*EPF108 08/19/2002
Text: Working for a Sustainable World -- Public-Private Partnerships
(U.S. releases report prior to Johannesburg summit) (11390)

U.S. government partnerships with the private sector bring added resources and a wide range of talent to sustainable development programs, according to a U.S. federal government report prepared for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) to be held August 26-September 4 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The August report says, for instance, that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is working with domestic and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on projects to help improve poor people's incomes, treat and fight AIDS and other diseases, get more children into schools and keep them enrolled, boost crop yields, provide clean water and ensure sustainable forest use.

The report says that international development has become increasingly dependent on the nonprofit sector.

It says partnerships involving the United States reflect a variety of arrangements. Networks of public and private organizations address global and regional issues. Bilateral partnerships between U.S. NGOs and private enterprises and a developing country's government and NGOs transfer knowledge and expertise to implement development goals.

Another model is USAID's Global Development Alliance announced in late 2001. The alliance facilitates partnerships between private philanthropy and development projects in countries needing assistance.

(Note: In the following text, "billion" equals 1,000 million; "trillion" equals 1,000,000 million.)

Following is the text of the report's section on mobilizing partnerships:

(begin text)

Mobilizing Partnerships for Sustainable Development

"At Johannesburg, governments will agree on a common plan of action. But the most creative agents of change may well be partnerships -- among governments, private businesses, nonprofit organizations, scholars, and concerned citizens."
-- UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, May 14, 2002

Why Partnerships Are Effective

Support by the U.S. Government for partnerships has been both extensive and balanced. To reach the goals of sustainable development, the U.S. has supported different kinds of partnerships. Those between governments achieve common goals and contribute to capacities to rule fairly and productively. Partnerships between governments and the private sector, foundations, NGOs [nongovernmental organizations], the scientific and technology communities, and labor organizations bring a wide range of talents and resources to bear on the critical tasks of resource stewardship, economic progress, and social development.

Partnering with the Nonprofit Sector

Domestic NGOs and international private voluntary organizations (PVOs) play vital roles in sustainable development. Frequently, they work to increase the skills and assets of poor people, and they advance the causes of environmental stewardship, human rights, and good governance. The U.S. Government has long recognized the contributions of PVOs and NGOs and has funded a variety of programs that build their capacities and support their work.

With USAID assistance

-- PVOs work with poor rural communities to improve incomes and welfare in almost all countries in Africa

-- NGOs, including faith-based organizations, play key roles in responding to the AIDS epidemic in Africa and elsewhere

-- NGOs involve parents and community groups in support of schooling NGOs and PVOs carry out significant environmental tasks, including safeguarding watersheds, providing pure water, maintaining biodiversiry, and ensuring sustainable forest use

Over the past 40 years, progress in international development has become increasingly dependent on the nonprofit sector, which brings significant resources to the task. U.S. PVOs alone provide an estimated $4 billion annually in assistance grants -- or about 60 percent of all such flows. In 2000, U.S. PVOs implemented an additional $2.7 billion annually to programs financed by the U.S. Government.

Promoting Good Governance

PVOs and NGOs committed to participatory development and sound development practices are often strengthened by U.S.-funded technical and organizational management training assistance and funding to develop consortia and umbrella organizations. Of the initiatives surveyed, 20 percent supported PVOs or NGOs. One such recipient is the Democracy Network Program in Macedonia, which enhances democratic institutions and promotes citizen participation by strengthening civil society organizations through training, technical assistance, and grant support.

USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] also supports NGOs that strive to improve conditions of work. Funding provided to the American Center for International Labor Solidarity helps bring technical assistance to unions, labor NGOs, and others, enabling them to promote the adoption and effective enforcement of core labor standards and the crusade against child labor. The Center also helps establish legal frameworks to protect and promote civil society, increases the institutional and financial viability of labor unions and labor NGOs, supports anti-sweatshop activities, and improves health through workplace and peer-to-peer health education and prevention. The USAID-supported Women's Economic and Legal Rights program trained women market vendors in Cambodia to deal more effectively with market authorities, and provided legal aid on work-related issues that has helped women in Bangladesh form trade unions and prompted government responses to worker's complaints.

Promoting Economic Growl

U.S.-supported PVOs and NGOs promote economic growth. USAID supports efforts of herder groups in Mongolia to increase their incomes, and funds business development services and business-focused civil society organizations in Ecuador. USAID also funds business skills training for micro-finance institutions in Zimbabwe. Assisted by USAID, Technoserve, a U.S. NGO, established business organizations that support small farmers in El Salvador and many other countries.

The U.S. Government Overseas Private Investment Corporation's loan to Living Water International helps address a serious shortage of drinking water in Kenya by financing drilling equipment that will permit the digging of 20 new wells a year. Citizens are also trained to maintain these wells, pumps, and storage tanks.

"Good policies are not enough. People must be able to seize the opportunity.... Governments, civil society, and the private sector must work in partnership to mobilize development resources. We must work together to unleash human productivity to reduce poverty, to promote healthy environments and foster ... sustainable growth. We've got to help young people to get the skills they need, the education they need, the motivation they reed to take part in a changing economy and a changing political environment."
-- Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, July 12, 2002

Caspian Partnership Program

The Caspian Environmental partnership program builds and strengthens a network of NGO partners that addresses environmental and social issues. Initially funded by USAID, the program now receives support from the Open Society Institute, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, and Rockefeller Family Associates. Its objectives are to:

-- build a network of informed activists to share information and plans in Caspian-related activities

-- increase effectiveness of NGOs at the local level

-- increase partnership among NGOs working on environmental issues relevant to the Caspian region

-- strengthen inter-sectoral cooperation among NGOs, business, and government

The Caspian Cooperative Grants Program funds programs in such areas as environmental education, monitoring of pollution impacts, and promotion of safe transit of oil by Kazakh and Russian NGOs. The Program also includes the Caspinfo Newsletter and website, and the Caspian Seminar Series. Its Caspian E-mail Grants program provides e-mail access to environmental NGOs in the region and in remote areas, assisting communication between them, and providing e-mail training to over 40 environmental NGO representatives in four countries.

The Food for Peace Program, supported by USAID and the Department of Agriculture, provides significant resources to PVOs seeking to increase agricultural production. The program also provides strengthening support to cooperating agencies such as Food Assistance Management, a consortium of PVOs offering a forum for sharing information and technical training for its members.

Peace Corps volunteers also support economic development through NGOs. In Panama, they work with numerous small business associations, while in Bolivia they build capacity in NGO artisan associations. The Peace Corps Community Economic Development Project in Romania places volunteers in NGOs, chambers of commerce, public administration offices, and schools and universities.

Promoting Social Development

Much is being done at the country level to strengthen NGOs working in health. In Bangladesh, USAID provides technical assistance to expand and improve the package of health services available from NGOs, including assistance relating to behavior change communications. The members of an NGO health consortium in Bolivia that USAID helped to establish provide health services to lower income citizens. In Yemen, part of a larger health and education program will mobilize and train community women's organizations to address women's health issues and mobilize and strengthen community participation and parental involvement in basic education.

Funding provided to TASO, the Ugandan AIDS Support Organization, enabled it to support other NGO programs in 21 Ugandan districts. USAID provides support for the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, which not only builds the capacity of local NGOs and community-based organizations in every region of the developing world, but also documents and shares lessons about mobilization and capacity building. USAID also supports NGO Networks for Health, a consortium of five PVOs led by Save the Children that builds and strengthens the capacities of PVO/NGO networks to deliver family planning, maternal health and child survival programs, and HIV/AIDS prevention services.

In education, USAID helps to involve parents and community groups in schooling through support for parent-teacher associations, school committees, and development teams. The Agency also supports community schools that are either established by local residents with support from the government or established by a local NGO and managed by community members. In such schools, parents improve facilities, establish needed programs, monitor teacher performance, and sustain community interest in education.

USAID agreed to support 70 new schools in rural areas of Egypt where gender imbalances were greatest. Individuals, villages, and the government donated the land. Community education teams took responsibility for identifying sites, securing deeds, obtaining the necessary permits, and helping coordinate school construction. These volunteer teams were also responsible for helping enroll girls and making local school management decisions. In one year, 10,600 children were enrolled in primary grades.

In an effort to rehabilitate and advance basic education, USAID/Ethiopia has been working to increase community participation in schools. Under the Community Schools Grants Program, 1,300 schools received grants that were matched by local contributions. These funds permit community groups to be involved in day-to-day management decisions to improve school facilities and create girl-friendly school environments. Primary school enrollment rates have more than doubled, and girls' participation has dramatically increased in targeted schools.

Some NGO/PVO strengthening activities simultaneously support economic growth, social progress, and resource stewardship. Among these are agricultural development projects that increase production and reduce use of expensive and environmentally damaging fertilizers and pesticides. Another example is a USAID initiative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that works, with broad NGO and PVO involvement and emphasis on civil society participation, to improve food security and health and to protect biodiversity.

Promoting Environmental Stewardship

Often with the assistance of U.S. Government agencies, NGOs play important roles in resource stewardship. They help to mobilize the interest of local people in conservation, promote equitable access and good governance, and encourage alternatives to resource exploitation.

The Environmental Protection Agency's International Safe Drinking Water Initiative, launched in 1999, is making efforts to build capacities of local water professionals and communities to improve drinking water quality in Central America and eastern and southern Africa. In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch in Central America, the agency joined forces with USAID and other U.S. Government agencies to aid the reconstruction of the region. The agency addressed improvements to drinking water quality by helping to protect source water and develop safe drinking water programs. Through a series of train-the-trainer workshops, technical assistance, and hands-on practical experience, NGOs, community members, and water professionals learned how to analyze water quality data and use them in the decisionmaking process. These strategies have been applied in Africa, where the agency addresses the water and sanitation needs of the urban poor, in partnership with Water for People, a U.S.-based NGO.

In Jamaica, USAID's program to improve the quality of key natural resources provides a small grants program to local NGOs to implement community-based environmental projects in the Great River watershed. These involve such areas as water and sanitation, disease resistant crops, biological soil conservation, and waste management.

USAID is also financing the construction of a water supply network for 23 villages in the southern West Bank that will result in potable water being available for the first time in these villages. Village councils are involved in decisions on how to pay for and maintain the distribution system.

In Mexico, the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service is helping NGOs conduct watershed assessments and design restoration programs in order to improve the health, functioning, and products of watersheds serving critical natural and urban areas. In the State of Guanajuato, Forest Service experts helped assess the Rio Laja watershed and train communities to undertake restoration activities in streambeds. In Queretaro, the Forest Service is supporting efforts of a local group to conduct an inventory of forest and river ecosystems in the Sierra Gorda as a first step toward improving their management.

NGOs and PVOs play key roles in sustainable development. The U.S. Government has helped make this impact even greater through its many programs to strengthen NGOs and PVOs and support their efforts.

Natural Resource Management in Namibia

In Namibia, USAID is supporting a community-based natural resource management program that is establishing, managing, and sustaining conservancies. One component of this support is technical assistance and training to NGOs, conservancies, and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. Since 1996, the government has registered 15 communal area conservancies that engage over 32,000 historically disadvantaged Namibians and encompass 4 million hectares of prime wildlife habitat. Income earned by these conservancies -- primarily through tourism -- has doubled since 2001 and is 230 percent over targets set in 1999. One conservancy is financially self-sufficient and three others should be within the next 12 months.

Employment has also increased: over 500 full- and part-time skilled jobs were created, an estimated 300 people received income from the production and sale of handicrafts, and over 700 people took advantage of seasonal, unskilled employment opportunities.

How Private Investments Support Sustainable Development

In the last few decades, the role of private investment in developing and transition countries has overshadowed official development assistance in terms of resource flows. In the 1960s, official development assistance accounted for over 70 percent of total U.S. resource transfers, while in the 1990s, private flows accounted for nearly 80 percent of total U.S. transfers. Overall, developing countries earn $2.4 trillion per year from trade and receive $180-200 billion a year in foreign investment (in addition to a very large amount of domestic private investment). This compares to total foreign aid of about $55 billion per year.

Helping countries engage the private sector for development and growth is an integral part of U.S. efforts to assist developing and transition countries. The United States works with national governments to develop policies that encourage the private sector and laws that protect business owners and investors. More directly, the United States works with business associations, businesses, and individual entrepreneurs to prepare them for many of the tasks of sustainable economies. This includes helping develop financial services for micro and small enterprises to assist in developing new generations of entrepreneurs. Training and technical assistance is also provided to business people to increase efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness.

The U.S. Government forms partnerships with multilateral and bilateral donors as well as with the private sector to plan and implement these initiatives. An important aspect of the initiatives is partnering between private sector organizations to foster the transfer of knowledge and resources.

Private sector financing contributes to all three pillars of sustainable development: social progress, economic growth, and environmental stewardship. Social progress is enhanced through a vibrant private sector that provides choices to individuals for their employment and opportunities for training and education.

Worldwide, the private sector has been the most efficient avenue for economic growth, as competition promotes efficiency and ingenuity. The private sector also encourages sustainable natural resource management as companies pursue ways to increase their profits by using fewer resources such as energy, water, soil, and land.

Private Sector Finance aid God Governance

Countries throughout Eastern Europe and Asia are in the midst of a transition from centrally planned to market economies. In Mongolia, USAID provides technical assistance and training in the privatization and commercialization of publicly-owned companies. A USAID-funded management contract introduced sound commercial practices and brought about a dramatic turnaround in Mongolia's Agricultural Bank. Eighteen months of management and employee training helped render the bank solvent and saved its vital network of 356 rural branch offices.

The bank is now slated for privatization. Since 1998, USAID-funded advisors have been instrumental in the sale of 47 government-owned enterprises through a sealed bid auction that has raised more than $15.4 million for Mongolia.

One of the most important engines of growth is markets that can expand through fairly run trade regimes. However, a significant barrier to efficient trade in southeastern Europe is at the border of each country in the customs house. Corruption, inconsistently enforced regulations, and poor customer service often impede the flow of goods. The result is that customs procedures often account for a significant portion of the total costs of moving goods through the region.

To address this problem, USAID has developed an innovative partnership under the Trade and Transport Facilitation in Southeast Europe Program. The program aims to increase the volume and value of trade in southeast Europe by improving customs infrastructure and efficiency and increasing the capacity of second-tier transporters to move goods throughout the region. The World Bank has approved $64 million in loans to Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina to improve the physical infrastructure of customs stations. USAID, working with U.S. Customs, will improve the technical capacity and efficiency of customs agencies by streamlining operations and reducing paperwork. A grant to the American College of Thessaloniki is funding development of a distance-learning program for second-tier freight forwarders to increase their knowledge of customs procedures and develop a standardized code of ethics and operations.

In Croatia, USAID is assisting in the long process of creating a full-service private sector. The Government of Croatia's portfolio of state-owned enterprises has been reduced from approximately 1,900 at the outset of USAID assistance to the present level of around 1,200. Croatia is now beginning to modernize, restructure, and privatize its energy sector. USAID advisors assisted the Ministry of the Economy and the Energy Institute in the drafting of five laws that provide the legal framework for this process. Additionally, with the support of the USAID-funded Croatian Competitiveness Initiative, the chief executive officers of 14 of the largest businesses in Croatia have formed a business roundtable that meets regularly. They are developing long-term strategic plans to increase Croatian competitiveness in cooperation with key government officials, national labor leaders, and universities.

"The evidence is that where nations adopt sound policies, a dollar of foreign aid attracts two dollars of private investment."
-- President George W. Bush, March 14, 2002

Domestic Shelter and Municipal Services for the Poor in South Africa

To bring together stakeholders that provide shelter and municipal services to the poor, the U.S. has used grant funds to provide technical assistance, training, and grants to NGOs, combined with credit guarantees. In South Africa, these guarantees have supported private financial institutions efforts to better serve lower- and middle-income populations as well as increase private investment in critical municipal services such as water, sanitation, and electricity, particularly among the country's historically disadvantaged populations.

These efforts have yielded significant results. Since 1994, $15 million in grant funds have guaranteed nearly $230 million in lending from private partners for shelter and municipal water and sanitation services. In exchange for access to these funds, the domestic private sector in South Africa has lent over $700 million to individual households for shelter and to local authorities for critical municipal services. An estimated 1.2 million households benefited from these services. A survey of beneficiaries under one program found that over one-third were female heads of household.

How Private Sector Finance Increases Incomes and Opportunities

In a number of countries, the United States is fostering the creation of enterprises, focusing both on the general economy and on creating opportunities for the poor to increase their incomes. Jordan has taken a wide range of measures to open markets, overcome structural economic obstacles, and integrate more fully into the global economy. For example, the Aqaba Special Economic Zone is a model of streamlined investment procedures. USAID played a critical role in providing advisory services for this initiative and will continue to provide assistance until the zone is fully established and efforts are made to expand trade and attract new investment. Already, the zone has attracted $422 million in private investment, far exceeding the target of $100 million. USAID also initiated the construction of a light industrial estate in Aqaba, which is anticipated to generate over 5,000 new light industrial jobs within five years.

In India, USAID's economic growth program focuses on improving the regulatory environment for the private sector. USAID is working with India's Securities and Exchange Board, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, and the Ministry of Finance Pension Reform Task Force to strengthen capital market regulation and oversight. One activity is developing regulatory and performance standards for microfinance institutions and promoting linkages between the microfinance subsector and the mainstream financial sector.

Businesses need financial backing, but micro and small businesses often do not have access to the services of commercial banks. Banks are often not well structured to cater to the micro and small-scale market, and their costs are often too high to make microlending profitable. Through programs in a large number of countries, the U.S. Government promotes the growth of micro and small businesses by strengthening institutions servicing microenterprises. In follow-up to the NGO-led Microcredit Summit, the United States has strengthened its programs to foster microenterprises. Annual appropriations now total $155 million a year, of which half must be expended in programs aimed at the poorest.

In 1999, USAID's Microenterprise Initiative reached 4.5 million poor clients -- 2.5 million in Indonesia alone -- with active loans from USAID-supported institutions. The loans totaled $1.5 billion. Of the 2 million clients outside of Indonesia, 69 percent were below the line designated by the U.S. Congress for poverty lending. Worldwide, 70 percent of microfinance clients are women, and loan repayment rates average 95 percent. Current plans for USAID microfinance activities emphasize expanding the number of sustainable intermediaries assisted, expanding their client base to include more and poorer clients, and broadening the range of services to include insurance, savings, and transfers. USAID is also expanding its business development services, such as technical and management skills training, marketing services, and productivity-enhancing technology. Priority interventions will strengthen private sector vendors of business development services to better serve the needs of urban and rural microenterprises.

Supported by USAID's leadership, the microenterprise field is continuing to receive substantial attention from donors, international organizations, and NGOs. The Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP), a multi-donor effort founded by USAID, now numbers 27 donors and has established a strong program of global microenterprise development. USAID is now spearheading the creation of a CGAP working group on market research and product development and is establishing donor coordination through CGAP to strengthen African programs. USAID also played a leadership role in promoting market-driven business development services for microenterprises, coordinating this work through the Donors' Committee on Small Enterprise Development.

In Senegal, USAID provides institutional support, technical training, and equipment to seven microfinance institutions that have networks totaling 95 individual bank branches. The support has helped the microfinance institutions open new branches in unserved areas, expand and strengthen their existing branches, increase client confidence, and increase their outreach. As a result, the number of clients, volume of savings, and value of loans have increased sharply.

As noted above, entrepreneurs often need training in how to manage a competitive business. One local-level provider of such training is the Peace Corps. In 2001, the Peace Corps reported business development projects in 36 countries benefiting about 2,400 communities. In the process it trained 6,700 service providers and strengthened 3,700 groups.

USAID is partnering with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States to help companies in the eastern Caribbean strengthen their ability to compete in the international marketplace. Technical assistance and training is provided to targeted small and medium-sized companies in areas such as product and quality assurance, computerization, productivity tooling, marketing information and research, and gaining access to new markets. Efforts are also underway to help educational institutions build human capacity in areas such as information technology and business management.

The U.S. Small Business Administration is providing technical assistanceto Nigeria to create two business information centers to promote private sector enterprise and small business development through public-private partnerships. The centers serve as one-stop community-based business assistance centers where small- and medium-scale entrepreneurs can receive technical assistance, gain computer access, explore financial options, and link up with other businesses. The project also provides center managers with U.S.-based and in-country training.

How Private Sector Finance Promotes Environmental Stewardship

The private sector can help manage and conserve natural resources and the environment by using environmentally sound production methods. Production that limits pollution, and conserves water, soil, land, and fuel, protects natural resources for the future. Conservation techniques may also increase current food yields by, for example, conserving rich soils and replenishing depleted soil. An informative case on how this works in forestry is found in Russia where, with USAID assistance, forestry sustainability and the private sector are finding common purpose.

The Nicaraguan agricultural sector, slowly recovering from Hurricane Mitch, has recently suffered further setbacks from a series of droughts and a decline in international coffee prices. USAID has formed partnerships with U.S. and Nicaraguan NGOs to help small farmers adopt environmentally sustainable agricultural practices and use improved and certified seeds. Crop diversification, improved soil and water conservation, environmentally sound cultivation practices, and improved post-harvest storage can increase incomes for farmers while protecting the environment. These methods are improving the resilience of agricultural producers, teaching them how to best identify, use, and conserve their productive resources.

Increased Environmental Management Capacity to Support Sustainable Economic Growth in Russia

The forests of the Russian far east and Siberia contain immense potential for jobs, and for business opportunities in secondary wood processing, non-timber forest products, and ecotourism. To help Russia establish sustainable economic growth, USAID initiated improved environmental management activities in 2000, which, upon completion in 2005, will have cost approximately $30 million.

USAID support has helped about 150 ecobusinesses in the Russian far east to grow and improve their environmental performance. New tourism facilities in protected areas have meant increasing opportunities for tourism and new businesses and jobs for local residents, who now have more stake in preserving the environment. Reforested acreage has increased in one major forest region, due to USAID assistance in forest management for forestry administration and small businesses.

For economic reasons, businesses are also taking environmental issues more seriously. USAID's grantees have been helping Russian businesses become more profitable by improving their energy efficiency and reducing pollution from their operations. USAID is helping Russian businesses comply with the World Trade Organization's required international environmental standards for companies competing in the global market. More than 100 businesses are now pursuing certification. USAID support is also helping to widen investment opportunities and expand markets in secondary wood processing, non-timber forest products, and ecotourism.

Public-Private Partnerships

The U.S. Government recognizes that sustainable development can be enhanced when public institutions collaborate with private for-profit and nonprofit institutions and organizations. Such partnerships can greatly extend the impact of public programs with limited operating budgets and trained staff: Local private entities can engage local groups in solving their own problems and can offer feedback that enhances the effectiveness of public agencies. On an international level, U.S. private sector entities-PVOs, professional societies, academic institutions, firms, and enterprises-can share ideas, technologies, financial resources, and management approaches with developing-country governments and local NGOs.

These partnerships reflect a spectrum of arrangements. The following hold the most promise for fostering sustainable development:

-- networks of public and private organizations address global and regional goals, such as improved health and education, increased food production, and better stewardship of natural resources

-- bilateral partnerships -- between U.S. NGOs or private enterprises and developing country governments or NGOs -- transfer knowledge and expertise to implement national sustainable development programs

-- national-level partnerships -- of developing country governments and local private enterprises, NGOs, or community-based organizations -- enhance the sustainability of economic growth, delivery of social services, and management of natural resources

In late 2001, the United States announced the Global Development Alliance, a framework for leading, facilitating, and integrating partnerships between government agencies and private universities, nonprofit NGOs, and for-profit domestic and multinational firms. USAID administers its incentive fund and staffs the Alliance secretariat. This facilitates U.S. Government outreach to potential partners with significant resources to devote to countries receiving U.S. Government development assistance.

Alliance partnerships are a new development assistance business model and one of the pillars of USAID's reorganization and reform strategy: Governments and multinational development institutions are no longer the only assistance donors. Today, NGOs, PVOs, cooperatives, foundations, colleges and universities, corporations, and even individuals participate in development assistance. The Global Development Alliance's role is to create a synergy between private philanthropy and public assistance, thus increasing the impact of each.

Partnering for Sustainable Economic Growth

Public-private partnerships are at the heart of efforts to foster global economic growth through improved productivity and trade. Some partnerships address economic growth concerns common to sustainable development: producing enough food to feed a growing global population, expanding investment and competitive global commerce, generating employment and incomes from environmentally sustainable enterprises, and increasing supplies of energy and potable water to meet industrial and urban demand.

The network of 14 International Agriculture Research Centers provides a prominent of example of a global public-private partnership that advances economic growth. Dedicated to research that increases food crop productivity, the centers are responsible for launching the "green revolution" of the last half-century. Their work today continues to boost crop yields and promote environmentally sound cultivation practices. The centers are responsible for the development of crops more tolerant of pests, disease, and drought that do not need costly and environmentally damaging agricultural chemicals. Crop breeding that boosts yields on lands suitable for cultivation means farmers can produce enough to eat and sell without resorting to use of environmentally fragile marginal lands. The centers' success rests on a partnership between international agricultural researchers, both from developed-country academic and commercial research institutions and developing-country government agriculture programs. Some 40 bilateral and multilateral donors and some private foundations contribute to this partnership at the centers, which receive an annual contribution from the U.S. Government that should reach $40 million in 2002.

In Armenia, the Department of Agriculture supports a Marketing Assistance Program that builds partnerships between experts at U.S. land grant universities and their local counterparts. The program offers a package of training, credit, and technical assistance to ease adoption of market-oriented practices and helps farmers identify opportunities for long-term market development in neighboring countries. In 2002, the program contributed funds to build an agriculture education system for the next generation of agricultural leaders. As an aspirant to WTO membership, Armenia will benefit from this assistance in meeting its requirements.

The U.S. Government supports partnerships with U.S. environmental NGOs and commercial firms to foster ecotourism in Kenya, Indonesia, and Madagascar. USAID has similarly teamed up with environmental NGOs in Latin America and the Caribbean to demonstrate how environmental stewardship can generate jobs and income. In 2002, the U.S. Government will provide $12.5 million for an ongoing Parks in Peril initiative in that region. Implemented in part by the Nature Conservancy, a U.S. NGO, the initiative organizes and equips communities in and around endangered protected areas to develop income and employment alternatives to logging, hunting, and farming. In the 10 years of the program, the Nature Conservancy has leveraged an additional $343 million in public and private sector funds for conservation programs in the region.

In Indonesia, a USAID-funded partnership between local communities and U.S. NGOs manages fragile coastal resources. With $10 million in U.S. Government funding, the partnership has begun replanting mangrove trees and other coastal management activities that increase the abundance and variety of native fish species on which local communities depend.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency fosters public-private partnerships through annual conferences and meetings of U.S. Government and developing-country government officials with representatives from sector-specific private enterprises. In 2002, the Agency budgeted nearly $1 million to fund meetings on clean water and more efficient transportation networks.

In sub-Saharan Africa, USAID sponsored cooperative agreements between developing-country utilities, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, and the U.S. Energy Association. These agreements address power pooling and other ways to maximize efficiency of electric power generation; improvements in environmental performance; commercial provision of clean energy, and the expansion of its delivery for rural and urban populations. In 2002, USAID is budgeting $4 million for the program and expects to broker 11 partnerships with U.S. firms for investment in clean energy production and more efficient management of existing facilities.

Partnering for Sustainable Social Development

Public-private partnerships are central to effective delivery of health, education, and other social services, especially when public resources are limited and social needs are expanding rapidly. International and local PVOs and private commercial enterprises are enhancing public capacity to meet those needs, particularly by providing schooling and health care to millions of children who do not have access to education and are exposed to deadly communicable diseases.

The United States plays a lead role in providing structure and support for two critical global health partnerships: the Global Polio Eradication Program and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The polio eradication program is the outgrowth of a 20-year commitment by the U.S.-based NGO, Rotary International. With the HHS [Health and Human Services] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, WHO [World Health Organization], and UNICEF {U.N. Children's Fund], Rotary International has raised nearly $500 million and contributed to the certification of 150 countries as polio-free in 2000. The Global Polio Eradication Program has built and strengthened surveillance systems, established a global laboratory network, and trained epidemiologists. In 2002, Rotary International and its partners budgeted more than $50 million for immunizations in countries where polio is endemic. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria is newer, but by the end of 2001, it had garnered more than $2 billion in pledges from 30 countries, including $500 million from the U.S. Government. Substantial pledges came from more than 20 U.S. NGOs, international agencies, corporations, and foundations, including $100 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

A partnership of international scientists contributes to the work of the Cholera Research Laboratory in Bangladesh, a health research and outreach facility that benefits from public and private sector funding and a large grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. More than 30 years old, the laboratory developed oral rehydration therapies that saved millions of children from death by diarrheal diseases.

The International Micronutrient Malnutrition Prevention and Control Program is another U.S. Government-supported global partnership that brings together private industry (Morton Salt and Procter and Gamble), professional groups (International Council for Control of Iodine Deficiency and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition), U.S. Government agencies (HHS National Institutes for Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), and international organizations (WHO, FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization], and UNICEF) to strengthen the capacity of partner countries to assess nutritional status and establish surveillance systems. USAID contributes funding.

In the survey, several examples of public-private partnerships in education emerged. Community-based partnerships with education systems could be seen in Africa. In Malawi, community organizations monitor pupils' classroom performance and pupil-teacher interactions. In Ethiopia, USAID helps local community partners make after hours use of classroom space in government-run schools for adult literacy and other community-sponsored programs.

Another exciting initiative is the partnership between the private U.S. Children's Television Workshop and the governments of Egypt and South Africa to develop local "Sesame Street" equivalents for educational television. With funding from USAID, these ventures reach an estimated 60 percent of targeted children under age 8. In South Africa, a similar program reached 1.2 million children during its debut. Its projected audience is nearly 6.5 million children under 6 who do not have access to the equivalent of kindergarten.

In El Salvador, USAID sponsors a government and media partnership with one of the nation's major newspapers, El Diario de Hoy, that produces a monthly color Sunday magazine section with environmental games, activities, and messages for children. In Latin America, the Global Development Alliance supports the regional Partnership for Education Revitalization in the Americas, which grew out of the 1998 Summit of the Americas. With a relatively small investment from USAID, the partnership pushes for education reform, including community partnerships with school systems to build a constituency for better instruction.

The U.S. Government supports a partnership between the University of Cal California-Davis and Samarkand State University in Uzbekistan to develop the capacity of scientists in the region to use geographic information systems technology to measure and monitor environmental change in the Central Asian Highlands. Kazakhstan University researchers have partnered with a consortium of U.S. university researchers to build the country's livestock and rangeland management capacity.

In Zambia, a higher education program has teamed up with Cleveland State University and Zambian Copperbelt University to train owners and employees of small and medium-sized enterprises. After their own training, Copperbelt University trainers will provide employees with hands-on factory floor skills and factory owners with managerial skills. The U.S. and Zambian university partners will use web-based training tools to help Zambian businessmen and workers become more competitive in southern African markets.

Similar U.S.-African university partnerships include one in agribusiness development between Ohio State University and Uganda's Makerere University and another in environmental management between Oregon State University and University of Botswana.

The Lifesaving Use of Bednets

Each Year in Africa, about 2.5 million people die of malaria and malaria-related illnesses. Of these deaths, 2.25 million are children under 5. Research has shown that use of bednets treated with insecticide could reduce by 20 percent all childhood deaths in Africa -- not solely those caused by malaria. Bednets could reduce severe malaria by about 45 percent, but there are not nearly enough available, even for the relatively few people who know about these lifesaving devices.

To reduce malaria deaths on a broad scale, USAID joined forces with six international and African manufacturers of nets and insecticide. This landmark partnership, NetMark, is making low-cost, insecticide-treated nets commercially available on a national scale in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Zambia. NetMark uses public sector funds innovatively to reduce barriers to commercial investment. The partnership is creating public demand for treated bednets and promoting appropriate use; removing taxes, tariffs, and other economic barriers; and making strategic investments to build local distribution capacity.

NetMark has been invited to consider starting programs in other African countries. If successful, the commercial partners will expand their distribution networks in sub-Saharan Africa. As NetMark expands, it will become more involved in designing subsidy programs and will work with the commercial sector to facilitate introduction of improved products. By October 2004, the partners project the scale of enough nets and insecticide retreatments to protect as many as 15 million African children.

Commercial companies, their local distributors, and a $50-million investment from USAID are funding the program. Commercial partners include global insecticide and net-making manufacturers (Aventis Environmental Science, BASF, and Bayer); makers of a long-lasting pretreated net (Vestergaard Frandsen); the world's largest net manufacturer (Siamdutch Mosquito Netting Co, Ltd,); and Africa's largest net manufacturer (A. to Z Textiles). Other NetMark partners include an African consumer promotion company (Group Africa) and Africa's largest advertising agency (NCB Advertising).

Partnering for Sustainable Environmental Stewardship

The U.S. Government has turned to public-private partnerships to manage larger programs. For example, the National Science Foundation, NASA, public agencies, and private organizations from developed and developing countries are tracking greenhouse gases as part of the Global Emissions Inventory Activity. The activity provides a scientific foundation for policy initiatives addressing climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, and acid rain.

Through its Latin American and Caribbean Environmental Partnership Program, USAID sponsors meetings of government and industry leaders on environmental trade constraints, the benefits of clean production, and national and international opportunities to market eco-certified products. USAID has committed approximately $1 million a year over the past seven years to promote clean production, catalyzing about $8 million for clean production activities from international and bilateral donors.

Public-private partnerships for environmental stewardship include the USAID-sponsored Mexico Renewable Energy Program, involving Sandia National Laboratories, a private U.S. firm, and FIRCO, a Mexican federal agency. The partnership has sponsored nearly 200 photovoltaic and wind energy projects in eight Mexican states, supplying about 100,000 residents with energy to pump water for human and agricultural use. In 2002, USAID provided $1.5 million to continue the program.

Working with the Center for Energy Efficiency in Moscow, the Environmental Protection Agency is helping develop and introduce energy-efficient building codes in 30 regions of Russia under a grant to the Natural Resources Defense Council. The codes have already avoided carbon dioxide emissions by almost a million tons a year, significantly reduced conventional pollutants, and prompted development of new construction materials and new building materials companies.

In Asia, the U.S. Global Development Alliance is leveraging private sector resources to develop renewable energy in remote areas of the Philippines -- most notably conflict-prone Mindanao. USAID is helping electrify some 160 villages; U.S. firms are helping local communities install the alternative production equipment and providing maintenance training to lower electricity rates and simulate business investment.

Economic incentives improve the chances for responsible environmental stewardship. Economic benefits come with the protection of endangered habitats, and the U.S. Government sponsors such integrated conservation and development efforts by promoting community-national government partnerships.

USAID is helping governments in Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, and South Africa partner with community-based organizations to maintain wildlife sanctuaries. Governments benefit because they need not hire and retain large park ranger staffs. Community-based organizations reap economic rewards from tourism. Similar programs operate in Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka.

In Russia, partnerships are emerging to plant trees and restore forests that store or sequester free atmospheric carbon dioxide in natural biomass. The U.S. Government and the University of Moscow is tracking progress toward building carbon stocks. The program is similar to one in Guatemala, where a U.S. utility firm paid for tree planting to offset carbon dioxide emitted from its coal- and diesel-powered electricity generation.

USAID has also fostered partnerships with American pharmaceutical firms to collect materials from tropical forests that will produce new drugs to treat disease. These bioprospecting agreements between U.S. firms and developing country governments have elevated awareness of the value of conserving tropical forests rather than logging them.

How Science and Technology Support Sustainable Development

Confronting new challenges and achieving sustainable development demand new knowledge and tools based on scientific assessment, testing, and prediction. New science produces new technologies. Technological progress and capable labor are fundamental to sustained growth.

Through technological developments and scientific insights, U.S. Government agencies and their global partners are making strides understanding, assessing, and predicting natural phenomena, monitoring and. managing resources, improving environmental quality, and building capacity.

Advances in science and technology underpin sustainable development. Such advances empower people, expand intellectual capital, and make new tools available. Technologies have improved significantly in the past decade, providing new perspectives to observe and understand the environment, and new options for sharing information. They include earth observation from satellites and buoys; global positioning systems that provide accurate georeferences; geographic information systems to organize and display data; and information management and dissemination systems that allow rapid, broad circulation of information. These and other advances offer new ways of envisioning and planning for economic growth, learning, and understanding and managing human and environmental resources.

U.S.-funded research pioneered development of many now-standard tools for monitoring, managing, and transforming problems into sustainable solutions. Of the 400 U.S.-supported initiatives reported in the survey, almost half have science and technology components. A few examples described here address the following challenges: identifying and applying new approaches; understanding, assessing, and predicting natural systems; monitoring and managing resources more effectively; improving environmental quality; and building scientific capacities.

Identifying and Applying New Approaches

The challenges of sustainable development are enormously complex. Improving environmental quality requires a comprehensive research agenda, including the development of analytical tools that integrate social, economic, and natural sciences. Part of this effort involves harnessing information technologies to create new products and services, and new ways to communicate. This is needed, in part, to support policy formulation and decisionmaking that prevents or mitigates damage to social or ecological systems. With significant improvements in productivity and knowledge sharing, many scientific networks are using advances in data collection and information management systems to address issues at global, national, regional, and local levels. The United States is supporting a number of these efforts.

The Geographic Information for Sustainable Development initiative, a U.S.-led international alliance, aims to apply a new generation of earth observation data, state-of-the-art geographic information systems-linked technologies, and field-tested geographic knowledge to sustainable development problems. The alliance collaborates with many partners in Africa and developing countries, helping local, national, and international agencies to address long-term challenges, such as disaster mitigation, natural resource management, trade competitiveness, and poverty reduction. In 2002, USAID and the State Department contributed about $2 million to the initiative for training, capacity building, and technology transfer. Contributions of in-kind services, technical assistance, software, hardware, and an array of data products by NGOs, U.S. Government agencies, and the private sector more than tripled tire value of the USAID and State Department contributions.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAH), and regional contributors funded Harvard University's International Initiative on Science and Technology for Sustainability, an open network of people and institutions dedicated to understanding the links between environment and development. The initiative fosters the infusion of science and technology in decisions about development challenges, including food security, human health, and poverty.

The Climate Information Project is developing another means of sharing information. Managed by NOAA's Office of Global Programs and USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, Radio and Internet for the Communication of Hydrometerological and Climate Information makes climate and weather information available by means of radio and the Internet. The program was initiated with U.S. Government support, and is an international collaboration supported by a large array of humanitarian and meteorological organizations. It is available to extension and meteorological agencies as well as rural communities through training and technological development. Whenever possible, the program works with women and youth, important groups in the management of community and household resources. The program was successful in Africa, and is exploring needs and opportunities to expand the project.

The U.S. National Science Foundation supports the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research in Sao Paulo, Brazil, one of three institutes that integrate multinational global change research programs. In May 2002, the Institute had 18 full members: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, the United States, and Venezuela. It advances sustainable development by promoting the open exchange of environmental data produced in and by countries in the Americas, strengthening cooperative scientific research, and making available to policymakers enriched information about the impact of global change.

The International Cooperative Biodiversity Group seeks to improve human health through drug discovery as well as create incentives for biodiversity conservation. The program is creating new models for sustainable development through research and capacity building in biodiversity-rich developing countries. The program is funded and managed jointly by U.S. NGOs, public institutions, and developing-country institutions. U.S. Government participation includes HHS Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health and other NIH institutes, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service. The program is active in Argentina, Cameroon, Chile, Laos, Madagascar, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, Suriname, and Vietnam.

Helping Set the Science and Technology: Agenda for Sustainable Development

The International Initiative on Science and "Technology for Sustainability aims to contribute knowledge to environmentally sustainable development. The initiative aims to achieve significant progress by expanding the research and development agenda of science and technology for sustainability, strengthening infrastructure and capacity to apply science and technology to sustainability, and connecting science and policy more effectively in making the transition toward sustainability.

The International Initiative convened workshops in Nigeria, Thailand, Germany, Chile, and Canada to create regional science and technology research agendas.

In FY 2002, it also set up a web-based Forum on Science and Technology for Sustainability, and held a Synthesis Workshop on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in Mexico City. That workshop made the case for the role of science and technology in sustainability to decisionnakers, articulated a shared vision, proposed strategies for achieving science and technology goals, and specified targets for 2005 and 2015.

Understanding, Assessing, and Predicting Natural Systems

How interactive physical, chemical, biological, and socioeconomic processes regulate the earth's systems and how this system responds to anthropogenic influences is not yet clearly understood. With the support of the U.S. Government, the scientific community is rising to the challenge, developing international research programs and tools to reduce such scientific uncertainties.

The Climate and Societal Interactions Division of the NOAH looks at the interface between scientific information and environmental and societal decision making, particularly in relation to climate. The division promotes the study and use of new information tools to help society prepare for changing environmental conditions, cope with the challenges of multiple environmental and social stresses, and move toward a more sustainable future. One component is to foster dialogue between scientists and decisionmakers on new ways of using science to enhance human welfare. A key program element is the Applications Research Program, dedicated to bringing climate science and technology to bear on increasingly complex development challenges. The program is implemented regionally in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands.

The Famine Early Warning System Network aims to strengthen the capabilities of countries and regional organizations to manage threats of food insecurity by providing timely, analytical information. The network is a collaboration among USAID, NASA, NOAA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and regional partners, including the Southern Africa Development Community. A private firm, Chemonics International, provides technical support. USAID supported a core program for 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa with $6 million in FY 2002. Professionals in the United States and Africa monitor data and information -- including remote sensing data and ground-based meteorological, crop, and rangeland conditions -- that offer early indications of food security threats. The program is also strengthening African early warning and response networks by forging networks of hydrological, meteorological, and disaster professionals to prepare for and respond to food security problems. While there is serious concern about the food situation in southern Africa, in recent years droughts have not become widespread famines in the Sahel, southern Africa, and Ethiopia, primarily because of a combination of early warning and early public action. Designed in the late 1980s for sub-Saharan Africa, the program is now expanding to other regions. For example, USAID provided $1 million to monitor meteorological and crop conditions in Afghanistan in FY 2002.

The research capabilities of the Department of Agriculture are central to the sustainability strategy of the United States. USDA's [U.S. Department of Agriculture] Forest Service conducts some of the most extensive natural resource planning and assessment in the world. It uses resource and economic modeling, environmental impact assessments, linear programming, geographic information system applications, multiple-use planning, and public involvement in natural resource decisionmaking. In the technical area of fire ecology and management, the Forest Service assesses the influence of fire on forest ecosystems, incorporating fire mitigation strategies into forest management systems. Other cooperators include national forest agencies, NGOs, private industry, and research institutions.

Numerous other projects increase understanding of the earth's processes. For example, an international team of researchers, the Nyanza Project Team, is conducting research on environmental change and climate variability through all of human history. The scientists -- from four African countries, Europe, and the United States -- recovered a 2,000-year-old record of atmospheric circulation and dynamics from sediments in Lake Tanganyika that revealed El Nino-Southern Oscillation and solar cycles.

Monitoring and Managing Resources More Effectively

U.S. scientists and partners around the world are applying new technologies and information to a wide range of pressing natural resource management problems. Five examples follow.

-- A priority for NOAA's National Ocean Service is supporting coastal- and marine-protected area management and fostering integrated management. The service is working with Antigua and Barbuda to develop and implement a Special Area Management Plan for Antigua's northwest coast.

-- USAID, the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, WHO, UNICEF, and other public and private partners have made great strides in ending death and disability from preventable childhood diseases. The focus now is on the 10 remaining countries with endemic polio: Afghanistan, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, and Sudan.

-- USDA's Agricultural Research Service is handling a large international portfolio. It embraces numerous cooperative research projects with Mexican counterparts on topics such as safeguarding grain crop germplasm, sequestering carbon dioxide, developing new molecular tools to assess germplasm diversity, and increasing food safety. Research funding was $400,000 for FY 2002.

-- USAID pursues science and technology-based solutions to increase agricultural productivity. Through alliances with universities, international research centers, and NGOs, USAID helps bring science to smallholder farmers and small rural businesses to improve production and management.

-- USAID supports vulnerability assessments and mapping relating to climate, seismic, and volcanic activities. Such vulnerability maps help reduce loss of lives and property; they are used to develop national land use policies and building codes for homes, roads, and bridges.

Improving Environmental Quality

Clean water, fresh air, and healthy food are critical for sustainable human development. Degraded environments undermine important ecological systems for human and economic growth. U.S. Government support for environmental activities covers a wide spectrum-from an initiative in one location to large bilateral agreements that involve many institutions worldwide.

USDA's Forest Service helps national governments assess their national forest inventory and develop monitoring systems. The service has integrated remote sensing and field technologies to monitor the health and status of forests for application to specific management issues to improve forest quality. Among current activities is work in Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, and Russia.

Applying appropriate technologies to improve environmental quality, USAID supports borehole and well rehabilitation and maintenance to increase availability of potable water in drought-prone countries such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Pakistan, and Somalia. USAID also supports rainwater harvesting by building cisterns and ponds.

Working with Ducks Unlimited and other partners, including the governments of Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay, the Forest Service works to protect migratory birds and waterfowl. The project uses satellite technology and site-gathered information to develop a geographic information system database and models to detect land use changes in the Pantanal. Options for watershed protection and conservation of biodiversity are being developed.

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation strategy against disease, led and supported by the United States, includes a Network-of-Networks initiative to improve disease surveillance and monitoring in the region, boost national capacity to respond to outbreaks, and train the region's health authorities.

The Department of Health and Human Services' Safe Water System is a water-quality intervention that uses simple, inexpensive, and appropriate technologies. The objective is to make water safe through disinfection and safe storage using local products, and education on hygiene and sanitation. Public-private partnerships with strong NGO involvement, community mobilization, and social marketing are typically involved. Projects are under way in four countries in Latin America, seven in Africa, and three in Asia.

At the request of the African Wildlife Foundation, the USDA's Forest Service is helping the Foundation analyze watershed erosion and degradation and develop priorities for improving deteriorating watersheds in project areas of Kenya and Tanzania.

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(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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