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).
MEXICO
FY 1997 FY 1998 FY 1999 Actuals Estimate Request Development Assistance.............. $13,971,000 $8,977,000 $5,882,000 Child Survival and Disease.......... $1,245,000 $400,000 $450,000 Economic Support Funds*............. $700,000 $1,000,000 International Narcotics Control Fund $500,000 $1,000,000 $1,000,000
* LAC Regional request for FY 1999 includes $1,500,000
IntroductionThe importance of U.S. and Mexican relationships cannot be overstated. The United States and Mexico share a 2,000 mile common border. There are 20 million U.S. residents of Mexican descent and 600,000 U.S. citizens reside permanently in Mexico. Trade with Mexico (the United States' second largest trading partner), accounts for more than 55% of all U.S. exports to Latin America and the Caribbean, and has returned to the high growth rates which existed prior to the 1995-1996 recession which effectively ended in 1997.
USAID programs in Mexico support several U.S. policy interests: a vibrant Mexican democracy, reduced flows of illegal drugs, environmentally sound energy and biodiversity use, and access to quality reproductive and HIV/AIDS health services. The programs contribute to achievement of the Bi-National Commission Agenda as well as more traditional development goals.
The Development Challenge
Mexico's recovery from the 1994-95 peso crisis has been extraordinary, but the macroeconomy masks an income distribution that has steadily worsened since 1985. The number of poor families has tripled since 1989, so that two in five Mexicans (41 million people) now live in poverty. Poverty is largely concentrated in Mexico's rural southern states, and has an ethnic and female face. It is one cause of migration to the United States and a destabilizing influence in Mexican society.
Mexico has begun to transform its political system toward increased democracy in an irreversible move towards greater political competition, greater access to justice, and devolution of power to local governments. However, rule of law and administration of justice remain areas of challenge. Local governments lack effective power and resources, but will be the recipients of significant revenue sharing under the new more pluralistic congress. Mexican NGOs began to mobilize in earnest with the 1997 election campaign, but opportunities for broader citizen participation and empowerment are slow in emerging.
Mexico is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world but the long-term sustainable use of biological resources is threatened by one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world, 1,500,000 hectares of temperate and tropical forest have been lost in the last 20 years. One of the world's top greenhouse gas emitters, Mexico is increasingly directing its efforts toward countering high levels of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions but these remain serious problems. Mexico is an energy rich country, with few incentives to use it efficiently. It has developed capabilities in efficient and clean electrical energy production, but has not yet installed clean technology throughout its national power grid.
With USAID assistance, the rate of natural population growth has slowed from over three percent in the 1970s to 1.89% in 1997. However, continued support for improving the quality of reproductive health care provided is still needed, especially in the areas of greater technical competence of service
providers in counseling and interacting with clients, enhancing the client perspectives approach to quality of care, and improving the dissemination of the national family planning norms.
The HIV virus, almost unknown in Mexico 10 years ago, is now evident in mobile populations such as truckers and migrants, and is carried both ways across the border. HIV/AIDS has become a volatile issue in U.S.-Mexican relations, placing demands on the U.S. health system for prevention, care, and counseling services for migrants and immigrants. The largest number of cases is among the traditional at-risk population of urban males, but the fastest growing population is found in rural west- and south-central Mexico, where the number of new cases is doubling every eight months, twice the national rate. AIDS is among the top 10 causes of death for Mexican women in the 25 to 34 age group and top for causes for men. A new strategic plan for the FY 1999-2003 period will be reviewed in Washington during the spring of 1998.
Given the scope of these global problems and Mexico's importance to U.S. interests, graduation from U.S. assistance is not anticipated in the near future.
Other Donors
The World Bank is providing $2 billion in assistance to the country's banking system, support for the social sector, and a $30 million technical assistance loan for infrastructure privatization. In addition, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is providing $15 million in support of microenterprise development in critical poverty states. Other donor countries providing development assistance include principally Japan, Germany, Spain and the European Union (EU).
FY 1999 Program
With a $8.8 million resource level in FY 1999 (DA/ESF/INC), the USAID assistance program in Mexico will be focused on democracy building, the environment, and population and HIV/AIDS. Building on the positive experiences of the 1997-98 U.S./Mexico federal judicial exchange program a series of seminars will be sponsored on money laundering, extradition, racketeering and narcotics, for federal and state court personnel. Other planned activities include cooperation with the Chamber of Deputies to deepen the judicial reform process, support for alternative dispute resolution to increase access to justice for the poor and disadvantaged, voter education programs to enhance citizen participation in the 1999 elections and involvement in local government affairs. On the environment, activities will promote the conservation of key terrestial and marine ecosystems, strengthen the management capacities of NGOs to protect parks and conserve neotropical migratory birds, and provide oversight of the Mexico Conservation Fund. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, activities will be targeted on adoption of renewable energy, energy efficiency and pollution prevention. Under the HIV/AIDS initiative, assistance will be targeted at the senior policy level to support adherence to professional norms within Government of Mexico (GOM) agencies that implement these programs. Also, technical assistance and training will be given to national and selected state AIDS organizations and prevention council. During this period, USAID will be concluding its family planning program with prior year funding focusing on ensuring quality of care.
MEXICO FY 1999 PROGRAM SUMMARY
($000s)
USAID
Strategic and Special
ObjectivesEconomic Growth and Agriculture Population and Health Environ-ment Democracy Human Capacity Develop-ment Human-itarian Assistance
TotalS.O. 2
Environmen-tally sound natural re-source and energy use increased
- DA
5,582
5,582
S.O. 3
Democratic reforms ad-vanced by cit-izens & public institutions
- DA
- INC
- ESF*
300
1,000
300
1,000S.O. 4
Increased access, qual-ity, and sus-tainability of HIV/AIDS
- CSD
450
450
Totals
- DA
- CSD
- INC
450
5,582
300
1,000
5,882
450
1,000
* LAC Regional request includes $1,500,000 attributed to Mexico democracy objective
USAID Mission Director: Arthur Danart
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: MEXICO
TITLE AND NUMBER: Environmentally Sound Natural Resource and Energy Use Increased, 523-SOO2
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY1999: $5,582,000 DA
INITIAL OBLIGATION 1990 ; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY2006
Purpose: To increase conservation and sustainable use of natural resources in priority natural areas, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from wasteful energy use, pollution and deforestation.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: The USAID environment program addresses global climate change (GCC) and biodiversity loss. Although these environmental problems in Mexico are complicated and long-term, our primary indicators show clear progress. For example: sustainable USAID energy activities through 1997 have prevented the emission of 16.5 thousand metric tons of CO2. During 1990-1996 average annual deforestation rates in target areas have decreased from 1.3 to 0.9%. Park management systems have been improved in 8 parks (15 million acres), turning "paper parks" into functional, sustainable reserves.
There have been numerous successes over the past seven years, including:
* the Mexico Conservation Fund (FMCN), an national endowment to support biodiversity conservation projects, has now completed two years of grant-giving with results exceeding all expectations and is being held up in Latin America as a model national environmental fund;
* the USAID/DOE co-funded renewable energy demonstration and promotion program has installed over 125 sustainable systems in eight states, leading to important progress in the mitigation of global warming, the procurement of U.S. equipment and services, and replication via GOM funding in four additional states;
* the Mexico country studies program has supported the development of Mexico's climate change mitigation action plan, led to the creation of a national climate office, and strengthened Mexico's leadership position as a key climate change country;
* the Mexico TNC Parks-in-Peril Program, the largest and most successful in the Hemisphere, is being replicated throughout the GOM National Protected Areas System, and in other LAC countries.
* the Mexico energy efficiency (EE) program has strengthened Mexican electric sector institutions (FIDE and CONAE), leading to the design and implementation of a five-year national-scale incentives/rebates program, and elevated Mexico to a regional EE leadership position.
Description: Environmental protection plays an important and expanding role in Mexico's sustainable development agenda. With increased Mexican awareness of environmental issues, USAID/M's environment program continues to grow in scope and importance. SO2 focuses on two sectors of global and binational significance: climate change and biodiversity conservation. Specific problems being addressed include the loss of forests and biodiversity, Mexico's energy dependance on highly polluting fossil fuels, urban pollution, and inadequate environmental policies and institutional capacities. To help Mexico reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, USAID global climate change (GCC) activities promote the adoption of renewable energy, energy efficiency and pollution prevention technologies and practices in targeted industries and municipalities; improve the management of protected areas and forests; and support the Mexican climate change program. To conserve biological resources, activities promote the conservation of key terrestrial and marine ecosystems (including coastal resources management) and continue to provide oversight for the successful Mexico Conservation Fund.
Key interventions will include: (a) auditing industries to improve their energy efficiency while reducing pollution; (b) supporting renewable energy applications; (c) providing loans and equity capital to Mexican environmental entrepreneurs through the Environmental Enterprises Assistance Fund (EEAF); (d) developing environmentally-friendly economic activities in priority ecological areas; (e) strengthening the management capacities of NGOs to protect parks and conserve neotropical migratory birds; and (f) promoting community-based coastal resources management.
Host Country and Other Donors: In both climate change and biodiversity conservation, priority areas of activity for the GOM, USAID is among the top five donors providing Mexico with technical and financial assistance. Our primary partners providing parallel or co-funding include:the Global Environmental Facility in biodiversity conservation /protected areas management and renewable energy; UNIDO in pollution prevention; IDB and the World Bank in energy efficiency; and the Packard Foundation in coastal resources management. USAID plays a catalytic/supportive role in the development of other USG programs in Mexico, especially those of EPA, DOE and Department of the Interior.
Beneficiaries: Direct program beneficiaries include local, poor and indigenous populations/communities that gain tangible economic benefits from the increased economic opportunities offered by buffer zone management and renewable energy technologies. Mexican NGOs and the for-profit sector will benefit from institutional strengthening activities, and energy efficiency and pollution prevention activities. U.S. businesses will benefit from increased trade and the sale of environmental/energy technologies and services in Mexico. Conserving biodiversity and mitigating climate change will benefit U.S. and Mexican citizens, as well as the world.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: In the area of GCC-forestry primary partners include World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, PRONATURA, as well as their approximately 25 Mexican partner organizations. The primary Mexican collaborators in the GCC/energy portfolio are FIDE, CFE, FIRCO, IIE, DDF, CONAE and industry. In the area of biodiversity conservation it is the Mexico Conservation Fund. Contractors and implementing agencies involved in the program include RCG Hagler Bailly, Sandia National Laboratories, the National University of Mexico, and the EEAF.
Major Results Indicators: Baseline Targets (1999) 1. Metric tons of CO2 averted/energy 2,000 (1997) 22,000 2. Annual rate of deforestation sites 1.3% (1990) Significant reductions at all 3. Areas/reserves under improved management 0 (1990) 12 sites/ 3.75 million hectares 4. Environment institutions strengthened 20 NGOs (1990) 3 ESCOS (env. service companies)
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: MEXICO
TITLE AND NUMBER: Mexican Democratic Reforms Advanced by Citizens and Key Public Institutions 523-S003
STATUS: New
PROPOSED OBLIGATION & FUNDING SOURCE: FY 1999: $300,000 DA; $1,500,000 ESF; and $1,000,000 INC
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1999; ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2003
Purpose: The program will work with the Mexican government and civil society to achieve institutional reforms in two key areas: a more professional, independent, and effective justice sector; and more effective and accountable local governments. The strategy uses strengthened citizen participatory and organizational capabilities along with technical assistance to the Mexican Congress as a means to achieving these ends rather than as separate objectives.
Background: From 1968 to the present, Mexico has embarked on a process of political reform that is transforming the country from a centralized, one-party system to a more pluralist, democratic society. While much still remains to be done, the current administration of President Ernesto Zedillo is highly committed to pursuing these sector reforms. The United States strongly supports Mexico's democracy reform movement. A fully democratic Mexico helps fulfill the aspirations of the Summit of the Americas agreement across the hemisphere in support of democracy as a fundamental foreign policy objective. Also, it creates a sustainable basis for internal peace and rule of law, increasing Mexico's attractiveness as a trading and investment partner. In the long-term, success of political reforms will contribute to greater, and more equitable economic development, that should decrease pressures for emigration to the United States.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: Since 1994, the democracy sector was identified as a target of opportunity and activities centered mainly on fielding election observers for the 1994 presidential elections and a number of state elections in 1995-96. In the July 1997 mid-term elections, USAID support increased significantly to include international visitors, a voter education campaign, voter rights workshops and candidate debates. National observers and international visitors confirmed the success of the electoral process and praised the ability of the Federal Electoral Institute to conduct truly free and fair elections. Proof of this success came also with the election of the first opposition majority block in the lower house of the national parliament and the election of the first opposition candidate as mayor of Mexico City.
Other activities of significance include the initiation of a judicial exchange program in August 1997. The goal of this project is to develop a dialogue between U.S. and Mexican federal judges to support judicial reform in Mexico. In the initial meetings, the Mexicans' expressed that their greatest interests are U.S. judicial governance (ethics and discipline) and judicial education. These areas are the most critical to professionalize the judiciary, creating a true judicial career, and most importantly, reducing corruption. The GOM committed to share costs of the program equally with the USG, demonstrating their commitment not only to the exchange program, but to their own reform process. Other USAID rule of law activities initiated in 1997 include: a series of workshops on the U.S. legal system for Mexican federal judges; a project with the National University of Mexico to provide Administration of Justice training for state judges; and the creation of a pilot alternative dispute resolution center.
USAID has been working with municipal governments through centrally funded projects in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua since 1995. These projects have resulted in more efficient and effective local governments and have proven that best practices learned from U.S. counterparts have many appropriate and useful applications in Mexico. Discussions of expanding the project to other states has generated an overwhelmingly positive response from state and municipal leaders throughout the country. Future participants will begin to be selected in January 1998.
Description: As Mexican political actors have already recognized in their own political reform proposals, the justice sector and local governments are two critical areas: first, because public concern about crime, impunity, human rights abuses, and its general inefficacy and inefficiency is so great as to put into question the value or reality of the political transition; and second, because adequately empowered and oriented local governments offer the best opportunity for engaging citizens in democratic practices, addressing their problems and complaints directly, and reversing the longstanding over centralization of the Mexican political panorama. In pursuit of these ends, the strategy will utilize and build citizen participation, encouraging citizen empowerment via the development of new mechanisms for engaging citizens in political reform and the normal political process.
Although rule of law and local democratization were identified by USAID's analysis of the situation, two centrally funded assessments, and the Mexican government's own programs, they are hardly the only critical ones. However, funding limitations and sensitivity to respect locally developed policies, rather than imposing our own argue for this particular emphasis. In both thematic areas, the strategy targets a narrower aspect of the problem based on its potential for leveraging broader change. It focuses on local or municipal governments and on federal, as opposed to state, courts. USAID chose municipalities because they provide the most direct opportunity for citizen participation and the most hospitable environment for innovative approaches to citizen empowerment and direct responses to popular needs. USAID will focus on a few cities as pilot projects to develop best practices for replication throughout the country by newly developing municipal associations.
In the case of the courts, the focus on federal institutions responds to U.S. policy priorities as well as to national needs. These are the courts which deal with counternarcotics efforts and with the threat that drug trafficking poses both to U.S. and Mexican security. Recent constitutional and legal changes at the federal level give the Supreme Court and the new National Judicial Council more responsibility for the federal court system. A number of states are now adopting similar reforms. Supporting the federal judiciary's efforts to improve its own operations and to enact its own legal independence encourages a systemwide move toward greater judicial autonomy and responsibility. Similar arguments apply to the emphasis on the national Attorney General's Office, undertaken under a separate INL-financed program.
Host Country and Other Donors: USAID is working with the International City Managers Association (ICMA) in the area of municipal government strengthening. ICMA contributes about 50% of the costs of the project in pro-bono labor through member cities. USAID's project is complemented by municipal development projects funded by the Ford Foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the IDB ($1 billion) and the World Bank ($1 billion).
In the area rule of law, USAID is cost-sharing the U.S. Mexico Judicial Exchange Program with the Government of Mexico. USAID's main development partners are the numerous U.S. Law enforcement agencies which work with the Attorney General's Office and the Federal Police Academy. Other donors in the area of rule of law include the governments of Spain, France, Great Britain and the World Bank. In the area of citizen participation, USAID is supporting the efforts of the Citizens' Movement for Democracy (MCD), a network of over 80 civic education, election and human rights NGOs/PVOs throughout Mexico. In the past the MCD has received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute and League of Women Voters, Washington Office on Latin America. Other donors include the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations.
Beneficiaries: The beneficiaries of the democracy program will be a broad cross-section of Mexican society in general. The most directly impacted will be participants such as judges, court employees and local governmental officials, as well as private, voluntary organizations (PVOs/NGOs) that are selected for participation in areas of technical cooperation.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: The main contractors for the Democracy Program are: the International City Managers Association (Local Governance), the National Center for State Courts (ROL), the National University of Mexico (ROL), the University of Texas Law School (ROL), the State University of New York (Congress), the Center for Study of State Reform (Congress), and the Citizens' Movement for Democracy (Citizen Participation).
Major Results Indicators: A draft Results Framework was developed in October 1997. USAID will work with its development partners and the USAID LAC and Global Bureaus to finalize its results indicators in March 1998, and complete annual performance targets by the third quarter of FY 1998.
ACTIVITY DATA SHEET
PROGRAM: MEXICO
TITLE AND NUMBER: Enhanced Access, Quality, and Sustainability of HIV/AIDS Services and Information Programs for Vulnerable Populations in Targeted Areas, 523-S004
STATUS: Continuing
PROPOSED OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: FY1999: $450,000 CSD
INITIAL OBLIGATION 1988 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY2003
Purpose: To increase access to and quality of HIV/AIDS/STI (sexually transmitted infections) services and information for mobile populations and youth in selected rural and peri-urban areas in order to curtail the spread of the epidemic within Mexico and into the United States.
USAID Role and Achievements to Date: USAID's program of HIV/AIDS education and prevention is a constructive response to a mutual problem. Although numbers of cases are rising, it is clear that an aggressive and targeted prevention program can still circumscribe the disease. USAID assists NGOs, the National AIDS Prevention Council, and targeted Mexican states in providing STI and HIV/AIDS information and services to adolescents and mobile populations and their families in border areas and in Mexico's most impoverished states in order to reduce the rate of new HIV infection. Achievements to date include the translation of information on HIV/AIDS into 20 indigenous languages, the training of university students, rural women, and members of a rural teachers' corps as replicators of information in marginalized communities, training of peer educators in secondary schools and in maquila (in-bond) plants, and the strengthening of NGOs and state AIDS prevention councils through specialized U.S. training. Other activities are aimed at reducing cross border transmission between Mexico and Central America by targeting information and services toward mobile populations at a strategic location on the Mexico-Guatemala border.
Description: USAID has worked primarily through NGOs targeting services to vulnerable populations: adolescents, migrants, and indigenous groups. The new strategy will place USAID assistance at a more senior level, providing policy advice and supporting adherence to professional norms within GOM agencies that implement HIV/AIDS programs. Technical assistance and training is targeted for the national AIDS organization, selected state AIDS prevention councils, and NGOs that reach underserved populations. Emphasis is on NGO institution-building and strengthened linkages between public and private sector which will lead to increased capacity for delivering HIV/AIDS services and information. USAID aims to continue to play a catalytic role in AIDS prevention in Mexico by contributing to an enhanced policy environment, working with NGO partners with proven credibility and access to affected communities, and leveraging resources from the GOM and other donors for collaborative action in HIV/AIDS.
Host Country and Other Donors: : The GOM is the chief contributor to activities in HIV/AIDS; however, a large proportion of its available resources is destined to care and medications for those already infected. In the area of prevention, in addition to USAID, donors include the World Bank funded regional project for Latin America (SIDALAC), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and Japan. The MacArthur Foundation supports a small program centered on prevention of AIDS among women in Mexico and other Latin American countries.
Beneficiaries: The general population benefits from greater availability of information on modes of transmission; in addition, groups with high-risk behaviors are the beneficiaries of targeted efforts in behavior change communications. Through the USAID training program individuals active in HIV/AIDS activities around the country have received training in the United States, principally at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in AIDS prevention program planning. Because of their greater vulnerability
to HIV/AIDS and the emerging heterosexualization of the epidemic in Mexico, women are increasingly targeted as beneficiaries of USAID HIV/AIDS efforts in Mexico. Ultimately, because viruses respect neither political boundaries nor nationalities, U.S. citizens are also the beneficiaries of effective HIV/AIDS prevention activities in Mexico.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: USAID implements activities through cooperating agencies such as the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Family Health International, The Futures Group, the National AIDS Prevention Council (CONASIDA) and local NGOs.
Major Results Indicators: Baseline (1) Target Percentage of target population citing at least two acceptable ways of preventing HIV infection Percentages of clients correctly managed for STI/HIV Percentage of service providers with condoms, educational materials and treatment supplies(1) Baseline data will be gathered in April-June of 1998 from which targets will be established for the years 1999-2003.
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