USAID Making a difference

Andrew Green
Staff Reporter

Jamaica's long trade and cultural ties with the United States were cemented after its independence in 1962 when the United States established formal diplomatic ties with the new country.

FILE: Goods being unloaded after Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the organisation responsible for implementing America's foreign economic and humanitarian assistance programmes, has operated a bilateral mission in Kingston, since then. Jamaica's capital also serves as the headquarters for USAID's Caribbean regional development programme.

The USAID was itself established in 1961, when President John F. Kennedy signed the Foreign Assistance Act into law and created it by executive order, the organisation's website states. It is an independent federal government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State.

It aims to help countries like Jamaica achieve sustainable development while supporting US national interests in areas such as democracy and good governance, environmental protection, economic development and trade, and reducing the spread of infectious diseases. Following these aims, the organisation has assisted in the housing, feeding and educating tens of thousands of Jamaicans over the years.

USAID is "keenly interested in capacity building and institutional strengthening when there is a developmental purpose, a product and a clear goal," mission director Mosina Jordan told Negril environmentalists in 1999, soon after assuming the top post at the organisation. She said strong partnerships and strategic alliances are critical to the success of development projects.

THREE DECADES OF ASSISTANCE

USAID has been the largest single bilateral donor to Jamaica. Since 1962, it has provided almost US$2 billion in development assistance and economic (balance of payments) support funds. It has also furnished food aid valued at over $533 million and a granted "debt for environment" swap in 1991-92 which improved environmental management practices and reduced Jamaica's debt by $311 million. Among USAID's achievements in Jamaica have been successful non-governmental organisation and governmental partnerships which have reduced environmental degradation, strengthened primary education, improved public health, and encouraged economic growth. With USAID's assistance over the past three decades, Jamaica has sharply reduced its levels of poverty, lowered its infant and maternal-child mortality rates, attained universal access to primary education, and increased its parks and protected areas.

USAID STRATEGY

USAID is investing funds, technical assistance and training under a new five-year strategy. The budget projection for the 2000-2005 strategy period is about $13.5 million a year, and is focused on five "strategic objectives":

Improving the business environment for developing the small, medium and micro enterprise sectors; improving the quality of key natural resources in selected areas that are both environmentally and economically significant; improving peproductive health of youth; increasing literacy and numeracy among Jamaican youth; and improving the economic and social conditions in targeted inner-city communities. These strategic objectives build on past investments and represent greater focus and accountability.

ECONOMIC GROWTH

USAID's programme supports broad-based economic growth by reducing regulatory constraints to doing business in Jamaica, improving the skills of selected Jamaican businesses to better allow them to compete in the global economy, and promoting increased private sector financing to the micro and small business sectors.

One small business receiving assistance under this programme was Starfish Oils, run by Sharon McConnell-Cooke, and her partner and husband, Kynan Cooke. With the technical assistance made available through USAID's Small Business Export Development Programme to foster improved business skills, greater efficiency, improved access to export markets, trade shows and low-cost finance for small businesses, Sharon's early aspiration of creating a "lickle Jamaica hippy ting" has grown into developing and managing a thriving enterprise producing aromatherapy oils, candles and handmade soaps.

NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

USAID's response to environmental threats is seen in an integrated "Ridge-to-Reef" natural resource management programme that assists community-based NGOs to implement activities, such as agroforestry, eco-tourism, appropriate on-site sanitation solutions and environmental audit programmes, that can improve the quality of coastal waters and upland watersheds. Other interventions focus on improving the policy framework and wastewater as well as sewage management.

One enterprise rceiving USAID eco-tourism assistance was Negril Cabins Resort. It is a small hotel enjoying an envied reputation of being an environmentally sound business. Even the larger hotels have been influenced to take on the "greening" initiative with Sandals Resorts International leading the way.

As a step in both developing the tourist trade along new eco-friendly lines and introducing more efficient business practices, USAID introduced the Environmental Audits for Sustainable Tourism programme. The aim is to encourage the tourist industry in Jamaica to participate in the latest eco-awareness developments and also to play its part locally in slowing down the rate of degradation by promoting greater awareness of the environment. And, of course, to maximize profits without harming the environment.

ADOLESCENT REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

It's effort to improve reproductive health concentrates on Jamaica's high-risk adolescent population. Assistance is aimed at increasing availabil ity and access to youth-friendly reproductive health services; developing and disseminating educational materials and innovative approaches to encourage changes in high-risk behaviors; improving the clinical and interpersonal skills of health workers; and strengthening reproductive health policies.

One aspect of this is the assistance in AIDS control. Jamaica had 892 new AIDS cases in 1999, 38.8 per cent up on the previous year. Seventy of those new cases were children. Treatment for AIDS in Jamaica is too expensive for most, but there are sound and effective prevention strategies which could eliminate perinatal transmission.

Through USAID's AIDS/STD Prevention and Control Programme, invaluable medical, educational and administrative skills in both the epidemiology unit at the Ministry of Health and in the community have been protected and strengthened, and people of all ages have been shown how they can protect themselves. In fact, the sensitive area of personal and community counseling is a vital part of the programme where rural and inner city communities can be educated on coping with, and caring for, AIDS sufferer