Angola Benin Democratic Republic of Congo Eritrea Ethiopia Ghana Guinea Kenya Liberia Madagascar Malawi Mali Mozambique Namibia Nigeria Rwanda Senegal Sierra Leone South Africa Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe Great Lakes Justice Initiative Regional Economic Development Service for East and Southern Africa & Greater Horn of Africa Initiative Initiative for Southern Africa West Africa Regional Africa Regional Abbreviations and Acronyms Glossary Previous Years' Activities 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997 Thursday, 09-Nov-2000 14:08:19 EST

Introduction

U.S. National Interests

U.S. national interests in Africa are to accelerate the continent's full integration into the global economy and combat transnational security threats.

The United States promotes sustainable broad-based economic development in Africa because U.S. economic prosperity, the promotion of democratic ideals and values, and our national security are enhanced by the continent's economic development. Africa must maintain or increase current rates of economic growth to secure political stability, raise living standards, and grow as a market for U.S. exports and investment. Slowing the rate of population growth also supports these objectives.

Promoting democracy and governance in Africa reflects American values, reinforces grassroots participation in governance, and supports U.S. economic interests by reducing corruption and economic risks, advancing the Rule of Law, and creating an environment conducive to U.S. trade and investment. Peaceful competition for political leadership and participation in government reduces the potential for conflict and its humanitarian assistance costs to the United States.

Infectious diseases threaten not only the health and well being of Africans, but social and political stability and economic productivity. The spread of these diseases respects no borders and poses health risks throughout Africa and, potentially, throughout the world (including the United States).

The rich biodiversity of Africa's giant landmass is yet to be fully discovered and appreciated in fields such as medicine and agriculture. Improved stewardship of Africa's vast environmental resources is key to maintaining and improving a healthy global environment into the future.

Nearly half the global population requiring emergency humanitarian assistance lives in Africa. USAID continues to strengthen the capacity of African states, organizations and individuals to prepare for, prevent, mitigate, and respond to crises.

Development Challenges

Poverty. Twenty-one of the world's thirty poorest countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly half the region's people live in absolute poverty - the equivalent of a dollar a day or less. Positive per capita growth in the past four years has not been enough to prevent an increase in the absolute number living in poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Cutting poverty in half by 2015 will require 7% annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth with its benefits distributed widely. USAID programs to strengthen economic institutions, promote private sector initiative, and support microenterprise development contribute to broad-based economic growth. Other USAID programs contribute to this goal by encouraging stability and the rule of law through good governance and democracy, and by promoting smaller families and a healthier, better-educated workforce.

HIV/AIDS. By end of 1998, nearly 23 million adults and children were estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa - accounting for 2/3 of the world's infected persons. More than 1.8 million Africans will die from AIDS this year. New infection rates are staggering: in South Africa, 1,750 are infected by AIDS daily. Problems extend beyond the health sector. Economists estimate that the shrinking labor pool (10% of southern Africa's workforce is infected) will slow the continent's economic growth rate by as much as 1.4% yearly for 20 years. HIV/AIDS has raised the cost of doing business, killing professionals, schoolteachers and farmers, reducing incomes now and investments in the future. HIV/AIDS is overloading social welfare systems. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 95% of the 13 million children worldwide who will be orphaned by AIDS by end of 2000. Increased funding for HIV/AIDS activities supports successful USAID programs around Africa, including Uganda, Senegal, Zambia, and Nigeria.

Education. USAID is responding to the rapid expansion of the number of students in Africa and severely limited host government resources in part through the President's Education for Development and Democracy Initiative (EDDI). It will improve educational quality and access to technology and practices needed in the 21st century. It aims to increase girls' and women's participation, strengthen education institutions as development resource centers for their countries and communities, and establish strategic, sustainable partnerships at all levels. EDDI engages U.S. private and non-federal government actors in a broad partnership with African education partners across all education sectors.

Debt. Sub-Saharan African debt nearly quadrupled from 1980 to 1998. External debt as a share of GDP nearly tripled, peaking at 71% of GDP in 1994. Economic reforms since the mid 1990s have increased average GDP growth rates for Africa as a whole, and rescheduling and debt forgiveness by many countries, including the United States, reduced the external debt ratio to roughly 68% of GDP in 1998.

Africa is beginning to benefit from debt forgiveness under the heavily indebted poor country initiative (HIPC) that enables countries that face unsustainable debt to avoid the debt rescheduling process if they have established track records of successfully implementing economic and social reforms. Of the 41 countries classified as HIPC, 33 are in Africa. In June 1999, the Cologne summit of seven leading industrial democracies, the G-7, established the enhanced HIPC initiative (HIPC II) to provide faster, deeper and broader reduction of bilateral debts. By the end of 2000, HIPC II could commit to debt relief for some two dozen eligible sub-Saharan African countries. To receive HIPC II debt relief, these countries must develop poverty reduction strategies aimed at ensuring that HIPC II debt relief improve the lives of their poor. Mauritania, Uganda, and Mozambique are initial candidates.

Nigeria in Transition. Nigeria accounts for 47% of West Africa's population and 43% of its GDP. Currently undergoing a profound transformation, Nigeria is among the U.S. foreign policy priority countries transitioning to democracy. A two-year transition strategy expands the assistance program beyond healthcare and family planning to support economic reform, agriculture, education, democracy, energy and infrastructure.

Slowing Population Growth. At current rates of population growth, sub-Saharan Africa will grow to over one billion people by 2020, despite declining birthrates and increasing number of deaths from AIDS. Contraceptive prevalence rates have been rising for the last three decades, yet remain under 10% in most of sub-Saharan Africa. The high rate of population growth intensifies existing social, political, economic, and environmental pressures. USAID assists African countries to reduce these pressures through family planning programs emphasizing healthier, smaller families, and through support of girls education, a major determinant of family size.

Globalization and Regionalism. Driven by the explosive growth of information and communications and other technological changes, the interrelated processes of globalization and regionalism profoundly influence Africa's development needs, challenges and opportunities. Keeping pace demands literacy, numeracy and technical ability - skills the majority of Africans do not yet possess. To enhance Africa's competitive position in a global economy, African leaders are in the forefront of efforts to foster regional economic integration. They know Africa's problems are not contained within national borders; political instability in one country spills over to others; uncontrolled infectious diseases spread across borders; poor transport and communication infrastructure links between countries raise costs of doing business and reduce market size. Regional approaches can increase investment and improve economic performance.

USAID recognizes that targeted regional programs - the Greater Horn of Africa Initiative (GHAI), the Initiative for Southern Africa (ISA), the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE) and the West Africa Regional Program (established in FY 2000) - add value to the development process. These, and regional activities operated from Washington including the Africa Trade and Investment Policy (ATRIP) program, EDDI, and the Leland Initiative for the internet and global information technologies, are delivering results. Economic integration in Southern Africa has been enhanced significantly through assistance on regional protocols relating to trade, finance and investment, transport, and telecommunications laws; amelioration of cross border trade barriers; and facilitating efficient movement of goods and services between the countries. In East Africa, the GHAI has helped establish a critical mass of African nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working on conflict prevention, management and response. In West Africa, long term USAID support for the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel has enabled this organization to become the preeminent regional institution on environment and food security matters. Finally, the Leland Initiative has been a critical element in bringing the global information infrastructure to Africa. USAID is committed to helping the continent overcome the challenges such as illiteracy and trade barriers and make the most of its new opportunities from globalization and regionalization.

Program and Management Challenges

USAID's four program and management challenges in Africa include responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, crises and transition country programming, staff and operating expense constraints, and upgrading security for USAID staff.

HIV/AIDS. USAID supports the President's Leadership in Investment in Fighting the Epidemic (LIFE) initiative, a major interagency effort to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa. To fight the pandemic in Africa, USAID is requesting $129 million in FY 2001.

Crisis and Transition. In transition countries, USAID programming seeks first and foremost to help achieve stability, then to move the country as quickly as possible to a sustainable development program. USAID's response to the special opportunity to support a return to democracy in Nigeria has been and continues to be a vigorous one. If the positive developments of 1999 continue, Nigeria could become a sustainable development country in several years. USAID is shifting its program emphasis in South Africa to directly address factors that could derail its political and economic transition, i.e. HIV/AIDS, criminality and unemployment. Because of rising threats to Zimbabwe's stability, USAID developed a flexible strategy in 1999 to help prevent and mitigate crises. For example, the strategy will bring into play increased emphasis on rural income creation as conditions warrant it.

Staffing and Operating Expenses. USAID must meet the needs of a dynamic assistance program while direct hire staff for program direction and oversight is declining. Staffing levels have fallen to approximately 207 U.S. direct hire in Africa and 90 U.S. direct hire in Washington as USAID is challenged to increase aid effectiveness and to take up new efforts, such as the LIFE initiative. Consideration of operational efficiencies in pursuing U.S. development objectives in Africa - as well as availability of direct hire staff and constraints on operating expense resources - will determine the mix of direct versus indirect country presence and the extent of programs to support regional and international organizations.

Security. A major issue for overseas operations is providing greater security for staff following the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam bombings. USAID has not received adequate funding in FY 2000 to support the "New Office Building" construction program recommended by the Crowe Report. Construction activities in Nairobi and Kampala will build new office structures for U.S. Embassies and supporting foreign affairs agencies. In FY 2000, USAID received $15 million to fund the new office building in Dar es Salaam. For FY 2001 the request for the Department of State, Foreign Buildings Office includes $50 million which will fund the construction costs for the new USAID office buildings on the Embassy compounds in Nairobi and Kampala.

Other Donors. By 1996, U.S. Official Development Assistance to Africa dropped to fourth behind France, Germany and Japan. Nonetheless, the United States plays a leadership role among donors. Major multilateral donors in Africa include the World Bank Group, lending almost exclusively through its concessionary International Development Association window, the European Union, the United Nations, and the African Development Bank. With global aid budgets declining, bilateral and multilateral donors are increasing coordination to improve effectiveness and efficiency in programming assistance.

FY 2001 Program

Economic Growth and Agriculture. Consistent with the President's partnership for Economic Growth and Opportunity in Africa, USAID promotes sustainable economic growth by providing assistance for implementing economic policy reforms at the national level and assistance to small and medium sized business enterprise at the local level. The Equity and Growth through Economic Research activity's influence on policy reform in African countries surpassed expectations in 1998, including tax reforms in Madagascar, improved financial intermediation for the poor in South Africa, and improved electric power pooling in Southern Africa. Programs to increase non-traditional exports and foreign exchange earnings succeeded in Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, and Uganda, and local savings, lending, and private sector investment increased in Mali, Kenya, and Madagascar.

The Africa Seeds of Hope Act will support long-term growth by building capacity in the agriculture sector. The Act restores U.S. leadership in donor commitment to the promotion of agricultural development. The Africa Food Security Initiative is investing in rural roads, agricultural technology, and girls' education in order to achieve sustainable growth in agriculture. Through regional commodity networks, USAID supports an enhanced research system to improve the competitiveness of African agriculture. Farmers' associations and other community-based organizations have begun to promote and multiply agricultural technologies derived from the regional commodity networks, thus helping rural farmers and businesses to overcome basic constraints to productivity and income generation. Financial services for the agriculture sector improved as a result of the USAID-funded Africa Revitalization Program. In Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Swaziland, and Uganda credit unions revised their interest rate policies and began paying interest on deposits to expand credit union membership.

Democracy and Governance. In Ghana, programs strengthened 20 district assemblies and enhanced their collaboration with civil society organizations. The parliament began inviting civil society organizations to committee meetings for the first time. In Guinea, 22 rural local government units and 149 rural business groups are partnering to foster democratic decentralization, and the second multi-party presidential election, assisted by USAID and other donors, was successful. In Tanzania, USAID support to NGOs addressing sexual and domestic violence culminated in the passage of the "Sexual Offenses" bill to bolster women's rights. ESF funding will continue to support the Regional Democracy Fund for bilateral programs and provide support to selected regional institutions.

Education. USAID's three-pronged approach to basic education is classroom-based, measuring improvements in the quality and quantity of student learning; systemic in promoting African-led national plans; and sustainable, as it improves policy analysis and dialogue, builds capacity to manage reform, and increases national and local expenditures for education. USAID worked with local partners to improve school effectiveness in Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Malawi, Mali, and Namibia. In Uganda, clusters of schools are supported with professional development and training. The Association for the Development of Education in Africa and its working groups, partly funded by USAID, support the goal of sustainability. These self-organized groups receive professional and political support from African educators and education ministers and organize support for regional and country-level analysis, training, and technical support. The Forum of Women Educators, a group that female policy-makers organize and lead with USAID support, contributed tremendously to equity reform by raising the profile of female education. Their advocacy has dramatically increased female participation in educational systems. In Benin, Guinea, Malawi, and Mali the enrollment of girls has grown dramatically. For example, in Guinea the enrollment of school-age girls doubled from 19% to 37% from 1991 to 1998.

Family Planning. In Kenya, a drop in total fertility rate to 4.7 births per woman and increase in modern contraceptive prevalence rate to 32% reflects the success of USAID support over two decades. USAID's implementation of a community-based approach to health services in Mozambique has improved access to contraceptives. Communities receiving outreach services from fixed facilities in the focus area increased from 448 in 1997 to 1,065 in 1998, while those receiving services from community-based volunteers increased from 187 in 1997 to 265 in 1998.

Child Survival. In 1998 a USAID regional program addressed decreasing levels of immunization, leading to 27 countries adopting multiyear immunization plans. In USAID's target districts in Madagascar, vaccination coverage increased from 57% to 78% from 1996 to 1998, and the second national series of polio eradication days successfully immunized 99% of children under-five against the poliovirus. In Nigeria's successful National Immunization Days (NIDs), USAID trained around 700 immunization supervisors to oversee 1,500 NGO immunization sites. The 1997 NIDs covered 93% of children under-five with two doses of polio and the 1998 NIDs achieved 100% coverage.

HIV/AIDS. In Nigeria in 1998, condom sales increased to over 50 million for the first time since the record year of 1995. In addition, USAID supported the establishment of the first three community home-based care and support projects for persons living with HIV/AIDS. With USAID support, Senegal is containing the spread of HIV/AIDS through a combination of early and aggressive control efforts, including the involvement of religious, political, and traditional leaders; intensive information campaigns; and an effective epidemiologic surveillance system. The program focuses its communication strategy for behavior change on fostering the adoption of safer sexual behaviors and on sexually transmitted disease care among target groups. A recent population-based survey in Lusaka, Zambia revealed declining HIV prevalence rates in the 15-19 year old age group. USAID has worked with communities to reach approximately 60,000 people, establish six voluntary community schools, and develop a national training program in psychosocial counseling to address the needs of orphans and vulnerable children.

Environment. Assistance on environmental policy reform resulted in a drafted law that will allow private operators to manage 250,000 hectares of forests in southern Mali. The activity will promote sustainable management of forests and enable southern Mali to become a major source of fuelwood and timber for Bamako and Sikasso without causing desertification and degradation of the ecosystem. In Southern Africa, an enabling environment for community-based natural resource management has been achieved through the adoption of new national laws, regulations, and policies. In Zambia, a wildlife act establishes and empowers community resource boards to manage wildlife in game management areas. In Botswana, the proposed policy will expand beyond wildlife, and include forest, veld, and fisheries resources. Following USAID-supported research and policy dialogue over 1988-97, Uganda enacted a new Land Act in 1998, providing a framework for increased security and transparency in land tenure. The World Bank and the United Kingdom plan to invest in supporting implementation of the Act.

Humanitarian Assistance. The Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) developed a vulnerability assessment methodology that the governments of Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe employed in 1998. Mozambique, for example, used the 1998 FEWS vulnerability analysis to plan seed and tool distributions. Despite adverse weather conditions, agricultural production increased dramatically in targeted areas of southern Somalia due in large part to an NGO activity that rehabilitated canals, river embankments, and the farm-to-market feeder roads and increased irrigated areas from 4,000 to 53,000 hectares. In southern Sudan, USAID supported a livelihoods intervention that increased local agricultural production and promoted the marketing of surplus crops. By the end of FY 1998, USAID-funded NGOs helped revive livelihoods for some 100,000 southern Sudanese.

Conflict Prevention. USAID's focus on conflict prevention has been most notable through the success with the South Africa-based NGO, the African Center for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD). ACCORD has been effective in assisting the Nyerere Foundation in Tanzania as part of the Arusha Peace Process; and helping organize a forum on conflict in West Africa. USAID, through the Greater Horn of Africa Initiative, has been working to strengthen African organizations in conflict management. Through USAID support in 1998, the Africa Dialogue Center held one of the first meetings for NGOs working in conflict prevention, management, and response. The Greater Horn of Africa Initiative also launched two conflict funds in collaboration with African organizations and USAID missions - one, for quick responses to existing or emerging conflicts and a second, for pilot activities to address longer-term conflict.

Development Fund for Africa (DFA). To facilitate flexible U.S. response to the demands of countries in crises and transition and to meet the President's commitment to sustainable African development, the Administration again seeks a renewed appropriation for the DFA. The DFA will provide an assured and stable source of funding for Africa and flexibility to increase program impact.