Transforming Lives
Haiti struggles to raise tax revenue. In fact, the country has one of the world’s lowest percentages of tax receipts as a share of GDP, at approximately 9 percent. This hinders the ability of municipalities to provide basic public services, such as waste management. With an expanded tax base, the Haitian Government seeks to improve the quality and scope of its services and decrease dependency on foreign aid.
Dang Tran Khanh runs his fingers along his motorcycle chain. “My father bought this plastic-coated chain to prevent abrasions,” he said. “It used to be for chaining me [so I could not leave home in search of drugs]. Now my dad and I use it to lock up the motorbike, to keep it from getting stolen at lunch.” Khanh is a former Hanoi drug user, who appears among the more than 100 photos in “Face-to-Face with Drugs”—Vietnam's first photo exhibition on the lives of drug users. The event was organized by USAID and its partners and launched with PEPFAR funding in June 2011 in Hanoi and November 2011 in Ho Chi Minh City.
Bonobos are a great ape species found only in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). They are an important part of the ecosystem but threatened by poaching and inadequate natural resource management. In the Salonga National Park in the Congo Basin, USAID supports the work of the Zoological Society of Milwaukee (ZSM) to protect the endangered ape.
C. Elilmegawarnan gazed happily at her new temporary identity card, scarcely believing that she had received it within a week of applying.
Elilmegawarnan is one of the thousands of residents in the northern and eastern regions of Sri Lanka who lost their identity and legal documents because of multiple displacements during the country’s 26-year civil conflict.
Amina Abdullahi is just one of thousands in Nigeria who have contracted polio, an infectious, viral disease that invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis. Many of those who have contracted polio face discrimination in Nigeria and find it difficult to lead a normal life. For Abdullahi, the situation worsened when her father died and she became the sole provider for her family. Although trained as a tailor, she could not find employers who would let her practice in their shop. Abdullahi learned of the Kano Polio Victims Trust Association, an organization set up to provide financial and technical support, including vocational training, for its members so they can engage in cottage industries to support their families. Learning of the situation, USAID provided the association with new equipment, including 10 sewing machines, five knitting machines and two specialized embroidery machines. The news spread fast among association members, and Abdullahi and most of the other trainees returned to the center, along with 23 new members in the tailoring classes.
Kanybek Imankulov, a father of four, owns 45 hectares of non-irrigable land in Luxembourg village in northern Kyrgyzstan. A farmer since 1995, Imankulov grew mostly field crop -alfalfa, cereals, and corn-but had unimpressive results. Though average crop yields should have been around 4 metric tons per hectare, he only produced around half that. "I would spend weeks searching for available equipment and never managed to plant the crops on time," he said.
Until recently, citizen participation in government decision-making was a rarity in Iraq. But thanks to a USAID project known as the Local Governance Program – Phase III (LGP III) – provincial leaders have started to recognize the benefits of dialogue with their constituents.
Ali Hussain Heremish knew the Iraqi buzz about honey. There was a huge demand for local honey and Iraqis paid a premium for imported honey.
Recognizing the need for improved governance, several members of Iraq’s Council of Representatives (COR) volunteered to take a comprehensive fiscal management course to prepare for the country’s new government, which was approved by Parliament in late 2010. The class, presented by USAID’s Legislative Strenghtening Program, used international standards to teach lawmakeers good governance skills in four crucial areas: oversight, auditing, accounting, and budgeting. Each module used texts and toolkits to present internationally recognized best practices so the concepts could be adapted for Iraq and be put into action.
The first shipment of Iraqi dates in two decades was flown to London in September 2010 under the auspices of USAID/Iraq’s agribusiness program. The project promises renewed export prospects for Iraq’s fresh and processed foods.
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Last updated: September 25, 2012
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