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| >> Regional Overview >> Mexico Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
THE DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE: Mexico's new President, Vicente Fox, has promised sweeping political and economic reforms. Of greatest interest to the United States will be Fox's efforts to reform government, increase economic growth and equity, improve the quality of education, and reorient foreign policy. Challenges to the development of Mexico are numerous. Environmental degradation undermines the natural resource base that supports Mexico's growing economy and population. Corruption and insecurity are concerns nationwide, weakening confidence in government and the democratic process as well as inhibiting foreign investment. Mexico has the second highest number of reported HIV/AIDS cases in Latin America. Nationwide, 57% of the population is classified as poor; in the three poorest southwestern states, over 50% of the citizens are extremely poor. These three states are also affected by lower education and health levels, marginalized indigenous populations, limited economic opportunities, and pressure on the local natural resource base, which create a potentially explosive situation. Mexico's external debt at the end of the 1990s was close to $90 million, or about 38% of GDP. The Fox Administration has requested direct USAID assistance on several policy priorities and program changes, including environment, energy, transparency and accountability at all levels of government, infectious diseases, and economic growth. USAID is responding to this opportunity by playing a significant role in supporting the foreign policy priorities and initiatives emerging from the Bush-Fox partnership. THE USAID PROGRAM:
USAID's six strategic objectives and one special objective focus on the following: helping public and private agencies to combat HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and tuberculosis; developing more responsive government institutions; supporting efforts to use natural resources more sustainably; reducing carbon dioxide emissions and pollution; and supporting microenterprise. FY 2002 funds will be used to implement the program as described in the FY 2002 Congressional Budget Justification. With the requested levels, the microenterprise special objective will require no additional resources. USAID will be participating in the regional Partnership for Prosperity (PfP) initiative and implement the administration's new Training, Internships, Education, and Scholarships (TIES) program. USAID will continue to consolidate and leverage successes in all program areas over the coming year. Ecosystem conservation, pollution prevention, HIV/AIDS, and microenterprise support have been very effective at developing successful policies and practices and generating funding sources for larger scale replication. The South-South transfer of U.S.-Mexican development experience to Central America will remain a cross-cutting objective in FY 2002. The South-South program covers environment, disaster prevention and mitigation, watershed protection, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS prevention, women in development, microenterprise and ecotourism, democracy, and training and education. Some of these activities will be merged into the Agency's new Partnership for Prosperity initiative. USAID/Mexico has submitted a coordinated request with USAID/Guatemala for PfP support for disaster prevention and regional trade facilitation. Through lessons learned from its pilot South-South projects, USAID/Mexico is well positioned to respond to additional targets of opportunity that arise with Fox Administration initiatives such as the Plan Puebla-Panama initiative and governance and conflict resolution program and with USAID's Partnership for Prosperity initiative. ONGOING PROGRAMS FOR WHICH NO NEW FY 2002 OR FY 2003 FUNDING IS REQUESTED: Not applicable. OTHER PROGRAM ELEMENTS: IUSAID's Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance Bureau supports ongoing activities in Mexico implemented by U.S. medical and educational institutions, and provides support for activities such as human rights education. The Global Health Bureau funds research to improve health interventions and techniques. The Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade Bureau supports U.S. technology transfer and microenterprise activities, and funds human capacity development in education and public administration. USAID/Mexico also implements part of the Agency's Global Climate Change program by matching the centrally-funded contributions with bilateral funds. Latin America and Caribbean Bureau regional funding to the Inter-American Democracy network supports the activities of Mexico civil society organizations in areas that complement USAID's program. OTHER DONORS: The World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) are the two major multilateral lenders, providing support for economic development, social services targeted at Mexico's poor, and critical institution-building. Mexico accounts for the second largest share in the World Bank's disbursed and outstanding portfolio, totaling $11.1 billion. The largest bilateral donor is Japan, followed by Germany, Spain, France, and the United States, in that order. USAID leverages other donor resources, conducting joint activities with Japan in the areas of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, forestry, coastal resource management, protected area projects, energy and pollution prevention. The World Bank's Global Environment Fund provided $30 million in FY 2001 to replicate rural renewable energy models developed with USAID funding. In addition, on-going World Bank and IDB support for protected areas builds directly on park management models developed under the USAID-funded Parks in Peril program. The World Bank and IDB are also developing a new program to support judicial branch modernization, based in large part on a USAID-funded needs assessment. The IDB's recent loan to the Mexican National Development Bank includes $500,000 for microenterprise. USAID also cooperates with UNAIDS, the Pan-American Health Organization and the Ford Foundation. Program Data Sheets
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