USAID: REDSO/ESA

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REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
OFFICE FOR EAST AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
(REDSO/ESA) AND GREATER HORN OF
AFRICA INITIATIVE (GHAI)

>> Regional Overview >> REDSO/ESA & GHAI Overview

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Previous Years' Activities
2000, 1999, 1998, 1997
07

Introduction

USAID's Regional Economic Development Services Office for East and Southern Africa (REDSO/ESA) supports U.S. national security goals of fostering regional stability, preventing conflict and promoting free and open markets. USAID implements the Presidential Greater Horn of Africa Initiative (GHAI) which strengthening African regional capacity to improve food security and manage conflict. USAID also promotes sustainable economic growth and enhances African regional economic integration as well as participation in the World Trade Organization (WTO). USAID is expanding information technology use to advance democracy and mitigate conflict, disseminate agricultural research, improve health services and provide better and more timely information to African decision-makers.
USAID's oversight of $275 million in humanitarian assistance and transition activities in Sudan, Somalia and Burundi has averted starvation and suffering through humanitarian assistance for more than 3.5 million persons at risk, while providing support for fragile economies and nascent civil societies. USAID development experts also provide technical, legal, contracting and financial services to bilateral missions and host governments in 23 countries in east, central and southern Africa. Operating out of a new and secure office complex one year after the Nairobi Embassy bombing, USAID builds indigenous capacities and supports African efforts to promote food security, manage conflict and enhance regional cooperation in Africa's arc of crisis.
The Development Challenge

Civil strife, religious and ethnic conflict and territorial clashes -- exacerbated by cheap, omnipresent small arms and the lack of democratic traditions and institutions at the national level -- are the underlying themes of the post-colonial period. This pervasive instability has undermined food security and led to complex humanitarian emergencies in Somalia, Sudan and the Great Lakes region. Agricultural production in the region has also been disrupted by endemic drought and floods, poor economic policies, burgeoning populations and an increasingly over-stressed natural resource base, resulting in a 15% decline in per capita food production over the last decade. The rapid spread of HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases (including sexually transmitted infections) coupled with malnutrition, high infant mortality and a falling, but still high 3%, population growth rate in the region, present daunting transnational health problems by themselves. However, with prevalence rates as high as 30-40% in some countries, HIV/AIDS has moved beyond a health issue to be the primary economic and social issue on the continent.
To address these challenges and respond to African desires for regional integration, USAID strengthens African institutions to deal with regional and cross-border issues. USAID support to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Djibouti has facilitated peace efforts in Sudan and Somalia and facilitated, via the Internet, regional communication among IGAD's seven member states. A new $10 million REDSO/ESA grant program strengthens African NGOs to carry out regional food security and conflict mitigation projects. USAID's partnership with the 21-country Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) has lowered trade barriers, harmonized tariffs and improved the investment environment for African and U.S. firms, while providing training and resource materials to enhance African participation in WTO activities. USAID-supported agricultural research networks increase regional collaboration, bring new high-yield and disease-resistant varieties to small farmers, thereby increasing production and food security. USAID-supported regional health networks are successfully improving rural and urban health care and facilitating sharing and adoption of low-cost, best health practices and technologies across borders.
Other Donors

USAID is a leader in regional donor coordination and works closely with the State Department to develop joint policy and approaches for GHAI activities. USAID co-founded the Joint IGAD Partners Forum (JIPF) to coordinate host government and donor efforts within the Greater Horn and chairs the new, USAID-initiated multi-donor Technical Implementation Committee. USAID and the European Union are the leading donors in providing direct support to regional institutions such as IGAD, COMESA and the Association for Support of Agricultural Research in East and Central Africa (ASARECA). In Sudan and Somalia, USAID works with the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), UN agencies, World Food Program, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, and Norway. Other key donors include the World Bank, Canada, African Development Bank, Germany, and the World Health Organization.