USAID CBJ FY 2002: Guyana

Summary: With USAID assistance, Guyana has made important strides in re-establishing democracy. However, the institutions and processes necessary to achieve this objective remain in a nascent state. An overarching concern is the continuing lack of constructive engagement between the dominant political parties, a necessary step for improving ethnic security and creating a climate of political stability. To a large extent, Guyanese politics have been, and continue to be, a matter of race.

Each of the program's five intermediate results is directed at reducing ethnic tension by strengthening those key institutions and processes necessary for building a vibrant, responsive, and participatory democracy. These include: the Parliament, the Judiciary, the Elections Commission, local government, and civic advocacy groups (women, youth and Amerindian) within a broader civil society context.

Key Results: Five intermediate results are necessary to achieve the program's objective: (a) improved and more informed law-making and regulatory processes; (b) increased capacity to adjudicate cases in a just and timely manner; (c) sustained institutional capacity to conduct free and fair elections; (d) increased influence of target civic advocacy groups (women, youth and Amerindian) on public policy; and (e) strengthened local governance.

Performance and Prospects: The program experienced some very difficult challenges during its first year. The result of the 1997 general election and the subsequent court challenge define the negative political engagement between the country's two major political parties (i.e., the People's Progressive Party (PPP) and the People's National Congress (PNC) to this day. The PNC's rejection of the PPP's 1997 victory, based on unfounded claims of "massive rigging", exacerbated already tense ethnic relations between the Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese populace and dampen the climate for new investment, both foreign and local. To reduce the level of tension, both parties agreed that: 1) the PPP would reduce by two years its term of office; 2) the country's constitution would be re-written; and 3) new elections would be held.

On March 19, 2001, the agreed-upon early elections were held and the PPP was returned to power for a third consecutive term. The results, however, do not necessarily provide any tangible basis for building upon and further solidifying the country's transition to democracy. Indeed, unless outstanding constitutional reforms aimed at resolving fundamental and deep-seated ethnic conflict are enacted by the new Parliament, the election, irrespective of its freeness or fairness in the eyes of the international community, will continue to be challenged by the losers in the local court of public opinion.

Within the very challenging political context described above, USAID's democracy program has been able to achieve some initial and noteworthy progress. First, the program played a critical role in helping to build Guyana's institutional capacity to conduct free and fair elections. Prior to this year, Guyanese elections were executed by temporary commissions composed of part-time employees who normally left office once results had been announced. As a consequence, institutional memory was lost and mistakes were often repeated. In planning for this year's election, however, donors joined USAID in requiring that the Elections Commission be made permanent, in law, as a prerequisite for receiving funding. Now that Guyana has an enduring elections body, composed of full-time career employees, the conduct of elections is likely to become increasingly proficient and, predictably, costs will decline. USAID is looking forward to continuing its work with the Elections Commission to strengthen its capacity to conduct local government elections, scheduled for December 2001.

Second, the program supported women's and youth organizations by opening up new channels for consultation and innovative dialogue. Indeed, apart from the program's role in supporting the recent elections, its most significant achievement to date has been the increased participation of civil society organizations in the democratic process.

The constitutional reform process initiated last year presented an ideal opportunity for civil society participation, and with 50% representation from civil society, the process helped citizens work and interact more effectively across traditional political and ethnic lines. USAID's assistance to the Constitutional Reform Commission helped in achieving consensus on a number of issues, particularly those related to fundamental human rights. During the election campaign, USAID provided support to a number of women's and youth fora aimed at discussing constitutional reforms affecting the status of these target groups.

USAID support was also helpful in facilitating cross-race and cross-party civil society dialogue through the publication of the National Development Strategy and in the activities of the Women's Millennium Caucus. During the election campaign, the National Development Strategy became a reference point for many of the competing political parties' manifestos. Indeed, the Guyana Democratic Party (a small, but vocal, opposition party) adopted the National Development Strategy, without modification, as its party manifesto.

Despite these successes, continuing inter-party and ethnic conflict has underscored the need to expand USAID support to Guyanese civil society organizations, which remain for the most part fragile, characterized by weak networks and limited cross-cutting coalitions. Considerable effort will be needed in the coming year to ensure continuing civil society contributions to outstanding constitutional revisions aimed at reducing racial insecurity, devolving authority to appropriate decision-making levels, and empowering citizens to participate in development processes.

Over the next year, the bulk of USAID's program will be aimed at strengthening civil society organizations' capacity to increase and broaden membership, develop sound positions on issues of importance to their members, and conduct advocacy activities. Guyanese women appear to be especially well-positioned to solve problems by bridging ethnic and political divides, and the program will be targeting a variety of women's organizations in an effort to give them a more active voice in public policy arenas. Youth and Amerindian groups have also been targeted as beneficiaries under the program.

While USAID's program activities will be providing broad-based assistance to enable Guyana to develop sound democratic institutions, success will require Guyana's political leaders to demonstrate their political will to move forward together on needed, but sometimes unpopular, reform measures in judicial and legislative areas. At a minimum, the major political parties will need to initiate constructive engagement to set up mechanisms that allow all racial groups to feel they are stakeholders in the nation's political system, rather than losers in a winner-take-all system of governance.

Unless substantial progress can be achieved in building broad-based public confidence in governmental institutions, and engendering a climate in which political dialogue can take place without intimidation or provocation, the prospects for advancing beyond the current divisive politics of race are uncertain.

With $1,800,000 of FY 2001 DA funds, $270,000 is funding improved law-making and regulatory processes; $270,000 will go toward efforts to expand capacity to adjudicate cases more efficiently and justly; $450,000 supports institutionalization of the process of free and fair elections; $540,000 helps target civic advocacy groups lobby responsibly on public policy; and $270,000 supports strengthened local governance. With $1,600,000 of FY 2002 DA funds, $240,000 will fund improved law-making and regulatory processes; $240,000 will support assistance to the judiciary; $400,000 will go toward elections assistance; $480,000 will strengthen civil society; and $240,000 will support decentralization and local governance.

Possible Adjustments to Plans: Legislative strengthening activities, originally designed to be implemented within the Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, will be re-directed to the Parliamentary Secretary's Office to develop technical capacity among Parliamentarians themselves.

Other Donor Programs: Strong commitment and cooperation were demonstrated among the bilateral donors during the recent election, especially in the areas of technical assistance, monitoring and observation. As mentioned earlier, all of the donors who expressed interest in funding aspects of the elections joined with USAID in requiring that the GOG establish an enduring Elections Commission Secretariat, in law, prior to the release of any financial support. These donors included the British Department for International Development (DFID), the Organization of the American States (OAS), the European Community (EC), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB). While USAID continues to be the only donor in Guyana with a broad-based democracy program, the recent elections experience has stimulated wider interest among several donors, e.g. United Nations Development Program (UNDP), DFID and CIDA, whose various democracy activities have been much more limited to date. USAID looks forward to working with these donors as mutual opportunities arise.

Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: The program is being implemented through a Cooperative Agreement with a consortia of U.S. partners that includes the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), The Carter Center (TCC), and the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES). The implementing partners have organized their respective activities under five areas. NDI is responsible for the areas of law and regulation-making, local governance, and strengthening women's groups. IFES is providing leadership in the elections component, while TCC is providing leadership in the area of justice/rule of law and strengthening youth and Amerindian groups.

Guyana 504-004

U.S. Financing

(In thousands of dollars)

	Obligations		Expenditures		Unliquidated
Through September 30, 1999	956	DA	358	DA	598	DA
	0	CSD	0	CSD	0	CSD
	0	ESF	0	ESF	0	ESF
	0	SEED	0	SEED	0	SEED
	0	FSA	0	FSA	0	FSA
	0	DFA	0	DFA	0	DFA
Fiscal Year 2000	1,800	DA	700	DA
	0	CSD	0	CSD
	0	ESF	0	ESF
	0	SEED	0	SEED
	0	FSA	0	FSA
	0	DFA	0	DFA
Through September 30, 2000	2,756	DA	1,058	DA	1,698	DA
	0	CSD	0	CSD	0	CSD
	0	ESF	0	ESF	0	ESF
	0	SEED	0	SEED	0	SEED
	0	FSA	0	FSA	0	FSA
	0	DFA	0	DFA	0	DFA
Prior Year Unobligated Funds*	0	DA
	0	CSD
	0	ESF
	0	SEED
	0	FSA
	0	DFA
Planned Fiscal Year 2001 NOA	1,800	DA
	0	CSD
	0	ESF
	0	SEED
	0	FSA
	0	DFA
Total Planned Fiscal Year 2001	1,800	DA
	0	CSD
	0	ESF
	0	SEED
	0	FSA
	0	DFA
			Future Obligations		Est. Total Cost
Proposed Fiscal Year 2002 NOA	1,600	DA	1,094	DA	7,250	DA
	0	CSD	0	CSD	0	CSD
	0	ESF	0	ESF	0	ESF
	0	SEED	0	SEED	0	SEED
	0	FSA	0	FSA	0	FSA
	0	DFA	0	DFA	0	DFA

*previously notified as 504-002

Guyana

Activity Data Sheet

Guyana 504-004

U.S. Financing