02 October 2003
Progress in Iraq, Afghanistan Under-Reported, USAID's Natsios Says
Addresses session celebrating advances of women in development
By Kathryn McConnell
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The scope and success of the United States' reconstruction and development efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are not being fully reported by the mainstream media, says Andrew Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
One little-reported success in Iraq, for instance, is the agency's hiring of 55,000 Iraqis now working with various nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and contractors on projects ranging from distributing food, repairing schools and managing seaport access to restoring basic services such as water, sewage treatment, ground transportation, electricity, and health care, he said.
Natsios made the remarks at an October 1 meeting of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid. He added that the international airport in Baghdad is being repaired and is expected to open soon and that national electrical generation had reached nearly 4,000 megawatts by September 28 and is expected to reach 6,000 megawatts before the spring of 2004.
The Washington gathering, which commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Percy Amendment, heard updates of USAID's accomplishments and future plans for both Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as presentations on the status of women in international development worldwide. The Percy Amendment to the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 directs that women be integrated into all foreign aid programs and prohibits the establishment of a separate assistance program for women.
Security, while a concern in parts of both Iraq and Afghanistan, is not a serious concern in all parts of either, Natsios emphasized. He noted that USAID works out of five offices in Iraq -- a headquarters in Baghdad and other offices in Hillah, Basra, Mosul and Arbil. He added that the agency's projects in Iraq and Afghanistan tend to be national in scope and concentrated in areas where most people live.
Helping to establish local governance in Iraq is one of USAID's priorities, Natsios said. He pointed to 830 "rapid response grants" worth $40 million USAID has made already to foster local governance and civil society. These grants have funded the establishment of more than 200 neighborhood advisory councils and 74 community associations that focus on rebuilding services at the community level.
The agency has also helped 40 ministries function again by replacing office equipment that was looted or destroyed after the Baathist Party's removal from power, Natsios said.
With Iraq's child mortality rates now higher than India's because of the former regime's harsh discrimination in providing access to food, water and sanitation, and health care services, USAID has stepped in to provide funding for 4.2 million vaccinations, 3 million rehydration salts, and training for nurses. The agency's focus on children includes funding the rehabilitation of 1,500 schools in time for the start of the school year October 4, he said.
In the economic reconstruction of Afghanistan, USAID's focus is on promoting agriculture, creating conditions for needed private investment, improving people's lives through the provision of basic services, and reconstituting the basic institutions of a national government, Natsios said.
As part of the latter effort, he said, the agency established day care centers in ministry buildings so that women civil servants would feel free to come to work.
He said there is "steady progress" on the road linking Kabul to Kandahar with a project completion target date of June 2004. The road "will have a big role in tying the country together" and is already affecting people's health as they -- particularly pregnant women -- gain better access to hospitals in the cities. Another ring-road around the country is also being constructed, he said.
During the past two fiscal years, USAID has completed or has still in progress a total of 785 projects in Afghanistan, he said.
Speaking at the meeting about the role of women in development, Julia Taft, director of the United Nations Development Program's Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery, said it is essential that women be included in all aspects of development decision-making. She added that in post-conflict decommissioning programs, which are mostly geared to getting weapons out of men's hands, women also should get social and economic "re-entry assistance." The toll on women, who must lead households and earn incomes during conflicts, is great, she added. One way to help women in post-conflict situations is to provide more women with access to micro-credits and property rights, she said.
Emmy Simmons, assistant USAID administrator for economic growth, agriculture and trade, said it's important for the international donor community to listen closely to women's organizations in emerging economies. Women's groups, rare in developing countries when the Percy Amendment was adopted, now flourish, she said. "Women figured out that by working together their voices are stronger and they can have better access to aid," Simmons said.
While donors have made great strides in including women in development plans, "gender inequality continues to be pervasive and persistent" throughout the world, requiring continued donor attention to the issue, Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, a senior adviser at the World Bank, said at the meeting. He said it will be "impossible" to achieve the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals to halve poverty and persistent hunger by 2015 unless all countries allow women to be more involved in their political and economic institutions.
Natsios also reported that the U.S. Global Development Alliance (GDA), established in May 2001, completed 78 projects in fiscal year 2003. GDA partners private firms, foundations, educational institutions and nongovernmental organizations in the United States with development partners in poor countries. "If you're not involved in GDA, you're missing something," he told his audience.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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