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Economic Growth
While India is emerging as a vibrant trillion dollar economy, it still has the world's largest concentration of people in poverty — more than 700 million live on less than $2 a day. To promote sustained and inclusive growth, USAID supports agricultural reform and links small-scale farmers to new markets; strengthens financial institutions; helps state governments improve fiscal decision-making; and generates financing for urban services. USAID also supports India’s development of micro-insurance and micro-finance institutions to address the finance needs of its largest segment of the population, the poor.
Health
Ensuring the good health of over 1 billion people is an enormous challenge for India. USAID has made considerable contributions to reducing the transmission and impact of HIV/AIDS, unintended pregnancies and child mortality. An intensive effort to further improve nutrition and health care for women and children, including newborns, is now underway. In the state of Uttar Pradesh, which has a population of 180 million, the use of contraception has increased from 27 percent in 1992–1993 to 44 percent in 2005–2006. In Tamil Nadu, an Indian state as populous as Thailand, the HIV prevalence rate was reduced from 1.13 percent in 2001 to 0.5 percent in 2005. In Muslim communities with persistent polio, USAID works with faith-based organizations to battle misconceptions about the polio vaccine, creating community support and ensuring that children are immunized.
Disaster Management
Poor people are more vulnerable than others to risk. Floods, droughts, landslides and cyclones occur regularly in India, and the earthquake risk is extremely high. USAID collaborates with the Indian government and local communities to improve their capacity in disaster risk reduction to save lives and minimize threats from large-scale financial, infrastructure, crop and productivity losses. Training of Indian disaster management professionals in the Incident Command System is helping states better prepare for and respond to floods and other natural disasters. USAID is providing scientists and engineers with state-of-the-art tools for better early warning. Retrofitting government buildings in Delhi to withstand earthquakes, coupled with training in earthquake preparedness, is helping to ensure that critical lifeline buildings and staff will be able to function in the event of a natural disaster.
Energy and Environment
Indians need better access to clean energy and water. Power is unreliable, and financial losses in utilities are high. Water and sanitation systems, especially in cities, are overstressed — raising health risks and increasing the domestic burden on women and girls. USAID works to increase viability in the power sector to meet consumer needs, conserve energy and water resources, and promote clean technologies and renewable energy. Programs work with cities and farmers to demonstrate the link between dependable electricity supply and water conservation. By leveraging private funds along with government resources, USAID’s urban program is promoting better city governance and improving water and sanitation services for over 18 million people by the end of 2008.
Opportunity and Equity
Literacy is still low among Indian women, and an estimated seven to eight million youth are out of school. Abuse, violence and discrimination are part of everyday life for many of India's poor and most marginalized. USAID's education program works with Indian non-governmental organizations, state governments and private corporations to reach these vulnerable groups. Projects focus on improving the quality and relevance of education through the use of education technology. USAID also supports activities that keep girls in school, improve the legal rights of women, address the problem of female feticide and combat human trafficking. Partnerships with the private sector provide disadvantaged youth with the skills they need to participate in India’s growing economy.
Partnerships
The development challenges faced in India require a different way of working. Public-private partnerships are a new model for development that enable development partners – donors like USAID, corporations, foundations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), other U.S. government agencies, and Government of India agencies – to bring their strongest assets to bear on jointly-defined development challenges, thereby achieving together a solution that would not be possible for any individual partner. Partners combine resources and share risks in pursuit of common objectives. In the long-term, USAID envisions India's private organizations working hand-in-hand with American private partners to solve development problems, without the need for U.S. economic assistance.
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