Companies Join Forces with USAID in Developing World
FrontLines - February 2009
A worker in the village of El Camán packs pre-washed carrots in hygienic plastic bags to ready them for market as part of an alliance in Guatemala that increases incomes for small-scale farmers and their families.
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When corporations and foundations in developing
economies need help in providing clean water, fighting human trafficking or financing coffee production, they increasingly seek out USAID expertise through the Agency’s Global Development Alliance.
For example, a key ingredient in Coca-Cola Company products is clean water—a scarce resource in many parts of the world. So Coca-Cola sought to support healthy watersheds that ensure a continuous supply of clean water. In
17 countries—spanning Africa, Asia and Latin America—USAID and Coca-Cola work together to improve municipal water systems so households benefit from increased access to clean water.
In Mali’s capital of Bamako, some charged that the local Coca-Cola bottling plant itself
was responsible for polluting a nearby stream. Although the bottling plant discharge met government
standards, Coca-Cola worked with USAID to improve the municipal water system so that treated wastewater would exceed the standards
before making its way to farmers’ fields.
A coffee farmer in rural Brazil clears brush between his coffee trees. The Responsible Sourcing Development Alliance trains 3,600 farmers to grow organic and Fair Trade CertifiedTM organic coffee.
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USAID brought technical expertise in wastewater
management, extensive in-country experience,
and networks to the project. As a result, at least 22,000 people got access to clean water for irrigation and other uses.
In Latin and Central America, corporations such as Starbucks have linked up with USAID
to help finance more than $12 million in loans for rural entrepreneurs. MTV partnered with USAID to fight human trafficking in 25 countries
across Asia.
USAID experts say they know what it takes to make development programming successful, whether the focus is on watersheds, finance, or human trafficking.
USAID understands development challenges and it has the technical expertise, networks and background knowledge of the local scene. This allows the Agency to help the private sector address challenges these businesses would be hard pressed to solve on their own. And as the global economy becomes increasingly interconnected,
the importance of partnerships between the public and private sectors is growing.
In rural Peru, coffee farmers wash coffee cherries at a community washing station made possible by a Global Development Alliance between Starbucks, USAID, and EcoLogic Finance.
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Since 2001, USAID has employed its own model of public-private partnerships, the Global Development Alliance, to link the Agency’s resources with the skills, resources, and creativity of the private sector for sustainable growth.
USAID missions report that they have formed more than 900 partnerships to attract $9.6 billion in partner resources for development. The Agency is focusing on building fewer, yet more considered partnerships that emphasize the long-term value they bring to communities.
In this special feature, FrontLines highlights some of the public-private partnerships in development.
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