and Canada are collaborating on a joint evaluation of the Club and the Club Secretariat. The evaluation will be completed in early 1997.The Club was organized for a variety of purposes. It serves as a forum for discussing development issues with Sahelian state and civil society partners and as a means of coordination among the donors, as well as providing an analytical base for the development forum. The budget for the Club Secretariat is approximately $1.64 million for 1997. The United States is the largest donor (34%), followed by Canada (21%), France (16%), Germany (12%), the Netherlands (nine percent), Switzerland (four percent), Denmark (three percent) and Belguim (one percent).
Donor flows to the Sahelian intergovernmental organization, CILSS, are comprised of both direct financial and project support and indirect support in the form of limited technical assistance. Major contributors to the CILSS system are Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States. USAID provided about 24% of the total CILSS 1996 budget of approximately $20 million.
FY 1998 Program
The Sahel Regional Program has three strategic objectives, which together contribute to increased food security and ecological balance in Sahelian West Africa. The program undertakes truly regional activities, that is, addressing issues that cut across national boundaries, and that also complement bilateral programs. The Sahel Regional Program especially focuses on African-led dialogues on important regional policy and program issues, and on donor coordination. Local participation in policy and program formation is promoted. The majority of the program is implemented through CILSS institutions: Institute of the Sahel (INSAH), Center for Applied Research on Population and Development (CERPOD), which is part of INSAH, Regional Agroclimatological, Hydrological andMeteorological Institute (AGRHYMET), and CILSS headquarters, to which the policy analysis programs are attached. The Sahel Regional Program also provides support to the West Africa Enterprise Network (WAEN), an organization of about 300 African business people in 12 West and Central African countries.Agency Goal: Encouraging Broad-based Economic Growth.
While the Sahelian countries have a greater relative share of intraregional trade than other parts of West Africa, that trade is still well below potential, representing a considerable loss in overall growth potential. The 1994 devaluation of the CFA Franc eliminated a major constraint to achieving that potential by favoring local production and export growth, but there are still numerous formal and informal barriers to trade which continue to limit individuals' abilities to benefit from the improved macroeconomic environment. USAID's program pursues broad-based economic growth in the Sahel by addressing policy and regulatory impediments to the development of local markets and exports, especially the enabling environment affecting agriculture and commerce across national boundaries. A total of $2,200,000 is planned for support to this goal in FY 1998, intended primarily to build on activities funded in FY 1996 and 1997. These activities consist in promoting: (1) dialogue on monetary and trade policy at the regional level; and, (2) private sector efforts to identify and eliminate barriers to trade in the region. The first activity puts analyses into the hands of stakeholders and policy decision makers and brings these actors together to negotiate policy changes that affect more than one state in the region. The second is focused on assuring that stakeholders, particularly those in the private sector, are active participants in the identification and implementation of concrete steps to reduce barriers to intraregional trade. The Livestock Action Plan for Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Togo is an example of a specific trade barrier reduction activity. The Livestock Action Plan is implemented by CILSS, which in this case provides policy analysis and facilitates dialogue on livestock trade policy and regulatory issues, as well as a forum for negotiation. A combination of government and private sector individuals in the five countries have worked together successfully to eliminate several formal and informal constraints to livestock trade. The action plan began expansion to Togo and Ghana in FY 1996 and expansion to include Niger may begin in FY 1997.
USAID has also helped establish, and provides limited support to, the West African Enterprise Network, a private sector organization with chapters in 12 West African countries, which takes a very practical approach to strengthening the business environment in the region and making business contacts among its members. For example, it has helped organize contact between banks across monetary systems in the region to facilitate trade transactions, and it has been designated as the private sector source for dialogue on policy issues in several countries and by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The WAEN is now recognized by governments and by bilateral and multilateral donors as a credible voice for the private sector in West and Central Africa. In FY 1998, USAID will support the Network on its agendas with ECOWAS in reducing tariff and non-tariff barriers in customs and transportation across borders, and with the West African Economic and Monetary Union on banking and currency issues.
* Strategic Objective 1:
Assist National Governments, Regional Institutions and Private Sector Associations to Identify, Clarify, and Implement Policy Options which Promote Trade and Investment in the West Africa Region.* Strategic Objective 3:
Decision Makers have Ready Access to Relevant Information on Food Security, Population and the Environment.Agency Goal: Building Democracy
The regional dimension of the push for greater democratization in the Sahel is often overlooked. Even in the face of setbacks in individual countries, the overall trend is positive. USAID's regional program in the Sahel contributes to this trend in two ways: (1) strengthening civil society and (2) supportingvenues where representatives from one country can share experiences and influence the practices of another country toward greater democratization. A total of $300,000 is planned for support to this objective in FY 1998. Attention is focused on strengthening civic actors through regional networking and dialogue to share effective strategies for decentralizing resource management and improving the balance of power between civil society and government entities from the community to the national level. USAID's specific approaches to promoting democracy in West Africa include: (1) strengthening the capacity of groups in civil society - particularly representatives of grassroots-level organizations - to actively participate in dialogue on democratic governance, (2) supporting their actual attendance at regional conferences, and (3) supporting the development by Sahelian institutions of materials that will serve as the basis of discussion at the regional level. One of the primary effects of USAID's support is to strengthen the presence and capacity of rural organizations in the establishment of regional policies and programs, especially in decentralized authority for natural resource management and reduced barriers to broad-based economic participation. This part of the program is executed through related CILSS activities, and through strengthened advocacy capacity of the WAEN. CILSS held a very successful series of workshops in each of its nine member states in 1995 and 1996, disseminating practical, tested ideas for increasing local capacity and authority to manage natural resources. In 1996, USAID with other donors supported the creation of a regional small farmers lobby group, which has been officially recognized by other regional bodies, such as the CILSS and WAEN, and which formally participated in the 1996 U.N. World Food Summit, becoming an effective advocate for small farmer interests. At the request of the Sahelians, CILSS, with USAID FY 1996 support, identified best practice in, and initiated regional dialogue on, recognizing and strengthening women's roles and rights in natural resources management.* Strategic Objective 2:
Promote Dialogue on the Role of Civil Society and Communal, Local and National Governments in Achieving Regional Objectives in the Management of Natural Resources, Food Security, and Market Development.Agency Goal: Stabilizing World Population Growth and Protecting Human Health
Agency Goal: Protecting the Environment
Of the total funding requested for population and health, $600,000 is planned for population activities and $268,000 is planned for health activities. A total of $2,368,000 is planned to support these two goals in FY 1998. One of the major reasons that the Sahelians have been able to manage their food security situation more effectively and avert famine has been the reliance on better information for assessment and planning purposes. USAID's support for improved access by decision makers to important environmental, demographic and food security information has been instrumental. USAID has helped to build sustained flows of quality information by improving the regional monitoring systems of selected West African institutions. USAID supports specialized regional institutions under CILSS. Activities at AGRHYMET and INSAH/Food Security and INSAH/CERPOD provide services to CILSS member states (environmental monitoring, population and agricultural policy development and demographic analysis). Support includes measures to improve institutional sustainability, including assurance of the provision of information and analytical services (population policy and analyses, natural resource management, agricultural policy and food security analyses and related dialogue that reflects regional, as well as national information) to member states. The activities supported by the regional program are aimed at increasing the capacity of West Africans to guide their own institutions in their own interests, and to make policies that take account of natural synergies and economies of scale.
An important aspect of this objective is aimed at maintaining (and improving) coordination between and among donors, CILSS, and West African states. This coordination helped the CILSS system complete a major reorganization which has resulted in much-improved financial, management and administrative systems and improved program planning in CILSS. CILSS' first-ever Three-year Plan will end inDecember 1997; so, with strong USAID and other donor support, CILSS has started a broadly participatory, consultative strategic review of prospects, goals and priorities in the Sahel with a view to developing a strategic plan to take the Sahel into the 21st century. This effort is called "Sahel 21" and includes consultations with the various segments of civil society ranging from farmer and women's organizations to national and regional governments and institutions. It will provide the foundation on which CILSS will build its next workplan, and will be the basis on which USAID can respond to its customers in helping to move the Sahel beyond crisis management to positive, broad-based, sustainable social and economic growth.
* Strategic Objective 3:
Decision Makers have Ready Access to Relevant Information on Food Security, Population and the Environment.
SAHEL REGIONAL PROGRAM
FY 1998 PROGRAM SUMMARY
Encouraging Broad-based Economic Growth Stabilizing Population Growth and Protecting Human Health Protecting the Environment Building Democracy
Providing Humanitarian Assistance
TOTALS USAID Strategic Objectives
1. Assist National Governments, Regional Institutions and Private Sector Associations to Identify, Clarify, and Implement Policy Options which Promote Trade and Investment in the West Africa Region - Dev. Fund for Africa
1,047,000
---
---
---
---
1,047,000
2. Promote Dialogue on the Role of Civil Society and Communal, Local and National Governments in Achieving Regional Objectives in the Management of Natural Resources, Food Security, and Market Development. - Dev. Fund for Africa
375,000
---
---
300,000
---
675,000
3. Decision Makers Have Ready Access to Relevant Information on Food Security, Population and the Environment - Dev. Fund for Africa\
778,000
868,000
1,500,000
---
---
3,146,000
Totals - Dev. Fund for Africa
2,200,000
868,000
1,500,000
300,000
---
4,868,000
Sahel Regional Program Officer in Charge: Joan Atherton
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: SAHEL REGIONAL
TITLE AND NUMBER: Assist National Governments, Regional Institutions and Private Sector Associations to Identify, Clarify, and Implement Policy Options which Promote Trade and Investment in the West Africa Region, 625-S001
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $1,047,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2002
Purpose: To improve trade and investment in Sahel-West Africa by strengthening African leadership and intraregional cooperation in defining trade and investment policy and regulation in the region. Both public and private sector participation are supported.
Background: Analysis of economic performance in the Sahel has surfaced a continuing need to broaden and deepen markets for agricultural and industrial goods if food security is to be increased. This requires that governments pursue some form of economic cooperation. Despite various formal efforts at market integration and regional economic cooperation, the market has remained thin, with very little private capital flow into the region, and with little private sector participation in decision making.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: The Sahel Regional Program (SRP) has supported three activities: the Mali/Burkina Faso/Cote d'Ivoire/Ghana/Togo Livestock Action Plan (LAP); the West Africa Enterprise Network (WAEN), and a project of the Permanent Interstate Committee for the Control of Drought in the Sahel (CILSS) on trade policy. USAID's role has been to provide strategic technical assistance and institutional support to: 1) enhance the voice of the private sector on key issues and 2) bring practical applications and approaches to a non-transparent, highly politicized policy-making process. In the three years since the WAEN was created, USAID technical assistance has helped it grow into a self-supporting organization with chapters in 12 countries and a total of about 300 members, most of whom operate small businesses as defined under the Agency's New Partnership Initiative.
USAID has helped establish a collaborative effort among CILSS, the governments of Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Togo and interested parties in the private sector which has helped to reduce tariffs and taxes on livestock, led to simplified export licensing and other documentation, and helped improve market information on livestock trade in the region. Livestock producers and traders have continued to strengthen the organizations this activity has helped start. For example, in Burkina Faso they have created a national federation of producers and traders which represents a large enough supply to guarantee availability of animal types and volumes to contacts in coastal markets. The government and private sector operators in Niger have asked to be included in this activity.
USAID supported basic research on business development and regional trade in the Horticulture sector, which culminated in a regional meeting of producers and traders in September 1996. Participants expressed a desire for limited assistance in helping them organize so they can exchange information and attack common problems which they identified during the meeting. The CILSS trade policy activity has committed to facilitate this request during FY 1997.
Description: This activity pursues broad-based economic growth by supporting African stakeholders to identify and address policy and regulatory impediments affecting agriculture and commerce. These stakeholders then define and take actions that enhance the development of intraregional markets and exports. Planned funding for this strategic objective in FY 1998, at $1,047,000, is intended to help maintain contact and communications among principal actors in the region and to monitor activities begun in FY 1996. To achieve greater intraregional trade volumes and reduced transaction costs, USAID supports negotiation of inter-country reforms at regional fora and analyses of monetary and trade issues of importance to West African countries. Two approaches are used. The first is focusedon stakeholder participation and development and implementation of action plans by private sector groups interacting with public sector decision makers. USAID provides technical assistance and strategic direct support to ensure that the negotiations occur, and that progress is made. For example, in 1995, private-public dialogue resulted in the complete abolition of export taxes on the Malian and Burkinabe livestock headed to the Ivorian market. The second approach is primarily research and dialogue, where U.S. technical expertise in agricultural commodity trade is provided to African partners who use it as the basis for formulating their policy positions. Identification of potential local markets and impediments to exploiting those markets allows specific groups of stakeholders to reach agreement on needed reforms. Under this Strategic Objective, USAID will begin work with ECOWAS in pursuing the latter's mandate of regional economic integration. USAID will assist ECOWAS to implement specific trade protocols and to establish a forum for policy negotiation following the successful models already developed by the SRP. This support will be provided to strengthen the linkage between the private sector and ECOWAS.
Host Country and Other Donors: West African states and the principal bilateral and multilateral donors to the region recognize the potential of intraregional trade to strengthen broad-based economic growth. The rapid success of the WAEN has drawn considerable donor interest, with a real possibility that it would become donor-dependent because of divergent donor agendas. At USAID insistence, a unit has been created in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (associated with the Secretariat of the Club du Sahel) to coordinate donor support to the WAEN to avoid the problem of excessive donor interference. German, European Union, Canadian and French assistance has been committed to support the Network. USAID assistance to the WAEN will be phased out in 1997. Direct support to the LAP, which has embodied both public and private sector actors, has shifted to the CILSS trade policy activity to which Canada, France and the Netherlands are also contributing.
Beneficiaries: The majority of the Sahelian adult population is rural and agrarian, and engages in livestock production and trade. Urbanization in the coastal states is occurring rapidly, and these cities and towns are the fastest-growing markets for livestock products. Thus, at least half of the 260 million people in West Africa who produce, trade, and consume local products are likely to benefit from lowered trade restrictions, increased trade, and increased economic activity. Major beneficiaries will be the rural poor, especially women, because they tend to produce the commodities with the greatest potential for increased regional trade, and urban poor consumers for whom the costs of purchasing local commodities declines. Since women principally purchase and prepare food in urban areas and are especially involved in producing and trading horticultural crops, substantial benefits will flow to them.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: Activities are implemented through grants to the Club du Sahel and to the CILSS, and via contracts between USAID and U.S. entities, including The Mitchell Group, Inc., and Management Systems International.
Major Results Indicators:
BaselineTargetNumber of countries which use comparative
advantage as a basis for setting trade policy.
0 (1993)6 (2002)Marketing costs for major commodities in
regional trade reduced 20%.
0% (1993) 20% (2002)
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: SAHEL REGIONAL
TITLE AND NUMBER: Promote Dialogue on the Role of Civil Society and Communal, Local and National Governments in Achieving Regional Objectives in the Management of Natural Resources, Food Security, and Market Development, 625-S002
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $675,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2002
Purpose: To promote dialogue and mutual action on issues of political and economic participation, pluralism and effectiveness and responsiveness of government.
Background: Regional cooperation plays an important role in encouraging transition to and consolidation of democratic institutions and improved governance. The use of a regional framework to facilitate the sharing of information, exchange of experiences, and the identification of problems and alternative solutions can lead to efficiencies in developing approaches to democracy and improved governance suitable to the Sahelian context. Sharing of perspectives, ideas and experiences among governments, non-governmental organizations and private sector actors in the region will serve as a catalyst for democratization and improved governance. And regional exchanges, analyses, and debates can play a unique role in fostering African leadership and expertise in defining principles, and shaping institutions and approaches consistent with realities of West African countries. Since the source of much internal conflict is rooted in issues of democracy and governance, regional exchanges on these issues can provide a framework for reducing the potential for intra- and inter-state conflict.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: A series of the Permanent Interstate Committee for the Control of Drought (CILSS)/Club du Sahel (Club) studies and meetings, catalyzed with USAID funding and expertise, culminated in The Praia Declaration, the outcome of a CILSS/Club-sponsored Regional Conference on Land Tenure and Decentralization in Praia, Cape Verde in June 1994. The Declaration consists of policy recommendations which bear on the legal recognition of local institutions, the authority of citizens to constitute new jurisdictions and the recourse of citizens faced with arbitrary decisions. In a written "platform," rural grassroots representatives attending the Conference asked that: 1) that CILSS establish a permanent arrangement to monitor the implementation of the Praia recommendations and with their network of rural organizations to be incorporated into the process and 2) that the rural network be accorded observer status at all CILSS meetings which concern rural organizations. To date, national workshops to disseminate the results and recommendations of the Praia Conference have been held in eight Sahelian countries, several countries have initiated national follow-up actions, the rural network has been given official status at CILSS meetings, case studies of country experiences with decentralization and an inventory of legal statuses and recent changes has been completed with USAID direct support and technical assistance. CILSS, with support from the Sahel Regional Program, has helped associations in the region organize to develop their own policy statement, which will be presented to the Heads-of-State at their next meeting. This will mark a major advance in deepening the role of civil society in setting regional policy and in determining how that policy will be implemented.
Description: This activity contributes to three of the Agency's goals in an integrated fashion: encouraging broad-based economic growth; building democracy; and protecting the environment. This strategic objective responds to the need for institutionalized economic and political participation and decentralized democratic governance in order to sustain improvements and ensure program impact in Sahelian Africa. Planned funding for this strategic objective in FY 1998 is $675,000. Attention is focused on strengthening institutions through regional networking and dialogue to support the development of an effective partnership between civil society and government entities from the community to the national level. Experience has shown that devolution of governance in the Sahel allows local markets to flourish, contributes to food security and improves the effectiveness of naturalresources management; hence this activity cuts across and reinforces the other two activities in the Sahel Regional Program. Three sorts of approaches are being undertaken to achieve the strategic results under this activity: a) strengthening the capacity of groups in civil society to actively participate in the dialogue, b) supporting the dialogue between these groups and government entities at regional conferences, and c) supporting the development by Sahelian individuals and institutions of materials that will serve as the basis of discussion at regional exchanges. These materials include, for example, documentation of the special constraints faced by women, herders and other traditionally disadvantaged groups in obtaining and using natural resources; building a database of successful experiences in decentralized natural resources management; and documentation of local public service provision funded locally and of alternative land tenure conflict resolution practices.
Host Country and Other Donors: Two of the major activities have been designed and are being implemented by CILSS, representing the nine Sahelian states who are its members. The activities receive funding from Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, France, the United States and the United Nations Sudano-Sahel Office. Participation by WAEN members (12 country chapters with about 300 members and a regional network) in policy debates on economic policy is regarded as contributing to civil society development and debate. USAID supports the WAEN through its contribution to a trust fund managed by the Club du Sahel. The Club du Sahel is supported in its collaborative activities with the CILSS to foster dialogue by France, Germany, Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark, Japan and the United States.
Beneficiaries: Direct beneficiaries are members of rural communities who achieve both greater control over their local natural resources and better, more localized mechanisms for conflict resolution. Since 80% of the population in the Sahel is rural, approximately 37 million people could benefit directly. Problems of women, pastoralists and youth in resource access and control are specially targeted.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: USAID provides support to this activity via grants to the Club du Sahel and CILSS and via contracts with U.S. entities, including The Mitchell Group, Inc., the University of Wisconsin-Land Tenure Center and Associates in Rural Development (ARD).
Major Results Indicators:
BaselineTargetNumber of regional meetings on the role of civil
society and governance in improving natural
resources management, public service delivery
and food security.
0 (1994) 8 (2002)Number of planning, implementation and follow-up
of decisions in which relevant stakeholders are
included.
None (1993)Majority (2002)Percent of decisions which reflect positions put
forward by stakeholders.
0% (1993)60% (2002)
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: SAHEL REGIONAL
TITLE AND NUMBER: Decision Makers Have Ready Access to Information on Food Security, Population and Environment, 625-S003
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1998: $3,146,000 DFA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2002
Purpose: To improve food security and environmental equilibrium in the Sahel.
Background: Activities under this Strategic Objective are at the core of the regional program. They emphasize information and analysis of regional issues, especially natural resource management, environmental policy, population policy and programs, and economic analysis in support of improved food and agricultural policies in the region. The intent is to enhance and expand efforts at regional coordination that have been successfully undertaken by the regional institutions such as the Permanent Interstate Committee for the Control of Drought in the Sahel (CILSS)/Club du Sahel (Club) complex, now supported by the CILSS member states, by USAID, and by other donors. Regional-level policy decisions and guidelines regarding environment, population, food security, and food aid relate directly to the goal of the CILSS and have been supported by the member states for some time. This effort reinforces the realization by AGRHYMET (Regional Agroclimatological, Hydrological and Meteorological Institute), INSAH (the Institute of the Sahel) and CERPOD (The Center for Studies and Research on Population and Development) that a broader, West African orientation is necessary to achieving sustainable growth in the Sahel, as well as commensurate policy decisions and policy implementation by CILSS member states.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: USAID and other donor support to the CILSS system over the years has helped assure that population policy programs, donor coordination, food security monitoring, and disaster mitigation systems are fairly well established. Major accomplishments are: 1) that food crises in the Sahel have been averted by helping CILSS member countries to create food early warning and food monitoring systems; 2) that efficiencies have been gained from the coordination of food aid and food policy; and 3) that food need assessments in the region have improved in accuracy. The region has made a strong commitment to keeping its population in balance with its limited resources, with all nine countries moving from pro-natalist to pro-family planning policies over the past 10 years. CILSS has taken the lead in implementing the Africa Annex to the Desertification Convention, which has been drafted and signed, and the Early Action Programme under the Convention for Africa has been initiated. Primarily with USAID support, all of the CILSS institutions have strengthened their analytic, financial, management and strategic planning systems, and they have all completed client "needs" surveys.
Principally with USAID support, INSAH has managed a region-wide effort to monitor the impact of the CFA devaluation. This will be completed in FY 1997, including major regional meetings with private sector actors and policy makers to insure that lessons learned about how the devaluation has influenced farmers, productivity, consumption, incomes, and trade are institutionalized in the region. One of the most striking things about the devaluation was that none of the nations in the region was prepared for or fully understood the costs and benefits of the devaluation. The monitoring effort will help to insure that future actions are more fully understood by governments and other stakeholders.
CILSS has started a process of reflection, called "Sahel 21," which will establish a Sahelian vision of the region in the 21st century. This effort is unique in that it solicits the views of a broad range of individuals and organizations in the Sahel - ranging from producer and women's organizations, to local non-governmental organizations, to Sahelian intellectuals and national and local governments. This effort was started in 1996 and will be completed in 1997. Sahel 21 will provide the basis for establishing priorities for the next generation of CILSS activities, which will be started FY 1998. Arelated reflection, called "Cooperation 21," has been started by the Secretariat of the Club du Sahel. This effort looks at the impact of aid to the Sahel over the past twenty years and reviews mechanisms used to deliver that aid. These two efforts will merge to provide a Sahelian-led vision which will be used as a basis for Sahel Regional Program activities through the end of FY 2002, which is the termination date of the Sahel Regional Strategy.
Description: This activity supports Sahelian institutions in the generation of information on important food security and environmental topics, and facilitates access by Sahelian and donor decision makers to that information. Planned funding for this strategic objective is $3,146,000. Through the activities under this effort, monitoring systems for the key variables in the fragile Sahelian environment are created and strengthened. Program activities have been implemented via USAID projects which provide support to regional institutions under the CILSS umbrella (CILSS headquarters, INSAH, CERPOD and AGRHYMET). Activities related to AGRHYMET and CERPOD help provide services to CILSS member states (resource monitoring, early warning, population policy, strategy, and action plan development and implementation). Support to INSAH helps with institutional development and the provision of services to member states (natural resource management, agricultural policy and food security analyses and related dialogue). Support to CILSS headquarters fosters discussion of key policy issues in a regional context, and enhances system management capacity.
Host Country and Other Donors: These activities support key CILSS services to its nine member states, and are collaboratively funded with France, Germany, the Netherlands, the European Union, the United Nations specialized agencies, Canada, and the United States. The Club du Sahel facilitates donor coordination on food aid and anti-desertification measures in the region. In addition to the donors to the CILSS, the Club also receives support from Japan, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland.
Beneficiaries: Direct beneficiaries are CILSS member states and indirectly their rural populations via improved information, better strategic planning, and greater regional cooperation in the areas of agricultural and food policy research; natural resource management; population policy making, program planning and demographic research and related information exchange on food security and natural resource themes.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: USAID provides support to this activity via grants to the Club du Sahel and CILSS and via contracts with U.S. entities, including Associates in Rural Development, Futures Group, Inc., Michigan State University, Bureau of the Census, University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University, Family Health International and the INTERCRSP university consortium (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, managing entity).
Major Results Indicators:
BaselineTargetNumber of (CILSS) country rationales and concerted
actions for food security, natural resource management,
and population which reflect sound development
methodologies and access to regional information
systems, national environmental action plans, population policies,
and food security policies.
0 (1993)6 (2002)
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