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Asia and the Near East
Please note: All linked documents are in PDF format
A summary of resources requested for the ANE region is shown below by sub-region and funding source (in $000).
| Sub-region |
DA |
TI |
CSH |
ESF |
P.L.480 |
Total |
| East Asia |
89,799 |
-- |
93,659 |
155,350 |
18,190 |
356,998 |
| South Asia |
92,316 |
150,000 |
161,622 |
765,500 |
93,751 |
1,267,441 |
| Middle East & North Africa |
6,000 |
-- |
-- |
1,722,000 |
-- |
1,728,000 |
| Regional |
18,852 |
-- |
3,610 |
-- |
-- |
18,210 |
| Total |
$206,967 |
$150,000 |
$258,891 |
$2,642,850 |
$111,941 |
$3,370,649 |
The allocation of these resources by Agency sector is shown below (in $000).
| Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade |
$2,447,224 |
| Global Health |
$401,969 |
| Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance |
$409,515 |
| Total |
$3,258,708 |
| P.L. 480 |
$111,941 |
| Grand Total |
$3,370,649 |
|
The Development Challenge
Foreign assistance is an essential component of U.S. foreign policy in the Asia and Near East (ANE) region. This region, spanning East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, includes 60% of the countries with USAID programs designated as strategic in USAID's development policy paper. Although each of the sub-regions has distinctive characteristics, instability, and conflict exist across the region. Many countries harbor extremist groups that prey on disenfranchised populations left vulnerable by their government's inability or lack of commitment to meet their daily needs. As these extremist groups grow, they threaten to destabilize their own countries and support terrorism directed at the United States. USAID plays an indispensable role in stabilizing and rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq; mitigating conflict and improving conditions for peace in the Middle East and elsewhere; and increasing access to health care, education, and employment opportunities for youth who might otherwise be tempted to join terrorist organizations. Although widespread corruption, pervasive poverty, high maternal and child mortality, and severe environmental degradation are typical of the region, a number of good-performing transformational development countries have demonstrated the will to address these challenges. Three countries in ANE are eligible for Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) funding, and three have been selected as MCA threshold countries. Additionally, development progress will certainly be tempered by the impact of the catastrophic Asian tsunami in the countries most affected.
The ANE region has experienced a drastic demographic shift and now houses the largest generation of youth ever -- 368 million young people in the 19 countries where USAID has a presence. The youth population has grown disproportionately compared to the rest of the population, putting enormous pressure on governments with limited capacity and resources to provide education and employment opportunities. Many of those who enter primary school do not go on to secondary school. This is particularly true for girls. For example, in Yemen, Iraq, Morocco, and Cambodia, less than 30% of girls are enrolled in secondary school - half the rate of their male counterparts. Even those who complete school often do not have the skills the economy needs. Developing a workforce with the right mix of skills is a key issue across the region. Finally, economic growth is just not rapid enough to absorb all the new entrants into the workforce. As a result, high unemployment and underemployment rates are typical throughout the region. Approximately 62 percent of the population in ANE countries resides in rural areas, and one third of those live in abject poverty.
Some of the most important international security interests in Asia and the Middle East either derive from, or are significantly exacerbated by, trans-boundary water disputes over scarce water sources. Water needs in Jordan exceeded supply by 78% in 2000, and West Bank/Gaza has water to meet only one-third of its minimum drinking needs. Projections show that much of South Asia will be facing similar shortages of potable water by 2025. A serious challenge to maintaining the quantity and quality of water is land degradation due to deforestation and settlement by growing populations.
With over seven million HIV positive people in the region, HIV/AIDS is a serious threat to economic development and human security. By 2010, India and China together will have the largest number of HIV cases in the world. While adult prevalence is relatively low compared to Africa, the large populations in Asia mask rapidly expanding epidemics in Burma, China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Youth aged 15-24 account for nearly half of all new cases. ANE also has 5.3 million new tuberculosis (TB) cases a year, the most of any region in the world. TB affects the working age population, especially the poor, and is the leading cause of death for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Corruption is rampant in many ANE countries, undermining both development and democracy. Corruption fuels political extremism and illegal activities such as trafficking in persons and illegal drugs, production and sales of counterfeit medicines, and unauthorized logging. The lack of transparency in economic and legal institutions and restrictions on human freedoms inhibit private investment and contribute to a sense of hopelessness for those who are victimized by corruption.
In December 2004, a major earthquake followed by a tsunami hit the ANE region, devastating many coastal areas. Over 220,000 people in eight countries perished in a few hours and many more had their homes and livelihoods swept away. The coastal areas of Indonesia and Sri Lanka and two Indian island chains bore the brunt of the calamity and will require significant investments in rehabilitation and reconstruction. President Bush has pledged long-term U.S. commitment to help the tsunami victims rebuild their lives.
Major Accomplishments and Results
ANE's top priority in 2004 was realizing U.S. stabilization and reconstruction objectives in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, USAID laid the foundation for democracy, good governance, and the first free election in more than 40 years by training over 10,000 council members throughout Iraq in democratic principles, council rules and procedures, committee structure and management, budgeting, project management, accountability, and citizen input. More than 5,000 department and ministry officials at the provincial level received technical assistance in water treatment, waste management, agriculture, and financial and project management systems. Over 190 grants worth $14 million were awarded to strengthen the capacity of local government offices to deliver essential services. Other programs also made progress despite a high level of insecurity.
In Afghanistan, eight million people, 40% of them women, voted in Afghanistan's first-ever presidential election despite Taliban threats of violence. USAID played a prominent role in this success, funding voter education activities and supporting the distribution, collection and fair counting of ballots. Other USAID accomplishments include substantial completion of the Kabul to Kandahar section of the national highway and progress on construction of provincial roads, supply of emergency fuel to four major cities, construction of schools, health clinics, courthouses, and women's centers. USAID made significant progress on rehabilitation of the Kajaki Dam for hydropower, initiated the provision of clean water to four cities, and implemented training for over 500 judges and prosecutors. To help deliver a quality education to the 5 million children who have enrolled in school since the fall of the Taliban, USAID printed and distributed over 27 million textbooks and trained over 30,000 teachers.
Supporting President Bush's Middle East Partnership Initiative and the Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative was another key objective. USAID also emphasized engaging Muslim leaders and populations in development efforts and expanding basic education programs as part of the Presidential education initiative. The accomplishments described here and in the country programs are testimony to the eagerness for change in these countries and the vision and commitment of USAID staff and partners.
USAID assistance, with that of other donors, contributed to the success of other elections in the region during 2004, including in Indonesia where the population voted in a new President, Vice President, and national and local legislators in internationally recognized free and fair elections. By holding the largest and most complex single-day elections in history, the most populous Muslim nation demonstrated the compatibility of democracy and Islam. Mongolia's reputation as an effective emerging democracy was consolidated as a result of its fair and peaceful parliamentary election that resulted in the two winning parties' agreement to govern jointly. USAID worked vigorously with the parties in the lead-up to parliamentary elections, convincing the opposition parties to coalesce behind fewer candidates rather than splitting votes among many. Finally, USAID quickly mobilized support for voter registration and an observation initiative that helped build public and international confidence in electoral preparations in the West Bank and Gaza, following the death of Yasser Arafat, helping to ensure the legitimacy and acceptance of the election result.
Education accomplishments for FY 2004 include progress in increasing access to quality education opportunities (particularly for girls), strengthening school-to-work opportunities, and providing literacy training. In countries such as Yemen, Iraq, and Afghanistan, USAID is reaching out-of-school youth with accelerated learning programs. The Afghanistan program has reached approximately 170,000 students (55% of whom are girls) and trained 6,819 accelerated learning teachers (40% of whom were female teachers in rural areas). To systematically improve educational quality, Morocco's entire public primary school system has now been trained with USAID-developed training materials. School-to-work opportunities now exist in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Morocco, and Jordan. In Jordan, a program modeling the American Junior Achievement program has trained 27,117 school and university students in entrepreneurship skills. Literacy programs that often include life-skills training have been established in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, and Nepal. In Egypt, 6,088 out-of-school girls and boys attended literacy and life skills classes in FY 2004.
In FY 2004, health programs in the ANE region have improved the quality of and access to health services related to family planning, child and maternal health, and prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria. These efforts included advocacy, education, surveillance, policy change, training and other capacity building, and development of new tools and approaches. Specific examples include: reaching more than one million people with HIV services and providing care to over 6,700 people living with HIV/AIDS in the Mekong Region of Southeast Asia; initiating programs to provide anti-retroviral drugs in Burma and Thailand; contributing to the development and implementation and monitoring of Global Fund activities for TB and malaria in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam; developing a program to address priority infectious diseases affecting Burmese migrants; and developing a study to examine how programs can improve the health of urban poor and slum dwellers. Illustrating the long-term commitment necessary to improve health status, USAID's program in Bangladesh was recently cited in a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation study as one of seventeen proven successes in global health - contributing to a drop in the fertility rate from seven births per woman to three in the past 30 years.
USAID is helping Middle Eastern countries deal with acute water shortages by increasing water supply and promoting more efficient use of water. Work to replace and upgrade controls at the Abu Qir and Aswan High Dam power generation plants in Egypt was completed during FY 2004. The result is safer, more efficient operation of the plants improving the reliability of the Egyptian electric power system, which serves the entire nation. Construction on a wastewater collection and treatment system in Luxor progressed ahead of schedule, while major construction started on water and wastewater facilities serving four populous governorates. In Jordan, construction started on a water supply project serving Amman and on a wastewater treatment project for the Amman metropolitan area that will free up available drinking water through the reuse of reclaimed water for industry and irrigation, while also dramatically improving the quality of effluent currently discharging into the country's main reservoir. Jordan's first public water/wastewater company was established and commenced commercial operation, creating a model for private sector participation in the water sector.
USAID is increasing its attention to battling corruption throughout the region. In Iraq and Afghanistan, USAID provided substantial assistance for the establishment of anticorruption commissions to both prevent and prosecute corruption cases and a range of anticorruption efforts are incorporated in Iraq's extensive civil society programs. In Cambodia, a USAID-funded corruption assessment helped catalyze other donors to tackle the previously taboo subject of corruption. Newspapers from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore as well as the Herald Tribune, the BBC and Newsweek all quoted the report's conclusion that "Cambodia loses as much as $500 million a year to corruption." This is almost the same amount that Cambodia receives every year from donors. The report is cited as the impetus for donors deciding to get tough on Cambodian corruption.
Energy sector reform is a key issue for the region and a vehicle for strengthening regional cooperation. In 2004, USAID facilitated further progress in unbundling, privatizing, reducing subsidies, commercializing, increasing competitiveness, and/or regulating the energy sectors in the Philippines, Indonesia, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Egypt. With USAID support, the South Asia region moved towards establishing a regional energy network that will include India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and agreed to harmonize energy efficiency codes and standards for the region.
USAID has been instrumental in increasing awareness and understanding of human trafficking in South Asia. When the regional anti-trafficking program began in 2000, the phenomenon of trafficking in persons was virtually unknown to governments and the general public. As a result of USAID-supported documentation, research, and advocacy, there is now greater understanding of the dimensions of trafficking region-wide. Approximately 27,000 persons have been directly assisted and many more have been reached indirectly. The program has spawned policy reforms in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. With USAID support, the Bangladeshi government has made significant progress in combating human trafficking, thereby removing the prospect of Tier III sanctions against the country.
Program and Management Challenges
ANE's top priority is providing adequate security and logistical support for personnel working in some of the most dangerous places in the world today. U.S. Government personnel and facilities are at substantial risk for terrorist attacks in virtually all ANE countries. Financing prudent security measures and adequate equipment and facilities is exceedingly difficult in an environment where the operating expense budget is stagnant while overseas costs are spiraling due to the devaluation of the dollar and the need to maintain competitive salaries for the host country national staff who are the backbone of overseas missions.
Recruiting staff with the leadership and technical skills to design and manage state-of-the-art programs throughout the region is ANE's second highest priority. With some of the most critical positions in high threat and hardship posts and significant numbers of the Agency's most experienced staff retiring, this is increasingly difficult. ANE aims to build surge capacity to assure the uninterrupted operation of critical programs while personnel in stressful posts take much-needed leave and to be able to respond to new priorities as they arise, such as the Asian tsunami and implementing MCA threshold country programs.
One of ANE's strategies for increasing surge capacity and enhancing management efficiency is the opening of regional offices in Bangkok (approved in 2003) and more recently in Cairo. These offices provide contracting, legal, and financial services to field missions as well as manage non-presence country programs and strategic regional programs. The Regional Development Mission for Asia is developing a new strategy that focuses on the regional dimensions of governance and economic reform, HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases, and environmental issues. The nascent regional office in Cairo will develop strategic initiatives for the Middle East and North Africa during 2005.
The ANE Bureau and USAID missions in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were instrumental in the rapid U.S. response to the Asian tsunami. Immediately after the tsunami struck, ANE staff worked with the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to begin delivering aid to the affected countries. Field staff with invaluable local expertise complemented the Disaster Assistance Response Teams. Over the next few years, designing and implementing reconstruction assistance will be a priority. Innovative use of information and communication technology and public-private partnerships are expected to feature prominently in the reconstruction program.
Supporting democratic, economic, and social transformation in Iraq and Afghanistan will continue to be top program priorities. Encouraging democratic and economic reforms in Middle Eastern countries is also high priority, particularly given the opportunity afforded by new Palestinian leadership. A new strategic planning framework for the ANE region is under development and will identify Agency goals for the region such as graduating at least one country from development assistance and strengthening basic education, workforce training, and democracy and governance initiatives.
Finally, raising awareness about how the United States is working to improve the lives of citizens in ANE countries is an important means of countering anti-Western propaganda. Research in the West Bank and Gaza found that, after 10 years of USAID operations, only 50% of Palestinians had ever heard of USAID and only 5% were aware that USAID projects were paid for by the American taxpayer. In Bangladesh, a society of devout Muslims receptive to modern ideas, USAID is reaching out to elements of influence and capitalizing on the relationships built up between our societies over the years. ANE plans to devote additional resources to outreach efforts to gain the greatest foreign policy impact from U.S. assistance.
Other Donors
The international donor community is very active throughout Asia and the Near East. U.S. official development assistance (ODA) in the region has increased significantly in the past four years, particularly in South and East Asia. The United States is now the largest bilateral donor in the ANE region, followed by Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Norway, and Sweden. The largest ODA levels continue to be provided by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and several agencies of the United Nations. In addition, the Arab Fund, Islamic Development Bank, and Saudi Arabia are major contributors in the Middle East, while the Asian Development Bank is a primary donor in South and East Asia. USAID coordinates with these donors both in Washington and at the country level. USAID's active engagement in efforts to better harmonize ODA procedures and policies has strengthened coordination.
FY 2006 Program
ANE requests $305,876,000 ($47,456,000 DA, $220,420,000 ESF, $38,000,000 TI) to support the goal of promoting broader access to quality education. It is expected that more than 1.3 million children will attend schools supported by USAID and approximately 59,000 teachers and administrators will be trained in new education techniques, curriculum, and management in FY 2006.
Funds totaling $401,969,000 ($143,078,000 ESF, $258,891,000 CSH) are requested for programs to improve health. Among other things, these funds will be used to train an estimated 214,800 health workers and provide voluntary counseling and testing for HIV/AIDS to approximately 115,600 people in the ANE region.
$386,771,000 ($27,478,000 DA, $344,293,000 ESF, $15,000,000 TI) will support USAID's work in Asia and the Near East to promote the development of transparent and accountable democratic institutions, laws, and economic and political processes and practices. This will include training over 29,000 people to improve government functions and approximately 6,900 people in anti-corruption in FY 2006.
Funds amounting to $157,454,000 ($52,394,000 DA, $100,560,000 ESF, $4,500,000 TI) are requested to support partnerships, initiatives, and international treaties and agreements that protect the environment and promote efficient energy use and resource management. In addition to other initiatives, these funds will improve sustainable access to safe drinking water for almost 8.5 million people in the ANE region.
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