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• WHAT IS ITS MISSION?
• HOW IS IT STRUCTURED?
• PRIMARY FUNCTIONS
• PROGRAMS
• BUDGET INFORMATION
• HISTORY
• CURRENT POLITICAL ISSUES
• FAST FACTS
• SUCCESSES AND FAILURES
• FUTURE DIRECTIONS
• AGENCY RESOURCES
• AGENCY PUBLICATIONS
• BIBLIOGRAPHY

PARENT ORGANIZATION: Independent; merger with Department of State slated for 1998
ESTABLISHED: 1961
EMPLOYEES: 2,847

Contact Information:

ADDRESS: 320 21st St. NW Washington, DC 20523-0001
PHONE: (202) 647-1850
FAX: (202) 216-3524
E-MAIL: pinquiries@usaid.gov
URL: http://www.info.usaid.gov
ADMINISTRATOR: J. Brian Atwood

WHAT IS ITS MISSION?

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was created to provide economic and humanitarian aid to foreign nations and to advance the economic interests of the United States in the process. The organization benefits the international community in four venues: economic growth, environmental quality, democracy, and humanitarian aid. This mission is called "promoting sustainable development," because the methods employed foster self-reliance of the assisted nations.

HOW IS IT STRUCTURED?

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency that operates under the guidance of the Department of State. USAID and its sister organization, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, combine to form the U.S. International Development Cooperation Agency, whose acting director is the USAID administrator.

USAID is organized into five functional areas: the Bureau for Humanitarian Response, the Bureau for Africa, the Bureau for Asia and the Near East, the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Bureau for Europe and the New Independent States. Within each national location served, USAID maintains one of three types of country organizations: missions, offices, or sections of the embassy. Missions are located in countries where USAID involvement is extensive and is expected to continue. Over time, as a country becomes increasingly self-reliant, USAID gradually rolls back its operation

Achieving USAID's objective of a reduction in the rate of child labor in developing countries would mean that children would have more time to focus on education. (AP/Wide World Photos)

within that territory. When a country accomplishes sufficient economic progress and no longer requires a USAID mission, a representative office is established. Representative offices also operate in countries where the need and nature of USAID support and involvement is less acute.

A section of a U.S. embassy is maintained in countries where USAID involvement is of a limited nature or where USAID operations are near completion and are being phased out. In general, USAID programs are of a bilateral nature (between two countries). There are some programs however, that involve multiple nations. These multilateral programs are administered by USAID regional offices in Nairobi, Kenya, and Cote D'Ivoire, Abidjan. Each regional office is under the direction of a regional director. Additionally, USAID maintains five development assistance coordination and representation offices. These are located in Rome, Italy; Paris, France; Manila, Philippines; Tokyo, Japan; and Geneva, Switzerland.

USAID administrative bureaus include the Bureau for Global Programs, Field Support and Research; the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs; the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs; the Office of the General Counsel; the Office of the Inspector General; and the Office of Small Disadvantaged Business/Minority Resources Center. USAID operations fall under the direction of the Bureau for Policy and Program Coordination, which operates under the Bureau for Management. The Bureau for Management and the USAID administrator coordinate their individual functions through the Quality Council.

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) operates within the superstructure of the International Development Cooperation Agency. Most USAID projects are funded under this agency through Overseas Private Investment Corporation investments. This arrangement allows U.S. businesses to make a profit on aid to foreign nations. Because of USAID's reciprocity arrangements, approximately three-quarters of USAID money goes to pay contracts to U.S. businesses.

USAID provides assistance in five critical aspects of national development: population and health, economic growth, environmental protection, democratization, and post-crisis transitions. Prior to establishing a field mission USAID first determines a country's eligibility by evaluating its commitment to democracy, social reform, and economic upgrading. Once committed to a mission the agency teaches family planning, HIV/AIDS prevention, and sanitation methods, while dispensing vaccines and rehydration therapy to children. In so doing, USAID relief saves millions of lives each year. USAID sponsors voter education programs and monitors elections as the peoples of recipient nations are encouraged to develop multiple political parties. Energy conservation experts, contracted through USAID, work with local officials in developing programs to control pollution and preserve the environment.

USAID responds to urgent situations with disaster assistance response teams, which are often mobilized in conjunction with the U.S. armed services to deliver relief supplies to disaster victims worldwide. Nations experiencing political crisis or catastrophic natural disaster can rely on team deployments to bring food and other emergency supplies as quickly as possible.

PROGRAMS

Money invested in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) assists foreign nations and benefits U.S. concerns. For example, in 1996 a program to improve electric service in the Ukraine led to a partnership between the Kentucky Utilities Co. and the Dniproenergo service abroad. It is this reciprocity of purpose that enables USAID programs to benefit developing nations and the United States simultaneously. USAID's Lessons Without Borders program takes a different approach toward fostering the reciprocal design of U.S. foreign aid.

Lessons Without Borders

Lessons Without Borders is a USAID initiative to recapture, assess, and recycle the information and lessons learned through the agency's overseas programs. This unique program brings together representatives from underdeveloped and assisted nations and representatives from U.S. communities. They come together at international conferences to discuss and resolve common issues like development of microenterprise, HIV/AIDS prevention, and childhood vaccination. Following a 1994 conference in Boston, Massachusetts, city officials traveled to Jamaica to observe community awareness programs to reduce teen pregnancy and discourage violence. A similar conference in Seattle, Washington, led to collaborations in problem resolution between Zimbabwe, Egypt, the Philippines, and the United States. During the 1994 inaugural conference for Lessons Without Borders, in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. Vice President Al Gore said, "Here we are truly helping ourselves, bringing the lessons we've paid for to our own doorsteps."

BUDGET INFORMATION

The USAID budget is apportioned by Congress from U.S. tax dollars. Its budget was an estimated $6.97 billion in 1998. The bulk of USAID funds, $2.42 billion in 1998 (35 percent of the USAID budget), were designated for the Economic Support Fund. Additionally, development funds for the Newly Independent States and eastern Europe received $925 million (13 percent) and $465 million (7 percent) respectively. Another major budget item for USAID was development assistance, which was appropriated $1.17 billion or 17 percent of USAID's budget. Funding for Public Law 480 (P.L. 480) Title II, which mandates agricultural supplies and food monies for developing countries, received $837 million or 12 percent of the budget. The Child Survival and Disease Programs Fund received $550 million (8 percent of the USAID budget) in 1998. This fund is specially allocated to fund immunization, health, and nutrition programs—including sanitation and water programs. An additional sum of $479 million (7 percent) was budgeted for agency operating expenses and for compensation and retirement payments for over 2,500 USAID employees. The remaining USAID funds were devoted to international disaster assistance, P.L. 480 Title III funds, and credit programs for enterprise development and urban and environmental credit.

OPIC, which provides financial services to USAID, is funded separately from USAID. OPIC funds totaled approximately $30 million in 1998. The funds were designated for administrative expenses.

HISTORY

After World War II (1941-45), the Marshall Plan went into effect to assist the recovery of the war-torn

BUDGET: Agency for International Development

nations of Europe. President Harry Truman endorsed this need for development cooperation between nations during his inaugural address in 1949. Ultimately the European recovery extended into the 1950s, and by 1961, under the administration of President John F. Kennedy, a new Foreign Assistance Act was passed to perpetuate U.S. aid indefinitely. The act, which established the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), was amended in 1969 and again in 1980. The USAID program has been reevaluated by every president since that time. Nevertheless, regardless of political party affiliation and budget constraints, the program has persevered. The program was subjected to extensive scrutiny for potential elimination in 1993 and again in 1995 during development of government downsizing programs by Congress and President Bill Clinton. However neither attempt was successful.

Women in Development

In addition to addressing problems of food supply and health care, USAID has noted that in many lesser-developed countries women are relegated to an inferior status. In some cases these circumstances pose a jeopardy to the democratic principles and goals of USAID. Without USAID's intervention, educational programs have been frequently denied to women in some assisted countries. For this reason USAID established the Office of Women in Development in 1974 to encourage and ensure the involvement of women in USAID programs. The office has proved critical to the undertaking of strategic initiatives to address the issue of gender bias, especially in education, and child labor.

CURRENT POLITICAL ISSUES

Comparatively, U.S. foreign aid policies and programs are ambitious, but some critics question the true motives behind USAID and similar programs. They are not humanitarian or ecologically driven, but economically driven, critics say. For example, the U.S. government contends its involvement in the Middle East and Northern Africa aims at furthering freedom and democracy. Instead, it has been suggested, the United States is on a mission of opportunism, seeking to keep millions of barrels of crude oil flowing to North America. Additional criticism has been leveled against USAID with the discovery of extreme famine conditions in areas served by USAID programs. These discoveries made some question the viability and competency of such large-scale programs in general.

Case Study: Somalia

Early in the 1990s the United States became involved in an extensive intervention operation to bring food to the starving population of Somalia, a nation of six million people with a literacy rate of 24 percent. But relief efforts were forcibly intercepted by political leaders who halted all humanitarian supplies coming into the country. The United Nations intervened to stop this, and U.S.-led military forces mobilized to assist with the delivery of emergency supplies to Somalia, late in 1992. Some members of the U.S. forces died while carrying out this mission, and less than one year later the humanitarian mission turned into a battlefield.

Two bloody confrontations broke out between U.S. Army rangers and followers of Mohammed Farrah Aidid in the Somalian capítol of Mogadishu late in 1993. The attacks happened within four days of one another, leaving 16 rangers dead and 89 wounded. Two hundred Somalis also died and hundreds were wounded. Additionally, the corpse of one U.S. victim was dragged through the streets and defiled, and a severely injured U.S. helicopter pilot was taken prisoner. The prisoner, Michael Durant, relayed a message to the U.S. public, as reported by Time magazine: "When you don't live here, you can't understand what's going on in this country. We Americans have tried to help. But at one point things turned bad."

Public Impact

The Somalia incident made it clear that USAID programs could pose a threat to Americans, and many began to question the value versus the cost of foreign assistance. Ken Menkhaus, writing for the Middle East Policy Council, summarized the issue; "Few topics inspire more cynicism among seasoned observers of international politics than foreign assistance to Somalia." Menkhaus went on to dub Somalia a "graveyard of foreign aid," and the incident served as justification for legislators to devise drastic reforms in contemporary foreign aid programs. Specifically, USAID embarked on a series of foreign policy reforms known as the Greater Horn of Africa Initiative, which focused on conflict prevention, especially in less stable regions. The initiative also shifted a significant burden back to the region in distress.

SUCCESSES AND FAILURES

Although a significant portion of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) dollars are spent directly on programs that benefit a foreign populace, statistically speaking, USAID programs like Lessons Without Borders reflect improvements in the quality of life for American children in addition to children of other nations. What is more, USAID immunization programs are credited with saving three million lives each year: USAID brought measles immunizations for children in India up to eighty percent from one percent. The global vaccination rate also exceeded eighty percent, boosting it 37 percent in 1984. USAID estimates one million children are saved every year through oral rehydration therapy, which combats deadly infant and childhood diarrhea. Though the treatment is widely available in the United States, it not as available worldwide. Additionally, USAID's family-planning programs have reached fifty million couples, and new HIV/AIDS prevention programs operate in dozens of countries around the world.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

One of the biggest gaps between the United States and nations of Africa, Asia, Central America, and South America is access to technology. In 1998 the United States held 55 percent of the World Wide Web market share even though it makes up only about 4.5 percent of the total world population. Realizing the significance of this disparity, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the five-year Leland Initiative in mid-1998. This $15 million series of funds for less developed countries will concentrate on improving the library resources of 21 nations. Mali, Korea, and Chile are the first countries slotted to receive this aid.

AGENCY RESOURCES

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Web site at http://www.info.usaid.gov/ is an excellent source of information about the agency's programs. The Global Education Database at http://www.info.usaid.gov/educ_training/ged.html was developed by USAID to provide worldwide education information in an easy-to-use electronic format. For more information contact USAID's Center for Human Capacity Development, Room 3.09, U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC 20523. The agency's Women in Development office can be contacted by writing to Room 3.08-042U Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC 20523-3801, by E-mailing dsedigi@usaid.gov, by calling (202) 712-0570, or by faxing (202) 216-3173.

AGENCY PUBLICATIONS

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) publishes an annual Agency Performance Report, and its strategic plan titled Strategies for Sustainable Development. For copies write to the USAID Information Center, Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC 20523-0016 or call (202) 712-4810. The agency also publishes a quarterly newsletter, USAID Developments, which can be accessed on-line at http://www.info. usaid.gov/pubs. To order hard copies write to the USAID Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs, Washington, DC 20523-0056, send E-mail to pinquiries@usaid.gov, or call (202) 647-1850. Some USAID materials are available on-line at http://www.info.usaid.gov/about/.

GENDERACTION is a newsletter that is published quarterly by USAID's Women in Development division. For copies write to WID/USAID, Room 3.08-042U Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC 20523-3801, send E-mail to dsedigi@usaid.gov, call (202) 712-0570, or fax (202) 216-3173.