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).
CENTRAL PROGRAMS
FY 1998 Development Assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $408,000,000 INTRODUCTION
The central programs of USAID, in partnership with private and voluntary organizations (PVOs), universities, other donors and international assistance organizations are at the heart of USAID's capacity to reach out to developing country public and private partners to address local, regional and global problems. Central programs fund the research, technology development and transfer, and capacity building essential to address the fundamental constraints to sustainable development which USAID has identified in its five goals: economic growth, population and health, environment, democracy, and humanitarian assistance. Central programs marshall the resources needed for humanitarian response to natural and man-made disasters, to manage and convey humanitarian assistance, and to provide transitional assistance in a few selected countries emerging from economic and political chaos. The central program budget of $407,840,000 covers funding for programs initiated and managed by the Bureau for Global Programs, Field Support, and Research; the Bureau for Humanitarian Response; and the Bureau for Policy and Program Coordination.USAID's country programs draw on central programs through direct field support and other resource sharing. When field missions buy technical services from central programs, they tap into the latter's global technical leadership and research experience. These arrangements apply new methods and tools to specific country problems, support capacity building with USAID's development partners and customers, and provide lessons that are disseminated throughout the international assistance community. (Customers are those individuals or organizations who receive USAID services or products, benefit from USAID programs, or who are affected by USAID actions.) Whether it is a new method or technology for quick anticipatory response to a human disaster, or systematic field testing of a promising approach to the integrated management of childhood illness, both USAID's field operating units and central programs learn from the experience, adapt and replicate the results in other settings.
Given adequate resources, central programs have the unique opportunity to provide technical leadership to USAID, other U.S. Government agencies and departments, as well as to other multilateral and bilateral donors. In addition, Global Bureau programs are linked, coordinated, and, as appropriate, integrated to respond to economic, social, and environmental challenges that know no borders:
*While 240 million women in developing countries are now practicing modern techniques of family planning, the needs of an estimated 150 million women are unmet. Despite overall improvements in health status in developing countries in the past ten years, maternal mortality levels remain 15-20 times higher than in developed countries. Nearly 12 million children in developing countries under age five die each year. If left unchallenged, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic will devastate economic and social development worldwide. USAID is the global leader in family planning, maternal health and child survival, and HIV/AIDS prevention, in part, because of Global programs that focus and concentrate technical resources on the problems and jointly program the responses with USAID's country and regional operating units and other, outside organizations.
*Major advances in sustainable agriculture, in developing and financing microenterprises, in protecting fragile environments and in promoting better husbandry of scarce resources havebeen produced by central programs in partnership with U.S. universities, international research institutes, PVOs, the United Nations (UN) and other multilateral organizations. The challenge before USAID in economic growth is to maintain and strengthen programs in economic policy and institutional reform. Regional and worldwide environmental issues, such as global warming, will require continued research, monitoring, and coordination of responses.
*Central programs are working together to link economic growth, environment and health interventions. Central programs develop and test models to effectively promote sustainable democratic institutions and processes, promote food security, and lessen reliance on donor food aid.
*Cross-cutting programs in human capacity development and women-in-development are working in parallel to unleash the power of half the developing world's population for sustainable development. For example, central programs fund coordinated efforts to promote girls and women's education and research to remove barriers to women's legal rights in developing countries.Leveraging other resources is more critical now than ever before. Central programs have successfully leveraged assistance from other donors and partners by joint programming, persuasion, and example. Global leadership, for example in family planning,in biodiversity, in renewable energy, and in applying agricultural research widely, gives USAID clout beyond its resources in the international assistance community. The successful mix of research, field testing, and evaluation in USAID's central programs leads the way for other donors. The joint agenda with Japan, the United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) program, and the dissemination of drought-resistant crop technologies are a few examples of this successful leveraging.
Central programs address the Agency's goals, as described in this section, through more than two dozen broad objectives. These objective statements and associated core funding requests indicate only part of the intermediate results and resources that are required to achieve the objectives. Global Bureau agreements with USAID field missions make a significant contribution to country performance. Therefore, many of the expected results listed in the strategic objectives below reflect close coordination between central programs and field operations. Where field support levels are reasonably known and where funding leveraged from other sources can be identified, the amounts are indicated.
STABILIZING WORLD POPULATION AND PROTECTING HUMAN HEALTH ($215,200,000)
Central program objectives in population, health and nutrition (PHN) directly contribute to the realization of the Agency goal of stabilizing world population and protecting human health. The program focuses on improving the availability, quality and use of key population and health services by providing global leadership, research and evaluation, and technical support to the field. Integral to this strategy is the pivotal relationship of PHN central programs to key customers and stakeholders within USAID, including missions and regional bureaus, and to those outside of the Agency, such as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector and host governments. Centrally-managed PHN programs make a unique contribution to bilateral programs by being the primary source of technical leadership and program innovation. (Stakeholders are those individuals and/or groups who have an interest in and influence USAID activities, programs and objectives.) The PHN central programs have four strategic objectives that contribute to the Agency goal to stabilize world population and protect human health in a sustainable fashion.
Strategic Objective 1. Increased use by women and men of voluntary practices that contribute to reduced fertility. Average family size in the developing world (excluding China) has decreased from 6.1 children per woman in the 1960s to 4.0 in 1996. This decrease can be directly linked to central program efforts to expand and improve family planning programs. Today, more than 240 million couples in developing countries use family planning, largely as a result of central program efforts. While this progress is impressive, much remains to be done. Approximately 150 million women have an expressed unmet need for family planning and millions more women are entering reproductive age. The challenge forUSAID's population program is to meet this growing demand, including demand from underserved groups such as young adults and men.
Central programs respond to these problems by supporting the development of new technologies, and sharing expertise and lessons learned with USAID field missions, other donors, and U.S. and developing country family planning organizations. Coordination with other donors and the provision of program mechanisms for attracting and channeling donor, U.S. Government and private resources to priority areas is another key function of the Agency's leadership. Research and capacity-building are also critical elements of population programs and contribute directly to the achievement of the objective and the larger Agency goal. Over the past year, central program efforts have led to a number of achievements, including the following:
*approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of two new contraceptive methods -- the Filshie Clip for female sterilization and the levonorgestrel two-rod implant system. Expanding the voluntary contraceptive options available has been shown to increase total contraceptive prevalence.
*development and application of a methodology for collecting comparable cost data on family planning programs across countries;
*significant resources leveraged from host countries and other donors in Indonesia and Mexico for service delivery; and
*millions of dollars, leveraged by the Contraceptive Research and Development program, from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for contraceptive research focused on methods that can prevent both conception and transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and the human immunodeficiency virus (STD/HIV.)Over the next two years, significant progress is expected towards the following results:
*movement of new and improved contraceptive technologies through the stages of product development, evaluation, clinical trials, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, and introduction into country programs;
*development, testing, and evaluation of strategies for linking family planning and other selected reproductive health interventions;
*increased host-country public and private sector resources for family planning programs; and
*adoption of more cost-effective, client-centered services.Strategic Objective 2. Increased use of safe pregnancy, women's nutrition, family planning and other key reproductive health interventions.
Despite overall improvements in health status in developing countries, maternal mortality levels remain 15 to 20 times higher than in developed countries. Worldwide, there are approximately 585,000 deaths of women annually associated with pregnancy and childbirth, 98% of which occur in developing countries. Most of these deaths are preventable. Furthermore, for every death there are an estimated 100 cases of serious complications, many of which result in chronic illness and disability. Over the past year, central program efforts have led to a number of achievements, including the following:
*field-testing of a streamlined approach for providing selected maternal life-saving skills training;
*increase in the number of countries with maternal and child health and family planning policies and implementation plans for the promotion of breastfeeding;
*adoption of national plans to improve essential obstetric care and experimentation with approaches to expand antenatal care to diagnose and treat selected sexually transmitted diseases in priority countries;
*design and implementation of operations research in three countries to assess the impact of basic essential obstetrical care on maternal mortality and pregnancy outcomes; and
*completion of the first steps in planning for iron fortification of staple foods (e.g., wheat and corn flours), with the intention of decreasing anemia among reproductive age women, in several Central American countries.Over the next two years, significant progress is expected towards the following results:
*operational research to identify cost-effective approaches to better target and improve coverage of and compliance with iron supplement programs;
*validation and refinement of cost-effective approaches to improve safe pregnancy outcomes through the provision of essential reproductive health services, including maternal nutrition; STD diagnosis and treatment; safe delivery; and antenatal, postpartum and newborn care in five priority countries;
*adoption of policies that support safe motherhood and increased public and private sector resources directed towards ensuring healthy pregnancy outcomes;
*increased utilization of essential obstetric services through increased availability of cost-effective, high-quality, client-centered services and through the generation of client demand; and
*improved quality of services through better decision making based upon the use of health data, training of providers in counseling and life-saving skills, and institutionalization of quality assurance systems.Strategic Objective 3. Increased use of key child health and nutrition interventions.
Despite impressive improvements in health status in the past ten years, nearly 12 million children in developing countries under age five die each year - a number equivalent to all the children living in the 31 eastern United States dying in a single year. Most of these deaths are preventable. USAID's approach to improving child health and nutrition is focused on developing and applying effective low-cost interventions that address the principal causes of morbidity and mortality, particularly diarrheal and vaccine preventable diseases, acute respiratory infection, malaria, and malnutrition. Over the past year, central program efforts have led to a number of achievements, including the following:
*Since its start four years ago, the USAID and United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)-initiated Vaccine Independence Initiative (VII) has used its fund of $4.6 million to increase governments' commitment to child immunization, leveraging over $28 million of funds from those governments for purchase of children's vaccines.
*The Integrated Management of Child Illness approach -- developed by central programs in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF to consolidate diarrheal disease and acute respiratory infection treatment with malaria treatment and preventive interventions -- was introduced into country child survival programs.
*Through support to the Massachusetts Public Health Laboratory, central programs established the first training program for developing country health authorities and vaccine producers to improve the quality of local vaccine production. This activity serves as the core of an international vaccine quality improvement consortium being established by WHO's Global Program on Vaccines and Immunization.
*Central programs led the development of a strategy that supports the global polio eradication effort and also strengthens child immunization programs in developing countries. USAID is applying that strategy (with Rotary International, CDC, WHO, UNICEF, and country governments) to support polio eradication in southern Asia, Africa, and the NIS.
*The Africa Integrated Malaria Initiative was launched in four countries. This initiative shifts from increasingly ineffective mosquito control to new strategies -- treatment of malaria-infected children, prophylactic treatment for pregnant women in high-risk areas, and use of insecticide-impregnated bednets -- for reduction of malaria morbidity and mortality among women and young children.Over the next two years, significant progress is expected towards the following results:
*introduction of one new vaccine against a major cause of childhood pneumonia, testing and evaluation of additional important pneumonia and malaria vaccines, testing of the impact of vitamin A on pregnancy outcomes, and development of improved methods of monitoring antibiotic resistance;
*expansion of vaccine procurement by developing countries, using the Vaccine Independence Initiative and other mechanisms;
*improved management and prevention of malaria by health workers and caretakers resulting in a reduction in malaria-related deaths among children under five years of age in the four Africa Integrated Malaria Initiative countries;
*increased host-country financing of the recurrent costs of preventive (e.g., vaccines) and primary health services, and participation of the commercial sector in the production and distribution of key child survival products such as micronutrient supplements and oral rehydration salts; and
*introduction of environmental health interventions (e.g., hygiene behavior) as key components of a child survival project in Latin America, including technical assistance, tracking of intermediate indicators, and documentation of health impacts.
Strategic Objective 4. increased use of improved, effective, and sustainable responses to reduce hiv transmission and to mitigate the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. (formerly Increased use of key interventions to reduce HIV/STD transmission)
If left unchallenged, the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the precursor to the debilitating and fatal acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), will negatively impact economic and social development worldwide. During 1996, 3.4 million additional persons became infected with HIV, a majority of whom are of prime employment and reproductive ages. This is almost 8,500 new infections per day, of which 90% are occurring in the developing world and 50% of these are among women. Prevention is the major defense against HIV/AIDS, and USAID continues to be the world's leader in HIV/AIDS prevention.
USAID employed a highly participatory approach in the redefinition of the HIV/AIDS StrategicObjective. Through a series of meetings over the past year, USAID ensured the widest representation of more than a 1,000 stakeholders including representatives from host governments, international development organizations, international and indigenous NGOs, the private sector, research organizations, affected communities and people living with AIDS. Based on the experience of USAID and other organizations responding to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, it was determined that effective approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention required an expanded response which includes our existing strategies of behavior change interventions, the diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, and greater access to condoms through social marketing. In addition, that response would need to include community-based interventions that address the continuum of prevention and care, interventions that are more attuned to the environment in which individuals live and make sexual and health decisions, as well as a more broadly defined use of resources to include people living with HIV and AIDS and the greater involvement of the private sector. This more comprehensive emphasis, developed in direct response through an extensive participatory design process, has led USAID to refine this strategic objective.
Over the past year, central program efforts have led to a number of achievements, including the following:
*Central program leadership and financial support has promoted the creation of the UNAIDS program -- a major new structure and approach co-sponsored by six United Nations organizations to coordinate UN efforts on HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
*Central programs' continued support to AIDSCAP -- the largest and most effective worldwide bilateral HIV/AIDS control and prevention programs -- has produced significant results:-
In 1996, the capacity of more than 60 local NGOs was strengthened to provide improved HIV-sexually transmitted infections services; more than 300 NGOs have been assisted since 1991.-
With assistance from AIDSCAP, social marketing programs were expanded in 12 emphasis countries, resulting in an increase of condom distribution of 42% between 1995 and 1996.-
National guidelines for improved management of sexually transmitted infections were introduced, and training of service providers were undertaken in all emphasis countries.
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AIDSCAP, in conjunction with the World Health Organization, is completing multi-country operations research to assess the role and effectiveness of HIV/AIDS counselling and testing, which will guide national and international policies on this behavior change intervention.
*USAID has continued its global leadership role in the HIV/AIDS policy arena through support for public and private sector policy dialogue and reform which fosters an environment where HIV/AIDS programs can operate effectively and efficiently.
*Central program support has led to the publication of "Control of Sexually Transmitted Diseases: A handbook for the Design and Management of Programs," the first major technical handbook designed to help managers of sexually transmitted disease programs in developing countries prevent, diagnose and treat these infections.
*In the last year, more than 50,000 health care providers, program managers, community-based volunteers and key opinion leaders, worldwide, received training to upgrade their skills and to improve the effectiveness of their efforts to address HIV/AIDS prevention.Over the next two years, USAID will focus on the following results:
*Increased quality, availability, and demand for information and services to change sexual risk behaviors and cultural norms in order to reduce transmission of HIV;
*Enhanced quality, availability, and demand for sexually transmitted infections management and prevention services such as the establishment of national policies and strategies to ensure the delivery of these services;
*Developing and promoting approaches that address key contextual constraints and opportunities for prevention and care interventions;
*Strengthened and expanded private sector organization responses in delivering HIV/AIDS information and services, including collaboration with the U.S. Peace Corps to support community-led responses to HIV/AIDS;
*Improved availability of, and capacity to generate and apply, data to monitor and evaluate HIV/AIDS/STI prevalence, trends and program impacts; and
*Developing and strengthening mechanisms to provide quality and timely assistance to partners (Regional Bureaus, Missions, Other Donors, etc.) to ensure effective and coordinated implementation of HIV/AIDS programs.PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT ($37,000,000)
The global environmental challenges of climate change and loss of biodiversity, combined with the consequences of the world's burgeoning urban centers and local environmental mismanagement (e.g., increased poverty, social instability, and resource-based conflict), pose real threats to America's own economic and political interests. To combat these threats, central program environmental objectives will focus on the protection and sustainable use of key natural resources, environmentally sound urbanization, environmentally sound energy production and use, and decreased growth of carbon emissions from industrial and energy sources and other factors causing global climate change. The central programs have four strategic objectives that contribute to the Agency goal to manage the environment for long-term sustainability.
Strategic Objective 1. Increased and improved protection and sustainable use of natural resources in key geographic areas.
The natural resources upon which people depend for sustainable development are being degraded, depleted and inefficiently used. Problems include uncontrolled deforestation, massive soil erosion, increasing water scarcity, extensive water quality deterioration, pollution and overdevelopment of vital coastal and aquatic ecosystems, and loss of genetic resources. With work underway in 60 countries, USAID supports one of the most comprehensive biodiversity and natural resource conservation efforts of any bilateral donor. Central programs have made a number of important contributions toward safeguarding biological diversity in the management of protected areas and in national conservation policy. Central programs have helped establish and strengthen public and private environmental institutions and management capacity in protected areas, fostering innovative public-private partnerships and establishing mechanisms for long-term conservation financing. Results achieved in FY 1996 include:
*Over 400,000 hectares of biologically important habitat under effective conservation and management in Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands.
*The empowerment of local communities through secure tenure and new skills in managementof forest reserves for sustained livelihood has successfully prevented exploitation from outside logging and mining operations at El Cielo Biosphere Reserve and Pino Gordo reserve in Mexico, Crater Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Papua New Guinea, and Makira Province in the Solomon Islands.
*Critical habitat for neotropical migratory birds protected in Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala and Jamaica through fire prevention, private sector land acquisition (matching contribution), environmental education and extension efforts.
*Indigenous communities began playing a stronger role in the long-term management of such biologically and economically important habitats as the Kaa-Iya Protected Area in Gran Chaco, Bolivia; five diverse regions of the Philippines; and, in Indonesia, the Kayan Mentarang reserve in East Kalimantan, Gunung Mutis in East Nusa Tenggara and Gunung Lorentz in Irian Jaya.
*Increased conservation and more sustainable use of freshwater and coastal resources in key countries. In FY 1996, this central program advanced more effective water planning efforts in Latin America, Asia and Africa to improve water resources decision-making, including the collection of basic data and training in integrated water resource management techniques.
*Increased and improved use of environmental education and communication strategies, methods and tools in key countries. In FY 1996, a program working with Egypt's Ministry of Public Works developed an awareness campaign which increased citizen support for a cost-recovery program for piped water supply.Over the next two years, significant progress is expected towards the following results:
*An additional 300,000 hectares of biologically important habitat under effective conservation and management in Latin America, Asia and the Pacific Islands.
*New policies implemented to support the conservation of biological diversity priority ecozones and most-critically threatened habitats in these same geographic areas.
*Cross-cutting issues in biodiversity conservation analyzed and results widely disseminated, relating to adaptive management and priority setting, decentralization, the role of NGOs and sustainable agriculture's contribution to the conservation of biological diversity.Strategic Objective 2. Sustainable urbanization including reduced pollution and more environmentally sound urbanization in key areas.
While cities in developing countries present opportunities for economic and social growth, they also pose enormous environmental problems, including dangerous levels of pollution and insufficient access to clean water, clean air, and sanitation, particularly for the urban poor. USAID has helped countries develop policies, strengthen institutions (both public and private) and identify cost-effective measures for addressing these problems. USAID's modest urban environmental credit program, the Housing Guaranty, has significantly enhanced the effectiveness of the Center's grant resources by leveraging host-country financing for badly needed shelter and environmental infrastructure in poor communities. In India, for example, USAID has played a lead role in creating a housing finance sector that today provides loans to over one million low-income households which allows them access to homes with proper facilities. Results achieved in FY 1996 include:
*Reduced urban and industrial pollution. In FY 1996, this central program promoted the adoption of cleaner production policies, practices and technologies in Asia, the Near East and Latin America. For example, in Tunisia, the program helped create a pollution prevention fund that provides loans to companies investing in cleaner production technologies. In Chile, the program introducedcleaner production practices in twenty industrial facilities.
*Improved urban management. In FY 1996, this central program supported the establishment and continued strengthening of municipal networks in Latin America, Asia and the Near East to share policy innovations and best practices in urban management. These networks have succeeded in passing legislative reforms at the national level which have decentralized power to local communities. They have mobilized private sector resources for financing and operating urban services. In Latin America, the Latin American Center for Urban Management played a key role in the approval of the use of concessions for public service provision in Columbia, Peru, Argentina and Chile. In Paraguay, this Center was behind the passage of a law which decentralized the collection of property taxes to local governments.
*Improved access to environmental services and shelter, especially for women and children in low-income communities. In FY 1996, this centrally funded Urban Environmental Credit Program provided $70 million in assistance to increase the access of the poor to credit for shelter improvements in Africa and Asia and to finance loans to construct water supply and waste water treatment plants in Eastern Europe. Technical support resulted in increased capacity to raise host country private financial resources to do the same. For example, in India, the Ahmenabad Municipality became the first to receive a credit rating which will now allow it to tap into private sector debt markets. In Indonesia, significant progress was made in creating the legal and policy framework to allow the country to offer water utility revenue bonds in the next year or two. The ability of local governments to mobilize funds from the local private sector will result in more rapid provision of basic urban services to the poor and will assure a sustainable source of financing for future projects.Over the next two years, significant progress is expected towards the following results:
*The Pollution Prevention Program will work with industrial associations in Indonesia, Egypt, Ecuador, Paraguay and Mexico to strengthen their capacity to advocate for national policies for clean production and use of pollution prevention technologies for specific industrial sectors.
*The Improved Urban Management Program will develop the Resource Cities Program in which between five and ten U.S. and host country cities will establish partnerships to undertake specific urban environmental improvement programs aimed at poor families living in slums and squatter areas. In India, the use of environmental risk assessments and urban indicators to measure the impact of urban investment programs at the local government level will be introduced. In Mexico, the Juarez Environmental partnership Program will complete the pilot program with the local Maquiladoras (duty-free industrial processing zones), the local Chamber of Commerce, and community organizations to clean up major slum areas in this fast growing border city.
*The Access to Infrastructure Program will support the development of municipal bond markets and introduce concepts of pooled private sector financing and innovative cost recovery and service pricing methods in Africa, Latin America and Asia in order to establish a sustainable system of financing urban environmental infrastructure and services for the poor. Under its new partnership with two U.S.-based nongovernmental organizations -- Plan International's Childreach program and the Cooperative Housing Foundation -- USAID will introduce pilot programs to link micro-credit methodologies to financing of low-income environmental infrastructure and shelter projects in South America and Asia. In Sri Lanka, shelter finance programs will be broadened to include non-traditional credit institutions. In Bangladesh and Nepal, micro-finance services for shelter will be targeted to poor women.
Strategic Objective 3. Increased environmentally sound energy production and use in key geographicareas.
Energy is critical for economic and social development. Energy fuels development in agriculture, industry, communications, health, and transportation. It is fundamental to rural and urban development. Yet, over 2 billion people in developing countries lack access to adequate energy services. In much of the developing world, power shortages decrease gross domestic product (GDP) by up to $1 for every kilowatt that energy demand exceeds supply. Careless energy production and use pose significant threats to environmental stability and public health. By the year 2020, the energy sector in developing countries will produce over 50% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. Over 1 billion people are vulnerable to respiratory diseases caused by severe indoor air pollution, soot and smoke; an estimated 4 million children die annually from acute respiratory infections caused by air pollution.
To address these problems, USAID intervention has been critical in increasing private sector participation in the power sector of developing countries, opening a $50 billion industry to U. S. companies and providing needed investment in energy infrastructure. USAID has increased the financing for and helped commercialize clean, efficient and renewable energy technologies. Central programs have trained thousands of developing country energy professionals in demand-side management, integrated resource planning, and other vital tools and techniques. Thousands of people throughout the world have access to cleaner energy as a result of USAID efforts.
Central programs increase the supply of environmentally sound energy services by focussing on the following results:
*Increased energy efficiency in key geographic areas. In FY 1996, the USAID central program-
successfully incorporated energy efficiency policies and practices in Mexico, Philippines and India which have generated over $5 million in U.S. exports and will save over 1 million kilowatt hours per year in Mexico alone; and,-
in Brazil, USAID energy efficiency activities have helped shape a $100 million World Bank loan for energy efficiency.
*Increased use of renewable energy in key countries. IN FY 1996, this central program implemented model commercialization projects in five key countries. By using cost sharing of pre-investment studies, this has lead to business opportunities for the U.S. renewable energy industry. The first commercial wind farm in Latin America came on line in 1996 as the direct result of USAID efforts. The cumulative results of USAID's biomass-energy program reached 300 megawatts in 1996, building on work funded by USAID at a time when no biomass cogeneration facilities were producing power for their utility grids.
*Cleaner energy production and use in key geographic areas. In FY 1996, this central program:-
successfully deployed an advanced combustion technology at an oil-fired power plant in Mexico demonstrating a replicable clean energy technology with applications in over 10,000 megawatts of capacity and carbon dioxide reductions of up to 300,000 tons per year; and-
successfully demonstrated electric vehicles are a viable option in Thailand for reducing harmful air emissions from fossil fueled vehicles. Spin-offs from this project now include similar alternative vehicle efforts in Nepal and India where, through USAID's assistance, an electric car is near commercial reality involving U.S. exports valued at over $100 million/year.Special Objective 4. Decreased threat of climate change.
Consensus is building that greenhouse gas emissions are causing dramatic changes in the world's climate. A general warming trend is occurring simultaneously with more frequent fluctuations in climate and severe weather events such as hurricanes and droughts. The impact of global climate change may well be the inundation of low-lying lands, destruction of ecosystems, agricultural disruption and increases in vector-borne diseases. Industrialized countries are presently the most significant emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs), but the rate of growth in developing country GHG emissions is accelerating. Between 1990 and 1995, developing country emissions grew at more than twice the rate of emissions in developed countries.
USAID climate change activities help developing nations combat climate change by promoting technologies and approaches that accomplish development goals while reducing the negative climate change-related impacts. Central programs focus on helping developing nations meet the requirements to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), and on decreasing net emissions through energy, solid waste, transportation and forestry sector programs. Central programs also conduct baseline research into carbon-absorbing systems such as forests, and help countries inventory their carbon sources and forests to determine how best to decrease emissions in order to comply with international agreements. Funding for this objective allows central programs to play a leadership role in specific inter-agency global climate change programs established under the FCCC and to support USAID field mission involvement in ten key GCC countries. The major results expected under this strategic objective are:
*Decreased rate of growth in net greenhouse gas emissions in key global climate change countries by minimizing greenhouse gas sources and protecting forests. In FY 1996, this central program worked in the ten key global climate change countries to establish programs that specifically address the threat of climate change and provide technical support required for these countries to engage in FCCC deliberations.
*Innovative solutions to alleviate highly potent greenhouse gas emissions. In FY1996, USAID initiated an effort in Brazil to assess landfills and U.S. business opportunities for using landfill methane. Full implementation of identified projects would result in using methane emissions of approximately 1 million cubic meters/year for the next 20 years while generating about 100 megawatts of electricity. Potential U.S. exports for this market are about $200 million.
ENCOURAGING BROAD-BASED ECONOMIC GROWTH ($61,000,000)
USAID's economic growth programs are designed to enhance the productive capacity -- both physical and human -- of the developing world. This is accomplished through centrally funded programs in agriculture research, microenterprise and emerging markets. These programs cover a wide range of activities supporting economic growth. For example, in large parts of the developing world, agriculture is still the engine of economic growth. Central programs will support sustainable agricultural growth to expand income and food purchasing power in predominantly rural societies and to reduce the incidence of hunger and poverty. Similarly, over the past 15 years, many countries in the developing world have turned away from centrally planned economies and have embraced free market approaches. To make this transition successfully, governments must continue to implement wide-ranging policy and institutional reforms, assisted by specific project interventions which help put these reforms into place to foster market-oriented economies. USAID central programs support these reforms through technical input into bilateral mission programs. Central programs also will help to address the credit and savings needs of countries which have liberalized their financial and macroeconomic policies, and to increase their access to new technologies and productive processes. The economic growth central programs have three strategic objectives and one special objective that contribute to the Agency goal to achieve broad-based economic growth.
Strategic Objective 1. Better access to finance, technology, and information for microenterprises and small businesses.
Central programs have played the leading role in implementing USAID's microenterprise initiative, designed to open economies, and especially financial systems, to participation by poor entrepreneurs. The three-part strategy for achieving this goal includes direct funding, strategic support to USAID field missions and developing countries, and technical leadership. Highlights of the central programs accomplishments over the last year include:
*Seven private voluntary organizations, including the Grameen Trust Fund, were funded through the Microenterprise Implementation Grant Program (IGP). These PVOs, in turn, will work with at least ten local institutions to reach 76,000 new clients (86% of them women) during the next five years.
*Over 1,500 technical assistance and business development services are provided by the International Executive Service Corps annually, mostly by volunteer executives.
*Over 170,000 annual Appropriate Technology International (ATI) recipients generate annual income approximately three times the level of funding provided by ATI.
*The Program for Innovation in Microenterprise (PRIME) funded 20 new and ongoing mission-based microenterprise initiatives in 18 countries. These microenterprise initiatives will reach an additional 81,000 new clients during the next five years (70% of them women).
*Central programs supported various mechanisms to expand the knowledge base of the microenterprise development field, such as the Congressional Roundtable for Microenterprise Development and field support through MicroServe.Expected results by 1998 include:
*Increase in the estimated number of low-income clients gaining access to ongoing credit services from institutions supported by central programs from 71,829 to 157,000 in FY 1997 and 250,000 in FY 1998;
*Improvement in the efficiency and productivity of over 5,000 micro and small businesses through the provision of technical assistance and business development services; and
*Development and dissemination of better tools to help microenterprise organizations achieve financial viability and greater client outreach.Strategic Objective 2. Enhance global food security.
Despite tremendous advances in feeding a growing population, some 800 million people are still hungry--with concentrations in Africa and South Asia. Even more daunting is the fact that global food requirements are expected to double in the next 25 years. The challenge ahead is enormous, but USAID is taking important steps to meet it. Food security is a key part of USAID's integrated sustainable development program, which recognizes the connections between hunger and poverty, over-population and environmental destruction. USAID's efforts in food security encompass a spectrum of activities, from relief through long- term development. Of these, agricultural research is one of the most effective and sustainable investments. The central research programs that USAID supports -- at U.S. universities, in international research centers and with developing country organizations -- help produce additional food in developing countries valued in the billions of dollars per year. Studies also show major returns to U.S. farmers and consumers.
The Food Security Initiative promotes a new and innovative approach to regional food security by integrating short, medium and long-term approaches, ranging from relief through development to scientific research. USAID, through its central programs,will provide key research and policy support to the initiative through its partnerships with centers of excellence (e.g., U.S. universities, International Agricultural Research Centers of the CGIAR). In 1998, approximately $5 million in additional funding will be provided to these programs to increase their ability to meet the critical food security needs of Africa -- better technologies for farmers, improved management of land and water resources, and enhanced policy and marketing systems benefiting both farmers and consumers.
USAID scientific, commercial and policy linkages with agricultural research institutions, experts, businesses and investors help tip the balance in favor of sustainable food security through a three-part strategy to develop: (1) productivity-increasing technologies, (2) policy reforms and commercial enterprises, and (3) agricultural practices which enhance long-term conservation of natural resources. USAID specifically fosters those linkages in countries where they do not arise of their own accord. Centrally managed agricultural programs support International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs), particularly those of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSPs) with U.S. universities. Over the past year, the results included:
*Development of new technologies and higher-yielding, disease-resistant crop varieties (e.g., cassava, beans, millet) which are used by poorer farmers in developing countries to increase productivity and incomes while at the same time improving nutrition and food availability to low-income families. These advances are also important for U. S. agriculture. Currently, two-thirds of the wheat acreage and one-quarter of the rice acreage in the United States use wheat and rice varieties which incorporate crop lines developed by the IARCs with USAID support; a 1996 study shows that the USAID-sponsored wheat and rice varieties are adding hundreds of millions of dollars per year to U.S. agriculture . New, drought-resistant maize developed for Africa with USAID support will also help U.S. farmers.
*Agricultural policy changes and assistance to commercial enterprises have increased incomes in developing countries and, at the same time, expanded U.S. exports. For example, the International Fertilizer Development Center, based in Alabama, conducted research in Latin America which led to a U.S. company's exporting approximately 100,000 tons of rock phosphate per year to that region. The use of this fertilizer resulted in approximately $120 million per year in increased food production. USAID assistance is also leading to policy interventions to protect the groups most vulnerable to drought or other instability -- generally women and children; these include the development of early warning systems to monitor the coping capacity to food insecurity of households in at-risk regions.
*In an effort that complements environmental central programs, USAID supports research and technology dissemination which is generating alternative technologies to alleviate tropical deforestation, desertification and biodiversity loss. Major advances are occurring in the management of soil fertility and water resources through integrated use of improved crops, livestock and multi-purpose trees. Once infertile savanna lands in Latin America and Africa are now being productively managed, resulting in reduced pressure on more fragile, biodiversity-rich, tropical forests. This biodiversity is often the basis of important integrated pest management programs. Parasitic wasps from Latin America are being used, with USAID's support, to protect Africa's cassava crop from destructive pests, saving hundreds of millions of dollars per year in losses, reducing pesticide use (and thereby protecting the environment), and helping to assure a plentiful supply of low-cost food for the poor.Expected results include:
*Drought and disease-tolerant varieties of maize, Africa's most important cereal, will soon beavailable, increasing both productivity and stability of food production in many areas of that food-deficit region. Drought tolerance represents a major breakthrough directly attributable to USAID-sponsored research, and will help reduce the incidence of crop loss, food shortages and even famine.
*USAID-sponsored research is leading to the development of super-rices expected to lead to quantum leaps in rice yields. Target yields of newly designed rice plants hold the promise of reaching potentials of roughly 14 tons per hectare. With Asia's rice requirement expected to double in the next 25 years, such advances are critical to the region's continued sustainable development. Advances in productivity of rice, wheat and other crops help meet food demands and thus help to ensure that millions of hectares of forest lands remain in their natural state.
*Further reductions in crop losses in developing countries and the United States through the development of pest- and weed-resistant crop varieties. Genetic resistance to striga, a parasitic weed, will reduce crop losses in maize, sorghum, cowpea and other crops worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Resulting reductions in the use of pesticides conserves biodiversity, lowers costs and increases farm income.
*Further development and adoption of continuous cropping technologies is critical to maintaining the bread baskets and rice bowls of the developing countries. New advances are helping prevent declines in productivity of rice and rice-wheat systems in Asia. Advances in important legume crops such as mungbean will help to reduce micronutrient deficiency, increase the amount of dietary protein available to the poor and improve the sustainability of important production systems.
*Policy changes will continue to strengthen markets; this, in turn, increases the demand for productivity-enhancing technologies. Rising incomes result in improved food security as well as greater demand for U.S. exports. Recent studies show that for each $1 in agricultural development investment, exports from the United States and the other developed countries increase by $4. The United States is well-positioned to supply developing country markets with food and other agricultural exports. Exports to these markets now account for half of all U.S. farm exports.
Strategic Objective 3. Enhance USAID effectiveness in assisting developing nations to undertake appropriate economic policy and institutional reforms.
Central programs under this objective focus on reducing poverty through the promotion of broad-based economic growth by strengthening global market linkages and the domestic market infrastructure. Working through USAID field missions and host country counterparts, central programs seek: (a) improvements in efficiency and competitiveness of national and local economies, (b) expanded access to economic opportunity for the poor, and (c) increased integration of USAID-assisted countries into a rapidly globalizing economy. In order to achieve these strategic priorities, programs are concentrated in five areas: (1) economic policy reform; (2) privatization; (3) legal and institutional reform; (4) financial sector development; and (5) general business, trade and investment regime. Results over the past year include:
*The reform of policies and institutions in Central America helped reverse sharp economic declines in the 1980s. Particularly successful have been economic policy reforms that improve efficiency and national competitiveness such as monetary and fiscal policies.
*In Africa, decontrol of prices, relaxation of trade controls and privatization of monopolies resulted in increased efficiency and expanded economic opportunities for the poor. Forexample, in Zimbabwe, central program-funded research has resulted in the elimination of controls on movement of maize into urban areas. This, in turn, has expanded private investment in the food system and has substantially reduced the cost of staple maize meal available to urban consumers.
*During FY 1996, important steps were taken in countries in each region to strengthen the foundations for further privatization initiatives. Countries in southern Africa worked on the regionalization of capital markets. USAID privatization initiatives in the transition economies included the reforms in the social welfare sector. In Poland, this resulted in a greater role for the private sector in managing and financing the state pension fund.Expected results over the next five years include:
*Reformed economic and sectoral policies which improve international and intraregional trade, harmonize monetary regimes and foster greater integration with a rapidly globalizing economy.
*Broader-based ownership of market institutions creating a wider base of economic stakeholders and generating increasingly rational pricing structures through the dissolution of monopolies, the introduction of competition and the continuing privatization of state-owned enterprises and services.
*Strengthened institutional capacities and legal frameworks within USAID-assisted countries to promote the expansion and to sustain the development of small and medium-sector businesses.
*Increased adoption by USAID-assisted countries of financial market reforms with an emphasis on capital market strengthening. These reforms provide efficient and equitable access by the poor to rationally functioning financial markets and expanded economic opportunities; and
*Increased business linkages, rates of investment and trade between the United States and emerging market economies.
BUILDING DEMOCRACY ($13,400,000).
USAID's democracy-strengthening programs are based on the principles of popular sovereignty, limited government and the defense of individual rights, the very values upon which the United States was founded and which continue to sustain it today. America's long-term domestic and strategic foreign policy interests are best served by enlarging the world-wide community of like-minded democratic nations. Democratic governments are more likely to advocate and observe international laws and to experience the kind of long-term stability which leads to sustained development, economic growth and international trade. Central programs actively promote citizen participation, governmental accountability and the rule of law, the cornerstones of a nation's social, economic and political development.
While a wave of democratization has swept through the developing world over the past decade, with strong U.S. support, many of the new democracies rest on fragile institutional bases. Further political reforms are still needed to deepen and expand democratic practices, to overcome a legacy of authoritarian rule, and to provide the governance and accountability necessary to support sustainable development. By building on the Agency's own experience and by tapping into the strength of our nation's democratic institutions and nongovernmental organizations, central programs seek to increase the overall effectiveness of activities in this newest area of development work. Central programs fund global democracy projects, help shape USAID's technical programs worldwide, leverage additional funding, and influence the assistance policies of other donors for the achievement of objectives in four functional areas: rule of law, elections and political processes, civil society, and governance.
USAID is working with countries to help build democratic institutions and influence civic values and expectations. Inevitably, this is a long-term process; and, unlike other program areas with a long track record, USAID and the rest of the donor community are working from a more limited base of experience and "best practices" in the democracy area. Central programs ensure that USAID and other donors are learning from experiences, as well as experimenting with new approaches. Effective field support to USAID field missions overseas is critical to the conduct and delivery of sound practices and results achievement.
The four strategic objectives of the central programs contribute to the Agency goal to build sustainable democracies.
Strategic Objective 1. Rule of Law: Strengthened legal systems which promote democratic principles and protect human rights.
Rule of law (ROL) is fundamental to protecting citizens against the arbitrary use of state authority and the lawless acts of both organizations and individuals. Central program efforts to strengthen legal systems target improvements in the administration of justice (AOJ), citizen access to justice, and legal reform.
The purpose of AOJ activities is to achieve greater efficiency, effectiveness, and equity in the justice system. Specific measures to this end include the development of structures and procedures for ensuring accountability in the courts, improving capacities for data gathering and analysis, and the streamlining of case tracking and processing procedures. Access to justice measures protect the legal rights of disenfranchised groups including the poor, women and ethnic minorities; assist in the development of alternative dispute resolution systems; and build constituencies for legal reform. Legal reform objectives include the incorporation of basic due process guarantees within a legal and constitutional framework, and market-oriented commercial and civil procedures.
Highlights of accomplishments over the last year include the following:
*Judicial reform has progressed well in parts of Latin America. A network of reformers, which includes judges, prosecutors, attorneys and citizen activists, has been established in Latin America and the Caribbean to deal with substantive issues related to judicial reform. Hundreds of these individuals have been trained in alternative dispute resolution, oral advocacy and case management.
*An Association of Supreme Courts has been formed as a result of a USAID-facilitated Judicial Summit of the Americas, and a permanent forum for dialogue has been instituted.
*Central program accomplishments with foundation building for market-oriented legal systems in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are being built upon in Russia with follow-on assistance from the World Bank.
*Major new initiatives in judicial reform in Latin America are being undertaken by both the World Bank and the InterAmerican Development Bank, based in large part on the pioneering work of USAID in the region.
*USAID's working relationships with the U.S. federal judiciary's Committee on International Judicial Relations, the U.S. Department of Justice's prosecutorial expertise through the Office of Professional Development and Training, and the rich diversity of the U.S. State Court system through the National Center for State Courts have been expanded.The following program achievements are targeted for accomplishment within the next two years:
*design and testing of programs to increase quality and effectiveness of court case tracking and management systems;
*development of mechanisms to increase citizen access to and understanding of formal and informal justice systems;
*improvement of technical capacity of judges and prosecutors; and
*construction of models for court-annexed and community-based alternative dispute resolution.
Strategic Objective 2. Elections and Political Processes: Increased open and participatory elections and political processes which reflect the will of the people.
Free and fair elections are integral to a functioning democracy. The problems that exist in newly emerging democracies include a weak institutional capacity to support, organize and carry-out elections; poorly organized political parties; and lack of knowledge and understanding by the citizens of the political and electoral process or the mechanics of voting. Central programs sponsor comprehensive electoral support services which have been built over time on lessons learned from earlier electoral assistance activities. These include election planning and implementation, political party development and civic education. The focus of these efforts is increasingly on the long-term institutionalization of appropriate political procedures through the strengthening of local capacity.
Program accomplishments for 1996 include the following:
*In Thailand, the centrally funded Women in Politics program provided political party training to more than 1,000 women in five northern provinces before the 1995 elections. Of the 289 women who ran, two-thirds had received training, and 109 were elected.
*In Nicaragua, USAID-trained election observers were instrumental in deterring problems on election day in October 1996. Central program funds and contractors were employed to train local election observers on electoral law, voting procedures and methods for conduct of the quick count.
*Central program funding and leadership facilitated planning and conduct of the national election in Bosnia.
*USAID was active in preparing or implementing national elections in Haiti, West Bank and Gaza, Kenya and Zaire.
Expected results to be achieved in targeted countries in the next few years include:
*establishment of a legal framework that promotes free and fair elections;
*increase in professionalism and improved autonomy of election commissions;
*development of party systems that represent constituencies, sector issues and ideologies; and
*expansion of citizens' knowledge and awareness of registration and voting procedures.Strategic Objective 3. Civil Society: Increased effectiveness of citizens' interest groups which promote pluralism and contribute to responsive government.
The demand for democratic reforms frequently originates from civil society. "Civil society" is the term used to describe the wide array of nongovernmental organizations that constitute a vital channel for sharing information and conveying the interests of ordinary men and women to the institutions of government. Civil society organizations are the primary means of citizen participation in public affairs. A vibrant civil society protects individuals and their communities from arbitrary or unilateral decisions by governments or economic interests. Strengthening the organizational capacity of civil society is an essential component of the central program strategy for building sustainable democracies.
USAID is strengthening the capacity of pro-democracy civil society organizations to advocate basic constitutional and legal reforms for improved governance. In FY 1997 and FY 1998, assessments of donor "best practices" and "lessons learned" will be conducted in civic education, civil society advocacy strategies, support for print and broadcast media, and financial sustainability for host country civil society organizations. The range of groups receiving assistance includes coalitions of professional associations, civic education groups, women's rights organizations, business and labor federations, bar associations, environmental activist groups, and human rights monitoring organizations.
USAID has allocated a substantial amount of available central program funding to the American labor movement to advance worker rights, human rights and the cause of democracy in developing countries. Labor program activities are carried out in 50 countries, both as country-specific and regional programs across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In many developing countries the ability of the labor sector to organize freely and voice support for political and economic liberalization is blocked by oppressive political regimes. In others it provides a ready forum for the promotion of democratic governance. U.S.-based labor organizations, with central programs funding, have been particularly successful in increasing the membership and political voice of women workers in developing country trade unions.
Important accomplishments over the last year include the following:
*In Sierra Leone, the national trade union center organized public debate on matters of national governance and the constitution. The trade union is actively advocating a civilian, democratic government and ratification of a new constitution.
*Women membership in trade unions in Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka has increased by 25% in recent years; and women are increasingly achieving union leadership roles in Argentina, Brazil, Chili, Nicaragua, Bangladesh and the Philippines.Expected results to be achieved in the civil society program include:
*increased capacity of civil society organizations to engage in public debate and action;*
strengthened networks among civil society organizations; and*
more worker-led coalitions practicing and advocating democratic governance.Strategic Objective 4. Governance: Increased efforts to make government systems more transparent and accountable.
Demands for more efficient, less corrupt and more transparent government services have grown dramatically with the emergence of freely competitive political parties, wider media coverage and more active participation of citizens. Because the behavior of formal state actors can support or undermine developmental and democratic processes, USAID seeks to assist young democracies in reforminggovernment structures and processes from an orientation of being responsible "for" the people to one that is responsible "to" the people. Central programs assist governmental institutions to become more transparent, accountable, and participatory in their functions.
Technical leadership, field support to USAID field missions, and activity management in select countries for democratic governance focuses on legislative modernization, decentralization and local government capacity building, public policy development and implementation, civil and military relations, and promotion of anti-corruption and public accountability initiatives.
Important accomplishments over the FY 1996 include the following:
*Central programs contributed to development of an international index on corruption; the conduct of informed dialogue on civil/military relations in Paraguay, Ecuador, and Guatemala; the production of public sector decentralization strategies in the Philippines, Mozambique, and Sri Lanka; and legislative strengthening activities in West Bank and Gaza and Ethiopia.
*USAID assistance helped businesses influence government policy regarding tax reform in Mali, privatization and investment codes in Ghana, and capitalization regulations in Senegal.
*Central programs played a key role with the Organization of American States in the adoption, ratification, and implementation of the recently signed International Convention on Corruption; and, USAID supported work in eight Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries on the reform of tax and other laws in order to criminalize the bribery of foreign officials.
*Central programs influenced investment on the part of the InterAmerican Development Bank in Latin America; and, through a joint working group, USAID has influenced World Bank-assisted country decentralization strategies and work in public administration at the local level.Expected results to be achieved in the near-term include:
*development and adoption of administrative practices that encourage more transparent and accountable public management at both the national and local levels, including anti-corruption activities and promotion of public hearings and referenda;
*application of technologies to encourage and support public participation in and "ownership" of policy making, with special attention to conflict resolution and constitutional and legal structural reform;
*application and enhancement of models of legislative reform to increase the effectiveness, responsiveness and accountability of legislative bodies;*
increased incentives and processes to encourage democratic benefits from the decentralization of government resources and authority consistent with the devolution of central authority to local and regional governments; and* development of program activities to increase civilian control of the military.
CROSS-CUTTING PROGRAMS
Women in Development ($9,000,000)
Over twenty years ago, USAID recognized the critical role of women in development by establishing a Women in Development program. This was only the first step to fully address gender issues inUSAID programs. Since then, the Agency has played a leadership role in the donor community in focusing on the crucial role of women in advancing social and economic development and has launched major new initiatives in the areas of reproductive health for women, girls' education, women and microenterprise, and women's political participation and legal rights. But perhaps the most significant accomplishment is the increasing realization that, for development to be effective and sustainable, development assistance strategies to stimulate economic growth, alleviate poverty, prevent environmental degradation, improve health and quality of life, and support human rights must take into account the situation of women in developing and transitional countries worldwide -- both because of the important contribution that women make to national economies and because of women's relative poverty.
The Women in Development (WID) program is inherently cross-cutting in its support of all the Agency's goals and, therefore, must be integrated if USAID hopes to achieve sustainable development. Over the past year, USAID has provided, through WID, technical support to assist 20 field missions on project design, implementation and evaluation of gender issues; launched ten NGO-strengthening activities enabling them to work in women's legal rights, economic empowerment, education and training, reproductive rights, and the management of the environment and natural resources; commenced three operational research projects to enhance women's involvement and influence in political, civic and community life and 14 high-quality applied research activities; published four newsletters that were disseminated not only to USAID but to over 2,000 individuals and companies on the latest findings regarding women's roles; conducted 12 seminars; and placed six WID fellows in field missions and Washington regional bureaus. This has been accomplished through the WID program's four strategic support objectives.
Strategic Support Objective 1. Improved economic status of women in Latin American and the Caribbean, Asia and the Near East, and Africa.
More than 800 million women are economically active worldwide. Over 70% of these women live in the developing regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America, and their number has nearly tripled since 1950. While women are increasingly economically active, they continue to be paid less than men. Under this objective, the WID program will continue to seek to improve the employment opportunities for large numbers of women now living in poverty.
Strategic Support Objective 2. Improved educational opportunities for girls in South Asia and Africa.
Girls' educational opportunities in most developing countries are limited, both in absolute terms and relative to those of boys. The educational status of girls is comparable to that of boys in most countries in Latin America and East Asia. USAID, through this objective, will continue to seek to reduce the striking disparities between boys and girls that continue to exist in South Asia and Africa.
Strategic Support Objective 3. Improve women's legal and property rights and increased women's participation in governance and civil society in all regions -- with an emphasis on legal rights in Eastern Europe and the New Independent States, and civil society in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Limitations on women's legal and property rights and participation in governance and civil society are widespread in developing and transitional countries. In many countries, literacy requirements for voting disproportionately affect women, who are less likely to be literate than men. Women's membership in local cooperatives, associations, and labor unions is relatively low. Legal restrictions on women's ownership of land and other property are common, and laws often support inheritance patterns that favor men. The program will continue to seek to improve women's legal rights, particularly in Eastern Europe and the New Independent States, and expand women's participation in governance and civil society, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Strategic Support Objective 4. Support integration of gender issues through USAID regional andcountry programs.
Because few development assistance organizations include gender expertise among their requirements for staff expertise, the number of development professionals with experience in addressing gender considerations in projects, programs and policies is limited. USAID, through its Women in Development program, supports efforts to address gender considerations and improve the status of women.
To achieve these objectives, USAID will continue to support the development of NGO capacity to focus on the role of women in their programs; high-quality applied research on women's roles and status; communications and information dissemination focused on women's roles; the development of a professional expertise on women's roles through a WID Fellows program; and a variety of technical assistance activities designed to improve the extent to which USAID programs address gender considerations.
Human Capacity Development ($6,700,000)
Basic education and training are essential for strengthening the human resource base and continuously increasing levels of productivity to achieve and sustain economic growth. Education is also crucial to improving maternal and child health. Central programs give priority to the reform and expansion of primary education for children, with particular attention to girls, and to market-driven work force education and training for adolescents and adults. Central programs also provide leadership in bringing the strengths of the U.S. higher education community to bear strategically on strengthening the human resource base in developing countries through institutional linkages as well as through individual participant training. The central programs have two strategic objectives for human capacity development in support of all the Agency's goals.
Strategic Objective 1. Improved and expanded basic education and learning systems .
Though many countries are making substantial quantitative progress in expanding schooling opportunity, progress is unacceptably slow in other areas, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In all regions, quantitative progress masks low quality. Up to half of the children enrolled fail to complete primary school, and most children achieve well below international norms. Low participation and poor achievement for girls are of particular concern. Attainment of this objective requires focused attention on sectoral factors, such as school capacity and instructional quality; on nutrition, health and other factors which affect learning capacity; and on the communications and information technologies which affect community access to information and continued learning. During FY 1996 the results included:
*support for education policy reform and the technical improvement of schooling systems in Ghana, Uganda, Guinea, Mali, South Africa, El Salvador, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Ecuador and Malawi;
*technical support for USAID regional bureaus as well as for development programs in India, El Salvador, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa and Guinea for girls' education, community education, and early childhood education; and, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, for education in crisis and post-crisis situations; and.
*assistance to country development programs in girls' education and in harnessing new communications and learning technologies to meet many of the most pressing educational needs.Drawing on decades of experience and leadership, USAID will continue to support administrative and policy reforms in education; to implement strategies to reach girls, rural, and poor children; and to facilitate public education and social marketing in support of improved health, civil society, andenvironmental protection.
Expected results include:
*administrative and management reforms, using improved sector assessment and performance monitoring tools. Over the coming five years, USAID expects at least five nations to increase support for factors affecting quality instruction in primary schools -- materials, in-service teacher training, and physical capacity;
*policy analysis and advocacy to expand and improve education for all school-aged children. Over the coming five years, at least five nations will have substantially increased primary school completion and achievement rates for both boys and girls, with increasing numbers and proportions of all primary students continuing their education; and
*application of communications and learning technologies (print media as well as computer-assisted information). Over the coming five years, at least six countries will enrich learning environments for adults and children and expand effective community participation in environment, health and other development practices.Strategic Objective 2. Improved continuing and higher education and training systems in support of Agency strategic objectives
One of USAID's largest investments in sustainable development is training. USAID participant training program increases the skills of individuals and the effectiveness of their home organizations, at the same time as it supports the U.S. leadership position in international education. The partnerships-for-education program establishes mutually beneficial and self-sustaining relations between institutions of higher education in developing countries and sister institutions in the United States, to revitalize research, teaching and faculty development, often with private sector support. The workforce development program improves human productivity and employment growth by establishing market-driven, innovative, and cost-effective training programs that meet the needs of employers and communities while building on the strengths of service-oriented training institutions such as community colleges and technical training centers. The information technology program brings the expertise and entrepreneurship of U.S. telecommunications and information technology industries to bear on education and other sustainable development objectives.
During FY 1996, the results included:
*A Masters Degree in Public Health through a partnership with Makere University in Uganda was established.
*A new Associate Degree Program in National Resource Management was established through a partnership with the University of Belize.
*Three technology-based business activities were established in cooperation with the Autonomous University of the Yucatan in Mexico. Four products are in the process of testing and development for commercialization.
*Sixty-two participants from developing countries were co-sponsored for training in telecommunication infrastructure.
*Four workshops were held in Africa to enhance the ability of former USAID-trained participants to providing technical leadership in their countries.Expected results include:
*USAID will improve the skills and increase the effectiveness of 10,000 to 15,000 individuals each year through participant training programs, while reducing costs and increasing overall program impact. In FY 1998, USAID will conduct a special impact assessment to quantify the results of this program not only in developing countries but also at home, where hundreds of colleges, universities, and technical training centers receive USAID-supported trainees.
*USAID will establish self-sustaining partnerships and networks (at least 15 programs per year), building to a planned program level of 100 such programs in collaborating countries. Within this program, USAID will make special efforts to build on the unique strengths of U.S. historically black colleges and universities.
*USAID will promulgate innovative workforce development models worldwide and establish self-sustaining programs in at least five countries per year, building to a planned program level of 25 such programs in collaborating developing countries.
*An information technology action plan, based on field-oriented "best practices" will provide a technical and programmatic framework for building U.S. information technology and telecommunications expertise into sustainable programs in developing countries.
*USAID will strengthen relationships with the U.S. telecommunications industry, and increase the impact and cost-effectiveness of the program throughout USAID sustainable development programs.
*USAID will continue the partnership with the U.S. Telecommunications Training Institute, training up to 500 individuals each year through reciprocal relations with a broad array of U.S. telecommunications firms representing the best of the U.S. telecommunications industry.Peace Corps($1,500,000)
Special Objective 1. Communities operate low-cost, grass-roots, sustainable development projects.
Through a worldwide Participating Agency Service Agreement with the Peace Corps, central programs support the Small Project Assistance (SPA) Program. The purpose of the SPA program is to support, in conjunction with local communities, small-scale sustainable development activities in areas of priority to USAID (such as improving human health, protecting the environment, and facilitating economic growth). The SPA program facilitates local grass-roots efforts by combining Peace Corps volunteers' knowledge of local conditions with USAID's technical and financial resources. Since 1985, USAID has provided $17.5 million in support of 5,600 community projects.
Strengthening USAID's Development Partners ($52,700,000 )
Strategic Objective No. 1: Increased capability of private voluntary organizations to achieve sustainable service delivery.
USAID supports activities which increase the capabilities of private voluntary organizations (PVOs) and cooperative development organizations (CDOs) to deliver sustainable development services at the grassroots level in priority areas such as child survival, microenterprise development, women's education, and the environment. A key dimension of these programs is strengthening the organizational capacity and programs of PVOs and CDOs to provide cross cutting support for USAID's five strategic objectives. Increasingly, USAID is encouraging collaborative partnerships between U.S. PVOs and CDOs and indigenous organizations to promote development at the local level and toenhance program sustainability and impact. Funds are allocated to individual organizations through competitive grants which include a matching requirement to leverage additional private resources for development. Approved grants are also consistent with USAID mission strategic plans. The major central grants programs are:
Matching Grants: This program strengthens U.S. PVOs' technical, planning and management capacity to carry out development programs in USAID-assisted countries. The U.S. PVOs contribute at least 50% of the total project costs and increasingly implement their activities through local organizations and provide them with capacity-building support progressively from information sharing, through technical assistance to formal partnership agreements. For example, in Nepal, The Mountain Institute combines economic development with biodiversity and cultural resource conservation by developing cottage industries to make cloth by harvesting giant nettle. As the nettle is harvested for yarn making, its tough erosion controlling root system expands, preserving the high forests under which it grows. The sales of cloth products have increased 20% during the past two years, providing employment opportunities for women and increased household incomes. A Matching Grant supports the cross fertilization to a new geographic area -- the Andes Region in Peru -- of the Mountain Institute's capacity to sustainably improve the lives of mountain people. Additionally, the Matching Grant Program has assisted the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) to regionalize its training capacity, expanding from a base in the Philippines to include African and Latin American institutional capacity as well. IIRR is currently implementing a Matching Grant which includes an exit strategy to achieve sustainability and a more diversified funding base. The U.S. PVO Finca represents another example of increasing institutional capacity in the area of microenterprise lending. This PVO is currently implementing a Matching Grant which is designed to replicate its successful approach from Latin America to Africa. The newly established program in Uganda has already extended approximately $1.5 million in loans in support of 3900 microenterprises. The loan repayment rate is 98%.
Child Survival: This competitive grants program enhances the participation of U.S. PVOs in meeting the critical needs of infants, children, and mothers, in those developing countries with high infant, child and maternal mortality, and improves the ability of the U.S. PVOs and their local partners to carry out high quality, effective child survival programs. The PVO Child Survival programs work through partnerships with local non-governmental organizations, community-based groups, and local public health authorities to provide sustainable, low cost interventions, such as childhood immunization, diarrhea and pneumonia case management, nutrition improvement, maternal and newborn care, birth spacing, and HIV/AIDS prevention. In Haiti, Save the Children has reduced the percentage of children with malnutrition from 77% to 46% in the project area. Andean Rural Health Care's child survival program in Bolivia effectively reduced the child mortality rate in the project area by 38% in four years. In Indonesia, thanks to the PATH project in Lombok since l990, coverage of maternal tetanus toxoid immunization has increased from 47% to 73%; Expanded Program of Immunization coverage has increased from 55% to 84%; iron tablet usage by mothers has risen from 79% to 93%; and infant vitamin A supplementation has expanded from 33% to 82%. These interventions combined with an emphasis on improved training and supervision have assisted to lower Lombok's infant mortality rate.
Cooperative Development: USAID's support to U.S. cooperative development organizations, enables them to assist cooperative movements in developing and middle income countries, and new democracies. Cooperative development organizations provide assistance and training to local counterpart organizations in such areas as micro-enterprise development, housing, credit delivery, dairy development, rural electrification, insurance protection and cooperative development. For example, in Mali, West Africa, the National Cooperative Business Association has assisted 214 cooperatives and rural group businesses to establish 1,004 economic activities which are completely owned and managed by villagers through their cooperative or group business. These cooperatives and group-based businesses have borrowed more than $5.4 million from five commercial banks, with no loan defaults. This represents the first time that commercial banks in Mali have lent to small rural cooperatives, and the increasing loan volume indicates growing confidence by commercial banks inrural cooperative businesses.
Development Education: USAID's development education program supports the efforts of U.S. non-profit organizations to educate and create an atmosphere of national understanding and interest among American citizens about developing countries and U.S. development activities overseas, especially as they relate to efforts at addressing global problems of poverty and hunger. The program has, among other activities, supported curriculum development at the collegiate level and promoted a greater understanding among U.S. private sector leaders regarding America's economic ties to developing countries. One example, the Interfaith Hunger Appeal, has reached thousands of U.S. undergraduate students by supporting college faculty in their efforts to develop and teach curricula on the social, economic, cultural, and political aspects of international development.
Ocean Freight: USAID, through the Ocean Freight Reimbursement Program (OFR), reimburses registered PVOs for the costs of shipping equipment and supplies to developing countries in support of development and humanitarian assistance activities in the following areas: agricultural and rural development, health care, educational training, disaster assistance and relief, and rehabilitation. In 1996, the Agency funded 46 PVOs in the OFR program. These organizations shipped 6,290 tons of commodities valued at $89 million at a cost of $1.6 million to the program. This represents a ratio of 56:1 of the value of commodities shipped to USAID dollars spent.
Institutional Support: USAID provides institutional support grants to strengthen the management and technical capacity of the PVOs that implement food assistance programs under the P.L. 480 Title II Food for Peace program. These grants have helped the PVOs to plan programs for greater impact on food security, to initiate food assessments, to develop monitoring and evaluation systems and to improve the technical skills of their staff.
Strategic Objective 2. Strengthen overseas institutions which demonstrate American ideas and practices
American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA) ($5,000,000)
USAID, through its ASHA program, provides grants to private schools, libraries and medical centers overseas. These institutions are founded or sponsored by U.S. organizations and serve as demonstration centers of excellence for American ideas and practices in education, technology and medical research.
These private, non-profit institutions meet operating expenses primarily from tuition, fees, private contributions from U.S. and in-country sources, endowments, and the sale of services. ASHA grants help build and renovate facilities, purchase equipment and, in a few cases, meet operating costs for educational and medical programs.
American developmental and foreign policy goals are facilitated when we share our values with others to help them to understand the United States. The ASHA program supports institutions that foster a favorable image of the U.S. and the local ability to better interpret events in which the U.S. is involved. American-sponsored schools and hospitals overseas create continuing relationships between Americans and citizens of other countries. They promote democracy, private initiative, free inquiry and innovative approaches to problem-solving.
ASHA-financed buildings and equipment provide the physical infrastructure to strengthen institutional services and permit realization of opportunities. This has secondary benefits in mobilizing resources, attracting students and increasing scholarship support. ASHA-assisted institutions educate future leaders, and those already in the workforce, in disciplines essential to broad-based, sustained growth in the economy and society.
For FY 1998 USAID requests $5,000,000 for ASHA which will be combined with $9,600,000 of FY 1997 funds to be used in a competitive grant awards program early in FY 1998.
Learning from Experience ($6,500,000)
USAID, through its Center for Development Information and Evaluation (CDIE), learns from development experience to improve development results. CDIE conducts, facilitates, and guides performance measurement and evaluation activities throughout the Agency and disseminates information on development experience to inform development policy and to improve development practice. CDIE's programs are directed particularly at ensuring that Agency decision-making is informed by experience and that program and budget decisions conform with Agency policy and objectives. More specifically, the Center:
*leads the Agency strategic planning process, participates in sector reviews, develops performance measurement and evaluation (PM&E) policies and procedures, and prepares and disseminates supplemental guidance to USAID managers on how to plan and conduct performance monitoring and evaluation activities;
*strengthens USAID's capabilities to manage for results at all organizational levels by (1) providing direct technical assistance in strategic planning, performance measurement and evaluation to USAID bureaus, Offices and field units; (2) developing PM&E policies, essential procedures, and supplemental references; (3) reviewing the quality of operating unit strategic plans and the unit's annual results review and resource request (R4) and recommending improvements; (4) documenting and disseminating best practices in PM&E and re-engineering; (5) developing performance indicators for Agency goals and objectives; (6) developing and maintaining the Agency's data base on program performance; and (7) reporting and analyzing program performance and preparing the Agency's annual report on program performance;
*informs Agency decision-making by (1) distilling and disseminating development experience information and effectively translating the Agency's lessons learned into policy; (2) providing information and documents in response to requests from USAID managers and other development professionals in the field; (3) conducting field evaluations, performance analyses, and desk studies on specific topics or issues of immediate relevance to policy or practice; (4) disseminating information on key PM&E findings and activities through publications, newsletters, and a variety of innovative electronic media; and 5) infusing PM&E findings in policy and practice through briefings, seminars, informal groups, and formal meetings; and
*represents USAID on PM&E, strategic planning, "learning from experience," and "managing for results" in a variety of national and international fora. This includes leadership and participation in the DAC Experts Group on Aid Evaluation, chairing the International network for Development Information Exchange (INDIX), and presenting Agency results to groups such as the American Evaluation Association.USAID's priorities for the Center in FY 1998 are to:
*provide the technical leadership required to comply with the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 and improve USAID's ability to manage for results; implement the Agency's strategic plan, scheduled for approval by the end of FY 1997; and help prepare the Agency to implement an annual performance plan and to report on accomplishments against this plan in the annual performance report;
*continue to help operational units improve strategic planning and performance monitoring and reporting and the use of performance data in managing for results. CDIE's assistance has two important emphases: a) improving the application of core values and re-engineering tools suchas results frameworks to planning and performance measurement; and b) improving the methodology, technical approaches and analyses used to monitor performance, including an annual performance report which more deeply analyzes performance on a rolling basis of one or possibly two Agency goals each year;
*evaluate the impact of USAID approaches in areas such as democracy and governance, and trade and economic growth; carry out focused evaluations of topics identified by the CDIE Advisory Committee and USAID senior management; and give priority to quick turnaround issue briefs and desk studies needed by Agency management on areas of immediate concern;
*continue the Center's major shift from operating a request-driven library and research and referral system to an automated system where individuals can do their own research; serve as an Agency leader in applying internet information resources to development; and help operating units identify development information resources through the internet and apply internet resources to meet program and performance measurement requirements;
*continue to maintain USAID's institutional memory and enhance staff access to information services and databases through a CDIE Corporate Web homepage and other electronic media; and
*respond to customer needs by producing tailored reports that allow performance data and development information to be more fully used in policy formulation, program planning and design.
CENTRAL PROGRAMS
FY 1998 PROGRAM SUMMARY
Goals %
USAID Strategic
Objectives %
Encouraging Economic Growth Stabilizing World Population Growth and Protecting Human Health Protecting the Environment Building Democracy Total by Funding Category PHN 1. Increased use by women and men of voluntary practices that contribute to reduced fertility. 136,800,000 136,800,000 PHN 2. Increased use of safe pregnancy, women's nutrition, family planning and other key reproductive health interventions. [23,000,000]* [23,000,000]* PHN 3. Increased use of key child health and nutrition interventions 46,500,000 46,500,000 PHN 4. Increased use of improved, effective, and sustainable responses to reduce HIV transmission and to mitigate the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. 31,900,000 31,900,000 ENV 1. Increased and improved protection and sustainable use of natural resources in key geographic areas. 9,500,000 9,500,000 ENV 2. Sustainable urbanization including reduced pollution and more environmentally sound urbanization in key areas. 8,500,000 8,500,000 ENV 3. Increased environmentally sound energy production and use in key geographic areas. 17,000,000 17,000,000 ENV 4. Decreased threat of climate change 2,000,000 2,000,000 EG 1. Better access to finance, technology, and information for microenterprises and small businesses. 6,300,000 6,300,000 EG 2. Enhance global food security. 31,100,000 18,900,000 50,000,000 EG 3. Enhance USAID effectiveness in assisting developing nations to undertake appropriate economic policy and institutional reforms 4,700,000 4,700,000 DG 1. Rule of Law: Strengthened legal systems which promote democratic principles and protect human rights 2,600,000 2,600,000 DG 2. Elections and political processes: Increased open and participatory elections and political process which reflect the will of the people 2,700,000 2,700,000 DG 3. Civil Society: Increased effectiveness of citizen's interest groups to promote pluralism and contribute to responsive government 6,500,000, 6,500,000 DG 4. Governance: Increased efforts to make government systems more transparent and accountable. 1,600,000 1,600,000 WID 1. Improved economic status of women in Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Near East, and Africa 1,440,000 1,440,000 WID 2. Improved educational opportunities for girls in South Asia and Africa 2,340,000 2,340,000 WID 3. Improve women's legal and property rights and increased women's participation in governance and civil society in all regions -- with an emphasis on legal rights in Eastern Europe and the New Independent States, and civil society in Latin America and the Caribbean. 2,520,000 2,520,000 WID 4. Support integration of gender issues through USAID regional and country programs. 2,700,000 2,700,000 HCD 1. Improved and expanded basic education and learning systems. 3,800,000 3,800,000 HCD 2 Improved continuing and higher education and training systems in support of Agency strategic objectives 2,900,000 2,900,000 BHR 1. Increased PVO capability to achieve sustainable service delivery 23,300,000 25,900,000 2,600,000 900,000 52,700,000 BHR 2. Strengthen overseas institutions which demonstrate American ideas and practices 5,000,000 5,000,000 PPC 1. Learning from experience 3,000,000 500,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 6,500,000 Other special objectives 1,500,000 1,500,000 Total 90,600,000 241,600,000 60,500,000 15,300,000 408,000,000 * Note: PHN SO 2 is a non-add item. Of the funds requested for SO 2, 44% are alloted from SO 1 and 56% from SO 3.
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