Agency for International Development

Federal agency created in 1961 to administer assistance programs to less developed countries (LDCs) by making loans on more favorable terms than private banks. AID loans arranged through letters of credit drawn on commercial banks, are fully backed by the U.S. Government.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent government agency that provides economic development and humanitarian assistance to advance U.S. economic and political interests overseas. This type of activity started in the United States in 1947 with the Marshall Plan, the forerunner of current development programs. President John F. Kennedy established the USAID in 1961 to promote development around the globe. The agency is currently based in Washington, with field missions abroad. USAID programs have provided aid in Africa, Asia and the Near East, Latin America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, and the independent states of the former Soviet Union. The structure of the agency is shown in Figure 1.

To promote development, USAID partners with other U.S. government agencies, U.S. businesses, private voluntary organizations, indigenous groups, and universities. USAID contracts with more than 3,500 U.S. firms and over 300 U.S. based private voluntary organization (PVOs).

The agency works in five principal areas crucial to achieving U.S. foreign policy objectives: promoting economic growth; advancing democracy; delivering humanitarian assistance to victims of famine and other population-wide emergencies; protecting the public's health and supporting family planning; and protecting the environment.

When considering a nation for development assistance, USAID looks at a number of important factors, including strategic interests, a country's commitment to social and economic reform, and a willingness to foster democracy.

Foreign Aid

What happens in the developing world has a dramatic impact on America's economic prosperity, environment, and public health. The fortunes of the United States are closely linked to those of other nations. Air pollution, the AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) epidemic, rapid population growth, and deforestation are only a few examples of the many problems in the developing world that touch American lives. U.S. development programs reflect the nation's compassion for the poorest of the poor and America's interest in a more prosperous and peaceful world.

Foreign assistance is seen as an investment in creating the markets of the future, preventing crises, and helping advance democracy and prosperity. Foreign aid creates U.S. jobs and advances American economic well-being.

Economic and humanitarian assistance is also an investment in the future of America's economy. Foreign assistance fosters an enabling environment for U.S. trade and investment in developing nations by establishing fair business codes, viable commercial banks, and reasonable tax and tariff standards. Foreign assistance helps create the stable and transparent business standards by which U.S. companies need to operate. Between 1990 and 1995, exports to developing and transition countries increased by nearly $99 billion. This growth supported nearly 2 million U.S. jobs. Foreign assistance has often resulted in a huge payoff in terms of creating export markets for U.S. goods and services. For example, the United States now exports more to South Korea in just one year than was given to that country in total foreign assistance during the 1960s and 1970s.

Humanitarian Relief

The United States has a long and generous tradition of providing assistance to the victims of man-made and natural disasters. Humanitarian assistance has been viewed as both an act of national conscience and an investment in the future. USAID is the world leader in providing assistance to the victims of floods, famine, conflict, and other crises around the globe.

Each year the U.S. government provides food, shelter material, and relief assistance to millions of people around the world who are affected by disasters and conflict. For example, following the mass exodus from Rwanda to Zaire in 1994, tens of thousands of refugees lost their lives due to a cholera epidemic that swept through refugee camps. USAID Disaster Assistance Response Teams and U.S. military forces were sent to the region to assist in establishing a clean-water distribution system to combat the epidemic. These efforts, along with other donors, helped stem one of the largest humanitarian crises of the decade.

Child Health Programs

Among the most important of USAID's public health programs have been its child health programs. USAID has supported child health programs since 1975, intensifying its efforts in 1985 with the Child Survival Initiative. The initiative, carried out in collaboration with host governments and international organizations, has resulted in a 10 percent decline in infant mortality in USAID-assisted countries. Today more than 4 million infant and child deaths are prevented annually due to health services provided by USAID and its partners. These programs include oral rehydration therapy (ORT); acute respiratory infections (ARI); immunizations; breastfeeding; vitamin A; health technologies; malaria; guinea worm; river blindness (onchocerciasis); displaced children and orphans; and war victims.

Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT). A simple, inexpensive, and easily administered sugar-salt solution for treatment of dehydration from diarrhea was developed through USAID-assisted programs in Bangladesh. It is estimated to save the lives of 1 million children annually, and is one of the most important medical advances of the century. USAID financed the basic research on ORT, and has led the global effort to ensure that ORT is widely available and correctly used. ORT has been successfully used in recent cholera epidemics in Latin America, Asia, and Africa as well as in treating epidemics in refugee camps in Rwanda and Zaire.

Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI). To combat ARI, now the leading cause of death among children under five years of age, USAID has supported the development of new means of diagnosis and treatment involving the training of health workers, counseling of mothers, and the development of effective communication messages. In 2000 USAID supported ARI programs in thirty-seven countries and funded research on vaccines to prevent ARI. USAID-supported research on behavioral change, drug resistance, and potential preventive technology for controlling ARI is also underway.

Immunization. In 1980 fewer than 5 percent of children in developing countries were immunized against measles, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, and tuberculosis. In 2000 more than 80 percent were protected against these diseases. Immunization programs prevent close to 3 million child deaths annually from measles, neonatal tetanus, and tuberculosis.

Poliomyelitis (a viral infection of the spinal cord) has historically caused lameness in young children. It can also cause paralysis of the respiratory control mechanism, require assisted breathing, or result in death. Polio has been successfully eradicated from the western hemisphere and the western Pacific, and efforts are underway to achieve global eradication by the year 2005. There was more than a 90 percent decline in the reported polio cases worldwide from 1988 to 2000. By mid-2000, 150 countries had reported zero cases of poliomyelitis.

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, USAID carried out emergency immunization support programs in the Central Asian Republics. Millions of doses of vaccine and huge quantities of cold-chain equipment were provided while immunization systems were rebuilt.

Breastfeeding. USAID has established a model program to promote breastfeeding that is being used to train health professionals from developing countries. The program, in conjunction with UNICEF, is currently providing assistance to more than forty countries in establishing "baby-friendly" hospitals to encourage breastfeeding.

Vitamin A. USAID-supported research has shown that vitamin A supplementation can substantially reduce child mortality in vitamin A-deficient populations. Vitamin A programs are now underway in fifty countries. Indonesia, which reported in 1978 that thirteen of every thousand children under the age of five suffered from night blindness, is now free of nutritional blindness due to vitamin A deficiency. In Central America, because of a vitamin A sugar fortification program, childhood blindness has been prevented in more than half a million children.

Health Technologies. USAID has also invested in research on health technologies. A single use, automatic self-destruct syringe, which prevents the reuse of soiled syringes and needles, has the potential to interrupt the transmission of hepatitis B and C, HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), Chaga's disease, and malaria. Vaccine vial monitors (indicators placed on vaccine vials that show if vaccines should be discarded due to heat exposure) are now being used by UNICEF for poliomyelitis vaccine. New technologies now also make it possible for traditional birth attendants and midwives to provide safe care and home delivery by using kits that include strips to detect protein in urine, low cost delivery kits, and color-coded scales that identify low birth weight infants.

Malaria. USAID has had success in malaria-related research and in programs to fight the increasing incidence of the disease in various countries, including El Salvador, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka. New antimalarials are now used as alternative treatments in the face of drug-resistant malaria. Insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets also provide protection against malaria infection. The development of an effective vaccine is underway through a joint domestic and international effort. Since 85 percent of the malaria occurs in Africa, USAID is focusing its efforts to reduce the burden in the region.

Guinea Worm. As a result of its partnerships, more than a 97 percent reduction in the incidence of guinea worm has been achieved. Eradication of the disease is expected.

River Blindness (Onchocerciasis). The Onchocerciasis Control Program (OCP), launched in 1974 by the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and other organizations to eliminate river blindness as a public health problem, has eliminated onchocerciasis transmission in seven African countries. This program has prevented an estimated 350,000 cases of river blindness and the infection of 10 million individuals, and it has made possible the reopening of 250,000 square kilometers of fertile agricultural land for settlement and economic development.

Maternal Health Programs. Over 600,000 women die annually of causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. The vast majority of women in the developing world prefer to give birth at home. The major immediate causes of maternal mortality—hemorrhage, obstructed labor, eclampsia, (a serious complication, which includes high blood pressure, seizures, and sometimes bleeding), and unsafe abortions—are preventable with known technologies. In addition, millions of women suffer direct complications of pregnancy and delivery, the consequences of which include decreased quality of life, compromised ability to care for children, and diminished productivity.

USAID, along with the World Bank and UNICEF, have made efforts to reduce maternal mortality and promote maternal health by supporting cost-effective approaches to improve pregnancy and reproductive-health services; the increased utilization of essential obstetric services; and improved quality of care through training and quality-assurance programs. Specifically, efforts have been directed toward promoting behavioral change in those instances where traditional practices are harmful (such as restricting nutrient rich foods during pregnancy or speeding labor with potentially harmful local herbs), and training birth attendants, nurses, and midwives in the use of clean and safe birthing techniques. Support has also been provided for tetanus toxoid immunization of mothers to prevent neonatal tetanus.

Family Planning. Further reductions in maternal illness and death requires making family planning services available to all who need them. Twenty-five percent of maternal deaths could be prevented through the provision of family planning services that allow women to prevent unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions, and to time their pregnancies for greater safety. More than 100 million couples in developing countries would like to space or limit births, but lack accurate information and access to quality family planning services.

Improving access to family planning is also essential to improving child survival. Babies born less than two years apart are twice as likely to die in the first year of life as those born after an interval of at least two years. If the mother of an infant becomes pregnant again too soon, she may discontinue breast-feeding, putting her infant at greater risk of illness and death. Adequate birth spacing can prevent one in four infant deaths in developing countries.

In addition, children born to women younger than twenty years old are more likely to die before their first birthday than those born to mothers between the ages of twenty and twenty-nine. Children born to mothers over forty, and born to mother who have already had three or more children, are also more likely to die. One hundred thousand women die each year from the consequences of unsafe abortions. Family planning enables couples to prevent unintended pregnancies, thereby protecting themselves from the risks of unsafe abortions.

Since 1965, family planning programs supported by USAID have helped prevent unintended pregnancies in over seventy countries. USAID supports efforts to strengthen the provision of family planning information and services, as well as research to expand the choice of contraceptive methods and improve the quality of care. Contraceptive use has increased dramatically in many countries, from less than 10 percent in 1965 to over 45 percent in 2000. More than 50 million couples worldwide use family planning as a direct result of USAID programs. As a result, the average number of children per family has dropped from more than six to just over four. Family planning programs are improving maternal health by contributing to declining abortion rates in Eastern Europe. Family planning has also helped prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS by encouraging condom use and other reproductive-health measures.

HIV/AIDS. In December 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that more than 47 million people had been infected with HIV. The vast majority of people infected with HIV remain asymptomatic for years, allowing the disease to spread unknowingly. As the epidemic of AIDS evolves, it creates new pressures for overburdened social, health, and economic infrastructures in countries where resources are already limited and competing demands are increasing.

USAID has initiated HIV/AIDS prevention programs in fifty countries in the developing world, providing prevention-education training, technical and financial support, and the sale or distribution of condoms in developing countries.

USAID has been involved in social-marketing programs, in the development of improved, costeffective approaches for sexually transmitted disease diagnosis and treatment; in behavior change interventions; and in providing assistance with the incorporation of HIV/AIDS in national development planning.

Displaced Children and Orphans and War Victims. The USAID Displaced Children and Orphans Fund has assisted and reunified thousands of children separated from their families as a result of wars in Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, the former Yugoslavia, Angola, and Rwanda. It has provided assistance to others displaced by the AIDS epidemic or for social, economic, or political reasons. More than twenty thousand civilian victims of war have received prostheses and rehabilitation assistance from the USAID Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund.

(SEE ALSO: Canadian International Development Agency; Economics of Health; Global Burden of DiseaseInternational Development of Public Health; International Health; International Nongovernmental Organizations; International Sanctions, Health Impact of; Nongovernmental Organizations, United States; Policy for Public Health; UNICEF; World Bank)

Bibliography

USAID (1998). The Fiscal Year 1998 Accountability Report. Washington, DC: Author.

—— (1998). Child Survival: A 13th Report to Congress. Washington, DC: Author.

—— (1999). From Commitment to Action. Washington, DC: Author.

—— (1999). Status Report on the Year 2000. Washington, DC: Author.

— KENNETH J. BART

When Europe lay in ruins following World War II, and communists seemed to be making inroads, the United States launched an ambitious aid program known as the Marshall Plan (for Secretary of State George Marshall, who proposed it). Following the Marshall Plan, the United States—as the world's wealthiest nation and leader of the Western anticommunist countries—continued a policy of foreign aid. Not only would aid assist developing nations economically but it would help them become new markets for U.S. goods.

The United States Agency for International Development (AID) is the federal agency that implements the nation's foreign aid and humanitarian aid programs. Although it long operated as an independent agency, AID is now part of the Department of State.

Congress created the agency in 1961, when it passed the Foreign Assistance Act. This law reorganized the foreign assistance programs and provided for the separation of military and nonmilitary aid. AID became the first U.S. foreign assistance program that had as its primary focus long-range economic and social development assistance.

AID provides assistance largely to Africa, the Near East, Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Asia. The agency's goals include the protection of human health and the environment, the encouragement of broad-based economic growth and agricultural development, the stabilization of world population growth, support for democratic reforms and good government, and the promotion of education and training programs.

In 1961, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was created to coordinate bilateral nonmilitary assistance to foreign countries as part of a global campaign to counter the appeal of communism. At first, USAID focused on large-scale infrastructure projects. During the 1970s, however, emphasis shifted to addressing the basic needs of the poorest members of society by promoting health, nutrition, rural development, and family planning programs. In the 1980s and 1990s, the agency turned many of its operations over to private, for profit contractors, and channeled aid programs into development of the private sector.

Throughout its existence USAID had to respond to critics from the right, who complained that foreign aid was a waste of taxpayers' money, and those from the left, who argued that the agency was guided more by ideological anti-communism than by the need to alleviate poverty. USAID officials responded by pointing out that four-fifths of the agency's funds for foreign assistance were spent on goods and services provided by American businesses, and that the total amount of U.S. foreign aid was low, falling below 0.2 percent of the gross national product in the 1990s, placing the United States last among major donor countries. Ideological concerns were often apparent in the selection of recipients. For example, South Vietnam alone absorbed more than 25% of USAID's worldwide budget in the 1960s.

Bibliography

Berríos, Rubén. Contracting for Development: The Role of For-Profit Contractors in U.S. Foreign Development Assistance. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2000.

Porter, David. U.S. Economic Foreign Aid: A Case Study of the United States Agency for International Development. New York: Garland, 1990.

Ruttan, Vernon W. United States Development Assistance Policy: The Domestic Politics of Foreign Economic Aid. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.

—Max Paul Friedman

The second half of the twentieth century witnessed the growth of a type of social institution that plays an important role in food and nutrition policies and programs throughout the world. These institutions, which are commonly referred to as "international agencies," are usually constituted as suborganizations within larger sociopolitical organizational structures. One set of such institutions are the "multilaterals," which include many governments, particularly the agencies of the United Nations (UN), or those of the European Union. A second set of agencies, often referred to as "bilaterals," are the aid organizations established by national governments in the industrialized world, including those of the European states, the United States, and Canada, as well as Australia and Japan. A third type, with activities that closely parallel those of the UN and governmental agencies, includes nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or private voluntary organizations (PVOs). These may be religious or "faith-based" agencies that are administratively connected to religious organizations or are closely affiliated with such organizations, or they may be independent groups, such as the Helen Keller Foundation or Save the Children. Many of these NGOs receive funds from bilateral and multilateral agencies.

Agencies of the United Nations

The establishment of the various agencies in the UN system began with the founding of the UN in 1945. During the following half-century, new agencies were added as needs were redefined and expanded. The current body of UN agencies whose work involves food and/or nutrition are the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), International Labor Organization (ILO), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Bank.

Agency Goals and Functions

One of the principal motivations underlying the establishment and operation of international agencies was to provide vehicles for directing resources—economic, technical, and technological—from resource-rich countries to resource-poor countries. Other political, economic, and social interests also shape the motivations and activities of agencies. Moreover, the fact that international agencies are generally not freestanding institutions, but part of larger sociopolitical units, is one of several characteristics that affect their mission, administrative organization, philosophy, policy, and activities.

The purposes of both UN and non-UN agencies whose work relates to food and nutrition can be summarized by one or more of the following goals: establishing technical norms, providing funding, providing technical assistance, or delivering services. Within the UN system, the various agencies were established with distinct, yet complementary, mandates and were given different, but often overlapping, sectors of action. Thus, WHO and FAO were set up as technical agencies with responsibilities for technical norms and technical assistance, whereas UNICEF was designed to support and deliver services through funding and technical support, and the World Bank was designed to provide funds.

Obstacles, Challenges, and Persistence

In their efforts to further the health and welfare of populations with respect to food and nutrition, international agencies face multiple challenges. An examination of these challenges helps to explain the gaps between stated goals and realities of agency activities that make them frequent subjects of controversy and criticism. Some of these challenges relate to the structure of international collaboration and conflict regardless of the focus of action, while others are specific to characteristics of social action related to food and nutrition.

A primary challenge for establishing complementary activities at country and community levels is that agencies' activities are based on widely differing philosophies of how to promote and sustain development. Bilateral agencies represent countries with different economic and political agendas. These differ not only between nations, but also within nations, as is evident from the policy changes that accompany shifts in government when different political parties are in power. Within the UN system itself, there are also different philosophies and constituencies, which are evident not only between agencies, but also within them. The NGOs and PVOs represent still other sets of values and theories about what needs to be done and how to do it.

International agencies face serious challenges in reconciling definitions of needs as perceived on one hand by technical advisers, high-level political representatives, and international advocacy groups, and on the other with the needs articulated by recipient groups, from national-level politicians and civil administrators to regional and community-level spokesmen. These conflicting interpretations arise from multiple sources and cover a range of issues, including ethical concerns and competing values about fairness, justice and "whose reality counts," priorities for action in the face of limited resources, and differing perspectives on the causes and consequences of food and nutrition problems. A related factor that affects many aspects of food and nutrition policies and programs is that most agencies, especially the bilaterals, have to answer to the political constituencies who control the resources they require to carry out their work. Indeed the basic organization of development activities into the categories of "donors" and "recipients" create structural barriers that pose significant challenges to meeting population needs.

Another common problem, which relates to the demands from "donor constituencies," is that the time frame for research, program development, and evaluation is typically much too short. As a consequence, agencies are forced to take shortcuts that jeopardize the achievement of goals. As a result, the potential to learn from experience is reduced, and there are inadequate opportunities to make adjustments to improve programs.

Special challenges for food and nutrition activities stem from the fact that throughout the world they relate to multiple and very different social sectors. Food is the provenance of agriculture and various economic sectors of producers and marketing concerns. It is also the source of nutrients, which are the provenance of nutrition and health sectors. Both national governments and international agencies tend to divide food and nutrition responsibilities among multiple organizational units, which often results in conflicting goals and serious fragmentation of efforts. Even within a particular sector, such as health agencies, differing orientations may result in conflicting approaches to nutrition and health education in communities.

In 1977 the UN established the Subcommittee on Nutrition (SCN), under the aegis of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), as a mechanism for communication among the various UN agencies with responsibilities in food and nutrition. The ACC/SCN, which meets yearly and compiles and disseminates technical reports through its office in Geneva, Switzerland, also seeks the participation of bilaterals and NGOs. This small organization has no mandated authority to resolve differences but provides a forum for exchange and debate. Its existence is threatened by hostility from some of its constituent agencies who fear that SCN activities may reveal weaknesses in their own operations, and at least one of SCN's components, the Advisory Group on Nutrition (AGN), which was composed of senior experts from outside the UN system, has been dismantled.

The example of the tribulations of the SCN provides a glimpse of the shortcomings in motivations, organization, and action that are typical of international agencies. There are, however, two critical questions to answer before recommending curtailing or abolishing these agencies. The first is, "Would the poor and hungry be better off without these agencies?" Historical comparisons of situations where the agencies have and have not been active reveal that the presence of the agencies has been favorable. Without them, the only major interests affecting food and nutrition are commercial and political—neither of which care much about the poor.

The second question is, "Can the system or its constituents be improved?" Greater intellectual attention is required to address such important issues as updating the mandates of international agencies to modern realities, instituting better accountability for all international agencies (including bilaterals and NGOs), and increasing resources to improve diet and nutrition worldwide. At the level of agencies, a high priority is developing better methods for more effective cooperation between agencies and populations. While there are many difficult barriers to improving agency functioning, dedicated people who work in and with international agencies find many opportunities to make improvements.

—Gretel Pelto Jean-Pierre Habicht

This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. WikiProject International Development may be able to help recruit one. (November 2008)

United States Agency for International Development
Agency overview
Formed	November 3, 1961
Preceding agency	International Cooperation Administration
Jurisdiction	Federal government of the United States
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Employees	1,759 (2006)
Agency executives	Alonzo Fulgham, Acting Administrator Vacant, Deputy Administrator
Website
www.usaid.gov
Footnotes
[1][2]

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the United States federal government organization responsible for most non-military foreign aid. An independent federal agency, it receives overall foreign policy guidance from the United States Secretary of State and seeks to "extend a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country..."^[3]

USAID advances U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting economic growth, agriculture and trade; health; democracy, conflict prevention, and humanitarian assistance. It provides assistance in Sub-Saharan Africa; Asia and the Near East, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and Eurasia. USAID is organized around three main pillars: Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade; Global Health; Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance.

Contents 1 History 2 Organization 2.1 Leadership 2.2 Bureaus 3 Budgetary Resources 4 USAID Bilateral Assistance in the News 4.1 Iraq 4.2 Bolivia 5 Controversies and Criticism 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

History

USAID's origins date back to the Marshall Plan reconstruction of Europe after World War II and the Foreign Assistance Act. In 1961, an executive order established USAID by consolidating U.S. non-military foreign aid programs into a single agency. To address rising deficits, aid was tied to the purchase of U.S. goods and services, effectively subsidizing the U.S. balance of payments; for example, aid-financed commodities were required to be shipped in U.S. flagships.^[4]

As a part of the U.S foreign affairs restructuring laws enacted in 1999, USAID was established as a statutorily independent agency, as 5 U.S.C. § 104 defines independent establishment.

Organization

Leadership

USAID is headed by an Administrator and Deputy Administrator, both appointed by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate.

The immediate past USAID Administrator, under the administration of President George W. Bush, was Henrietta Fore, who concurrently held the position of Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance in the Department of State.

Bureaus

USAID's office in Washington includes both geographical and functional bureaus, and well as those for major headquarter functions.

• Geographical bureaus:
  • AFR—Sub-Saharan Africa
  • ASIA—Asia
  • LAC—Latin America & the Caribbean
  • E&E—Europe and Eurasia
  • ME—the Middle East

• Functional bureaus:
  • GH—Global Health
  • EGAT—Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade
  • DCHA—Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance

• Headquarter bureaus:
  • M—Management
  • LPA—Legislative and Public Affairs.^[3]

Overseas, USAID offices are called "missions." Mission staff include career foreign service officers (FSOs), personal services contractors (PSCs), foreign service nationals (FSNs), and occasionally civil service employees.

Budgetary Resources

Top Recipients of U.S. Foreign Aid, FY 2004^[5]

Nation	Billions of Dollars
Iraq	18.44
Israel	2.62
Egypt	1.87
Afghanistan	1.77
Colombia	0.57
Jordan	0.56
Pakistan	0.39
Liberia	0.21
Peru	0.17
Ethiopia	0.16
Bolivia	0.15
Uganda	0.14
Sudan	0.14
Indonesia	0.13
Kenya	0.13

President Marcos tries out a payloader, which was donated to the Philippines through the USAID

USAID's budget is funded through the 150 Account, which includes all International Affairs programs and operations for civilian agencies. In FY 2009, the Bush Administration's request for the International Affairs Budget for the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign affairs agencies totals approximately $39.5 billion, including $26.1 billion for Foreign Operations and Related Agencies, $11.2 billion for Department of State, and $2.2 billion for Other International Affairs.

The request under the FY2009 Foreign Operations budget, Foreign Operations and Related Agencies is:

• $2.4 billion to improve responsiveness to humanitarian crises, including food emergencies and disasters, and the needs of refugees
• $938 million to strengthen USAID’s operational capacity
• $2.3 billion to help Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and West Bank/Gaza achieve economic, democratic, security and political stabilization and to advance their overall development
• $2.1 billion for State Department and USAID programs in Africa to address non-HIV/AIDS health, economic growth and democratic governance needs and to help promote stability in Sudan, Liberia, Zimbabwe and Somalia in support of the President's 2005 commitment to double aid to Africa by 2010
• $4.8 billion for the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative, which directly supports the first year of the President’s new five-year, $30 billion plan to treat 2.5 million people, prevent 12 million new infections, and care for 12 million afflicted people
• $550 million to support the Mérida Initiative to combat the threats of drug trafficking, transnational crime, and terrorism in Mexico and Central America
• $1.7 billion to promote democracy around the world, including support for the President’s Freedom Agenda
• $385 million to support the President’s Malaria Initiative to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 target African countries by 2010
• $94 million for the President’s International Education Initiative to provide an additional 4 million students with access to quality basic education through 2012
• $64 million for the State Department and USAID to support the President's Climate Change Initiative to promote the adoption of clean energy technology, help countries adapt to climate change, and encourage sustainable forest management
• $4.8 billion for foreign military financing to the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and Eurasia, including $2.6 billion for Israel
• $2.2 billion for the Millennium Challenge Corporation to improve agricultural productivity, modernize infrastructure, expand private land ownership, improve health systems, and improve access to credit for small business and farmers^[6]

At the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, most of the world's governments adopted a program for action under the auspices of the United Nations Agenda 21, which included an Official Development Assistance (ODA) aid target of 0.7% of gross national product (GNP) for rich nations, specified as roughly 22 members of the OECD and known as the Development Assistance Committee (DAC). The United States never agreed to this target but remains – in real terms – the world's largest provider of official development assistance. However, relative to its economy, the U.S. is the second lowest provider with a 0.17% of GNI in aid^[7]. Only Greece, among the DAC countries, provides a lower percentage of GNI in the form of aid.^[8]

According to the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (DAC/OECD), the United States remains the largest donor of "official development assistance" at $23.53 billion in 2006. DAC/OECD reports that the next largest donor was the United Kingdom ($12.46b). The UK was followed (in rank order) by Japan ($11.19b), France ($10.60b), Germany ($10.43b), Netherlands ($5.45b), Sweden ($3.95b), Spain ($3.81b), Canada ($3.68b), Italy ($3.64b), Norway ($2.95b), Denmark ($2.24b), Australia ($2.12b), Belgium ($1.98b), Switzerland ($1.65b), Austria ($1.50b), Ireland ($1.02b), Finland ($0.83b), Greece ($0.42b), Portugal ($0.40b), Luxembourg ($0.29b) and New Zealand ($0.26b).^[9]

USAID Bilateral Assistance in the News

Iraq

Main article: Reconstruction of Iraq

USAID has been a major partner in the United States Government's (USG) reconstruction and development effort in Iraq. As of June 2009^[update], USAID has invested approximately $6.6 billion on programs designed to stabilize communities; foster economic and agricultural growth; and build the capacity of the national, local, and provincial governments to represent and respond to the needs of the Iraqi people.^[10]

Rebuilding Iraq – C-SPAN 4 Part Series In June 2003, C-SPAN followed USAID Admin. Andrew Natsios as he toured Iraq. The special program C-SPAN produced aired over four nights.^[11]

Bolivia

This subsection titled "Bolivia" does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009)

In 2008, the coca growers "union" affiliated with Bolivian President Evo Morales "ejected" the 100 employees and contractors from USAID working in the Chapare region, citing frustration with U.S.^[12] efforts to persuade them to switch to growing unviable alternatives. From 1998 to 2003, Bolivian farmers could receive USAID funding for help planting other crops only if they eliminated all their coca, according to the Andean Information Network. Other rules, such as the requirement that participating communities declare themselves "terrorist-free zones" as required by U.S. law irritated people, said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the organization. "Eradicate all your coca and then you grow an orange tree that will get fruit in eight years but you don't have anything to eat in the meantime? A bad idea," she said. "The thing about kicking out USAID, I don't think it's an anti-American sentiment overall" but rather a rejection of bad programs".

Controversies and Criticism

USAID states that "U.S. foreign assistance has always had the twofold purpose of furthering America's foreign policy interests in expanding democracy and free markets while improving the lives of the citizens of the developing world." However, some critics^[who?] say that the US government gives aid to reward political and military partners rather than to advance genuine social or humanitarian causes abroad. Another complaint^{[by whom?]} is that foreign aid is used as a political weapon for the U.S. to make other nations do things its way, an example given in 1990 when the Yemeni Ambassador to the United Nations voted against a resolution for a US-led coalition to use force against Iraq, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Thomas Pickering walked to the seat of the Yemeni Ambassador and retorted: "That was the most expensive No vote you ever cast". Immediately afterwards, USAID ceased operations and funding in Yemen. ^[13]

Although USAID defends that contractors are selected by their proven abilities, "watch dog" groups, partisan politicians, foreign governments and corporations contend that the bidding process has at times involved both the financial interest of its current Presidential administration and political motivation.^[14]

It has been said that the USAID has maintained “a close working relationship with the CIA, and Agency officers often operated abroad under USAID cover.”^[15] The Office of Public Safety, a division of USAID, has been mentioned as an example of this, having served as a front for training foreign police in counterinsurgency methods.^[16]

See also

• African Development Foundation
• Andrew Natsios
• Bretton Woods system
• Economic Cooperation Administration
• John M. Granville
• List of development aid agencies
• Marshall Plan
• Mexico City Policy
• Mutual Security Act
• The INFO Project
• POPLINE
• United States aid
• United States military aid
• United States Foreign Military Financing
• Edward Weidenfeld
• Office of Transition Initiatives

References

1. ^ Best Places to Work in the Federal Government
2. ^ USAID: USAID History
3. ^ ^{a b} USAID Official Website
4. ^ Michael Hudson, Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance, 2nd ed. (London and Sterling, VA: Pluto Press, 2003), 235-38.
5. ^ Foreign Aid: An Introductory Overview of U.S. Programs and Policy, http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/31987.pdf, Figure 4, Page CRS-13
6. ^ Factsheet on International Affairs FY 2009 Budget, US Department of State, February 2008, http://www.state.gov/f/releases/factsheets2008/99981.htm 
7. ^ US and Foreign Aid Assistance, from globalissues.org, aid data from OECD
8. ^ REPORT OF 2008 SURVEY OF AID ALLOCATION POLICIES AND INDICATIVE FORWARD SPENDING PLANS, globalissues.org, May 2008, p. 27, http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp 
9. ^ (PDF) FINAL ODA FLOWS IN 2006, DEVELOPMENT CO-OPERATION DIRECTORATE, DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE COMMITTEE, 10 December 2007, p. 8, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/7/20/39768315.pdf  (ANNEX, Table 1)
10. ^ USAID Assistance for Iraq : Accomplishments, United States Agency for International Development.
11. ^ C-Span: Rebuilding Iraq
12. ^ Andean Information Network. "Bolivian coca growers cut ties with USAID": http://ain-bolivia.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=128&Itemid=28
13. ^ Hornberger, Jacob "But Foreign Aid Is Bribery! And Blackmail, Extortion, and Theft Too!" September 26, 2003
14. ^ Barbara Slavin Another Iraq deal rewards company with connections USA Today 4/17/2003
15. ^ William Blum, Killing hope : U.S. military and CIA interventions since World War II Zed Books, 2003, ISBN 9781842773697 pp.142, 200, 234.
16. ^ Michael Otterman, American torture: from the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and beyond (Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 2007), p. 60.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: United States Agency for International Development

• USAID website
• Records of the Agency for International Development (AID) in the National Archives
• USAID Overview video short
• USAID-produced Lebanon television short for 2007 public affairs campaign
• USAID-sponsored and financed anti-human trafficking music video
• Highlights of President Kennedy's Act for International Development, Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. Dept. of State, June 1961
• Historical bibliography of the United States Agency for International Development, USAID Center for Development Information and Evaluation (CDIE), April 1995
• USAID primer : what we do and how we do it, USAID, rev. January 2006
• Access over 153,000 USAID documents, reports and publications through USAID's Development Experience System (DEXS)
• Access over 9,100 USAID project descriptions, 1946–1996, through USAID's Development Experience System (DEXS)
• U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants, Obligations and Loan Authorizations, USAID annual report to U.S. Congress
• USAID's Global Education Database, Displays UNESCO and other Education Data
• FrontLines--the employee news publication of USAID
• The US and Foreign Aid Assistance, article by Anup Shah
• EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database
• CE-DAT: The Complex Emergency Database
• Eurodad: Aid Effectiveness, Conditionality, Aid Accounting
• Albert H. Huntington Jr. (AID Staff Member), Collection of Documents Related to Foreign Aid, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
• US Aid to Pakistan by the Numbers - Center for American Progress
• US Aid to Afghanistan by the Numbers - Center for American Progress

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