Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade  Overview  Economic Growth and Agricultural Development  Environment  Human Capacity Development  Program Development and Strategic Planning  Women in Development Summary Tables Abbreviations & Acronyms Last updated: Wednesday, 29-May-2002 18:53:11 EDT

THE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE: One fifth of the world’s population, some 1.3 billion people, live in abject poverty. More than 800 million people, mostly women and children go to bed hungry every night. Trade and investment are the principal mechanisms through which developing countries can integrate into world markets and are the conduits through which global market forces spur economic growth. Faster economic growth is essential to achieving the international development goal of reducing by one half the proportion of people living on $2 a day by 2015. USAID efforts in economic growth and agricultural development reflect its commitment to broad-based sustainable efforts to promote global peace and prosperity and to reduce hunger. In addition, the strategic choices take into account longstanding Congressional interests in areas such as agriculture and scientific research.

THE USAID PROGRAM: The Program supports three priority areas:

• promoting open and competitive economies;
• developing science and technology to improve agricultural productivity, natural resource management, markets, and human nutrition; and
• expanding access to economic opportunities for the poor.

In FY 2003, the Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade requests $86.706 million for these activities. About 80% of USAID field missions have economic growth activities in their programs.

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This funding will reinforce Agency priorities by:

• providing technical leadership and funding worldwide research;
• supporting missions with services and expertise;
• developing the Agency’s economic growth officer cadre; and
• assuring inter-agency and other donor coordination on technical issues.

ON-GOING PROGAMS FOR WHICH NO NEW FY 2002 OR FY 2003 FUNDING IS REQUESTED: All ongoing EGAD Strategic Objective programs will receive FY2002 and FY2003 funds.

OTHER PROGRAM ELEMENTS: The staff represents USAID in the interagency trade group led by the U.S. Trade Representative. USAID has a lead role in assisting developing countries to meet World Trade Organization standards for engaging in global trade. The staff sit on the Inter-Agency Working Group on Food Security and will participate in the World Food Summit and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. The Office of Agriculture and Food Security supports Collaborative Research Support Programs (CRSP) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) system. The staff represent USAID in, three donor consultative groups covering enterprise development and financial services: the Donors Committee on Small Enterprise Development; the Working Group on Financial Sector Development, and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest -- the micro-finance consultative body.

OTHER DONORS: The offices collaborate with and help finance the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to LDCs, which incorporates international trade into country development strategies. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and these offices helps LDCs foster poverty reduction strategy approaches in their development strategies as well and spread best practices in micro-finance and business services. They also works with the Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development and other donors to ensure policy coherence on common global development issues and better overall donor coordination.

Program Data Sheets

• 933-008  Open, Competitive Economies Promoted
• 933-009  Science and Technology Developed to Improve Agricultural Productivity, Natural Resource Management, Markets, and Human Nutrition
• 933-010  Access to Economic Opportunities for the Poor Expanded
• 933-011  Increased Technical Cooperation Among Middle Eastern, Developing Countries, and the United States