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THE PILLARS
In this section:
Rice Yields Grow, Fertilizer Reduced
Youth Computer Training Wins Award
USAID Awards Iraq Grants for Elections, NGOs, Parliament
80 Million African Children to Get Polio Vaccine This Fall
ECONOMIC GROWTH, AGRICULTURE, AND TRADE
Rice Yields Grow, Fertilizer Reduced
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A rice farmer in Bangladesh places a briquette made of 1-3 grams of fertilizer between rice plants, trapping nitrogen gases under the mud.
Tom Thompson, IFDC |
Rice farmers in Bangladesh increased yields up to 25 percent, using "urea deep placement" (UDP) technology, planting briquettes of fertilizer into the soil rather than strewing it freely over plants. While labor-intensive upfront, burying the fertilizer deeply into the mud meant less waste, lower overall costs, and less time spent reapplying fertilizer and weeding.
Fertilizer is crucial to large yields for both irrigated and rain-fed rice. Its purchase represents up to 30 percent of farmers' out-of-pocket production costs. But typically only one-third of nitrogen fertilizer actually gets absorbed by rice plants, research showed. The rest escapes into the air as gas, runs off, leaches into the soil, or feeds weeds.
The UDP technology, developed by the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) with funding from the Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade, got at this problem by pressing fertilizer into briquettes.
Village fertilizer dealers used locally manufactured machines to make the briquettes out of ordinary, granular fertilizer. Farmers placed 1-3 gram briquettes between every fourth rice plant, in alternate rows, soon after planting the rice.
Well-suited for small-scale family farms, fertilizer briquettes were used by more than 550,000 rice growers in Bangladesh during 2004.
Rice is a staple food for more than 2 billion people. More than 90 percent is grown in Asia, where 80 percent of the world's poor are concentrated, said Dr. Amit Roy, IFDC president and chief executive officer.
In the oxygen-poor mud, submerged nitrogen doesn't escape as gas. Rice plant roots seek out the nitrogen, while shallow-rooted weeds steal less away.
"The stronger rice plants form a canopy that shadows the soil, so you get fewer weeds for that reason too," said Dr. Thomas P. Thompson, IFDC senior sociologist.
The rice plants also have fewer "empty heads," that is, more rice per plant.
In Bangladesh, yields increased 15-25 percent while spending for commercial fertilizer decreased by 24-32 percent for farmers using the fertilizer briquettes.
Benefits from burying briquettes deep were environmental as well as economic. Less nitrogen was released to the atmosphere and runoff losses were small. In comparison, large amounts of nitrogen were found in floodwater when fertilizer was strewn, IFDC found.
The technology, adopted by farmers in Vietnam and—most recently—Cambodia, can be used to grow banana, papaya, and vegetable crops. Ongoing work is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE
Youth Computer Training Wins Award
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Palestinian youth gather around a computer at the community-based Intel Computer Clubhouse center in Ramallah. The center is located near three refugee camps.
Raed Yacoub, Welfare Association |
RAMALLAH, West Bank—A public-private partnership that installed computer labs in 14 rural schools and trained more than 5,000 young people and more than 200 teachers in information technology won the UN Habitat/Dubai Municipality International Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment.
The USAID-backed initiative also helped construct two community-based centers, which were used by about 1,000 young people last year. One center serves 11 small northern villages; the other is near three refugee camps in the central city of Ramallah.
USAID invested $2.8 million in the IT4 Youth initiative, and $1.4 million was added by the Finnish Children and Youth Foundation, other donors, and community contributions.
The Ramallah center is part of the Intel Computer Clubhouse Network, the first of its kind in the Arab world. The network—a collaboration between Intel and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—runs multimedia and computer centers in underserved urban areas.
"This [center] ranks among the best I have seen in almost 10 years," said Gail Breslow, director of a network of Intel centers, during a May 2004 visit. "The depth of commitment of mentors and the engagement of youth in creative self-expression are second to none."
The initiative has seen its share of problems because it operates in regions of frequent armed conflict. Checkpoint closures and lack of road maintenance make it difficult to visit project sites or conduct meetings.
Youth have difficulty in coming to the centers. Dr. Rafiq Husseini, who oversees the centers for the Welfare Association, said, "If conditions allowed, attendance at the northern [Ramallah] center would triple."
One of the reasons the IT4 Youth initiative was recognized as a best practice program was its business plan, which calls for transfer of the centers to local ministries and organizations, as well as financial independence through revenue-generating models.
The Welfare Association runs the northern center and intends for it to finance its own operations through membership fees, individual and company sponsorships, funding from the budgets of local village councils, and donations from local businesses.
Technology initiatives are crucial to train the region's youth in the absence of a peace process, said Bill Reese, the chief operation officer of the International Youth Foundation.
"We can't give up on the West Bank," he said. "Sooner or later they have to have their young people prepared for a market economy, and computer centers for youth are taking the first steps towards that end."
The 2004 Dubai International Award for Best Practices collected some 2,000 stories about technology successfully advancing development. There were 680 finalists for the award this year. Each of the 10 winners was awarded $30,000.
DEMOCRACY, CONFLICT, AND HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
USAID Awards Iraq Grants for Elections, NGOs, Parliament
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Iraq's President, Sheik Ghazi al-Yawar, speaks to delegates at the Iraqi National Conference in Baghdad, Iraq, August 15, 2004.
Staff Sgt. Jacob N. Bailey, U.S. Air Force |
While Iraqi officials and political factions selected the 100 members of an interim national council, the USAID mission in Baghdad awarded new grants worth as much as $213 million to aid the new legislature and executive with constitutional drafting, elections, and civic education.
Democracy Officers Bruce Abrams and Stephen Brager—detailed to the mission from Colombia and Peru—helped the new Iraqi government work more democratically and effectively.
The new interim national council members were chosen at a national conference in mid-August. The councilors were drawn mainly from the former Iraqi Governing Council and Iraq's largest political parties.
The interim council will approve the 2005 Iraqi budget, advise the interim Iraqi president and Council of Ministers, exercise oversight on the Iraqi government, and appoint replacements to the presidency or council, if needed.
Agency experts with experience in other transition states commented on draft designs for the USAID democracy and governance projects and helped select winning bids by assistance providers. Democracy, conflict, and regional specialists from across the Agency came together for a weekly conference call that helped the small team in Baghdad.
The conference call, nicknamed the huddle, is co-chaired by the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance and the Bureau for Asia and the Near East.
The other major challenge that the democracy officers in Baghdad faced was not being able to travel around the country and interview local experts and citizens. They therefore built flexibility into grants to adapt to changing circumstances or better information.
A main goal of U.S. aid is to help the Iraqi government get public input on the constitution, new laws, and institutions. Another goal is to educate the public about an independent judiciary, media, and federal system, Abrams said.
The constitution will be drafted by a legislative assembly to be elected January 2005.
The new grants include
- $18 million for voter education and election monitors to the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), and the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES)
- $20 million—possibly going up to $60 million—to advise the transitional government, won by IRI, NDI, the American Bar Association, and the State University of New York at Albany
- $48 million to help Iraqi NGOs work on corruption, human rights, women's rights, and civic education, won by America's Development Foundation, which also trains TV, radio, and newspaper managers
- $40 million to IFES to support the newly formed Independent Election Commission of Iraq
GLOBAL HEALTH
80 Million African Children to Get Polio Vaccine This Fall
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Afghanistan National Immunization Days, October 2002. USAID Worldwide Polio Eradication Coordinator Ellyn Ogden administers vitamin A and polio drops to a child during the launch of the campaign in Kabul, while a nurse snips off the top of a vitamin A capsule.
Ellyn Ogden, USAID |
Polio—which had been almost completely wiped off the face of the earth by the vaccine developed in the 1950s—has broken out anew in several African countries, setting off a campaign to immunize 80 million children in 23 countries this month and in November.
The intensified campaign to fight the virus comes as new cases were confirmed in Guinea, Mali, and Sudan, bringing the number of African countries where the disease has spread to 12.
Polio is highly infectious, and spreads through a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The disease mainly affects children under age 3. Prior to 1988, the disease paralyzed some 1,000 children per day worldwide.
As of mid-September, there were 668 cases of polio in 16 countries, compared to 332 cases in 8 countries at the same time last year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Most of the cases—518 of them—were in Nigeria. Some 19 cases also were confirmed in Niger, and another 53 in 10 countries across Africa previously considered polio-free.
"The polio epidemic may approach or exceed 1,500 cases in Africa in 2004—this is a tragedy for African children," said USAID's Polio Eradication Coordinator Ellyn Ogden.
The polio campaigns in 22 African countries, set for October 8-11 and November 20-23, are valued at $100 million. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative—spearheaded by WHO, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Rotary International, and working with host governments and NGOs—has invested $5 billion in the campaign since its inception in 1988.
U.S. foreign assistance through USAID and CDC has accounted for 40 percent of the initiative's funding.
The campaigns aim to immunize every child under age 5. Challenges the initiative will face vary by country—from shortage of supplies or personnel to lack of transport or civil strife. In some countries, cultural practices prohibit unrelated men or strangers to enter a house in the absence of a male relative.
To overcome these barriers, countries are to advised to train vaccinators to consider gender and ethnic and religious customs, said Ogden. Community leaders have been known to delay or halt immunization, as happened in Nigeria's Kano state a year ago.
But Ogden is optimistic. Countries are improving training of vaccinators, mobilizing health ministries, and involving local and religious leaders to ensure that as many children as possible are vaccinated, she said.
Immunization campaigns have reduced polio cases worldwide, from 350,000 in 1988 to 784 cases at the end of 2003.
Polio has never been eradicated in six countries—Niger, Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan.
Polio existed in 125 countries when immunization efforts began.
www.polioeradication.org
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