The Honorable Deputy Minister, Ambassador Frazer, Officials from the South African Government and USAID, Members of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Like Ambassador Frazer, I arrived in South Africa last month; in my case, to assume leadership responsibilities for the United States Agency for International Development, commonly known as “USAID”.

It’s exciting to realize that the U.S. government, through USAID, has been supporting South Africa’s democratically-elected government for ten years.  Since our partnership began, your government has identified barriers that keep millions of South Africans living in poverty.  USAID has responded to your government’s request for assistance in overcoming these barriers.  For example:

4Municipalities receive our support to provide water, sanitation, lights and houses.  To date, more than 4 million households have been reached through our joint efforts. 

4USAID has assisted national, provincial and district departments to transform education across the country.  We have promoted public-private partnerships such as Sesame Street that help children learn.  We are also helping support increased math, science and technology training for teachers and school officials and the mergers between technikons and universities;    

4We support the Department of Justice programs that fight crime and improve the efficiency of courts.  As a result, backlogs in courts have been reduced by more than ten percent annually in the last three years. 

4We also work with the South African government to address HIV/AIDS through prevention, treatment, care for people affected by the disease.  Over the next five years, the U.S. government hopes that more than 2.5 million people will be receiving care and support through U.S. government-supported programs and more than 1.3 million HIV infections will be averted.  These programs will directly contribute to the South African government’s goals in this area. 

4Another important aspect of our support as South Africa tackles AIDS is in the field of research—we support many different studies for the government to gather reliable data about the pandemic.  Some of the projects we’ve helped to conduct include analyzing the economic impact of AIDS and determining the extent of AIDS at schools.  USAID hired and trained local South African researchers from historically disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in some of these projects. 

But we must all remember that development takes time and costs money.  It takes the active partnership makes of all to make a difference.  And the USAID-South Africa partnership has put South Africa’s development agenda into action that is achieving results.  USAID and the South African government have a decade of evidence that our development cooperation is improving life here.  We will continue working together, led by your government, to give all South Africans a fair chance for education, housing, health care, jobs, democracy and participation in the governance of their communities and country.  Working with National Treasury and other government departments, we will translate our development assistance and our joint plans into acts of development with and for South Africans.

We look forward to our continuing partnership of cooperation in the years to come.  Thank you.