>From rcincotta@usaid.gov Wed Dec 21 09:37:44 1994 Received: from BASA14001.usaid.gov ([165.13.2.2]) by csf.Colorado.EDU (8.6.9/8.6.9/CNS-3.5) with SMTP id JAA25377 for ; Wed, 21 Dec 1994 09:37:30 -0700 Received: by BASA14001.usaid.gov; Wed, 21 Dec 94 11:41:18 EST Date: Wed, 21 Dec 94 10:06:09 EST Message-ID: From: "Richard Cincotta" To: ppn@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Speech on USAID efforts in population X-Incognito-SN: 235 X-Incognito-Format: VERSION=2.00 Beta-30 ENCRYPTED=NO Here's a speech by Ambassador Sally Shelton (USAID Deputy Assist. Administrator and head of USAID's Global Bureau) at a recent conference. The objective of the conferece was to advise the President's Council on Sustainable Development on "next steps" towards implementing the Program of Action agreed upon by most nations attending the 1994 Int'l Conference on Population and Development, and to mobilize organizations to begin the task of bringing the "message of Cairo" home to the American public. I am circulating it on PPN, because Amb. Shelton addresses questions concerning the political future of US foreign assistance. _______________________________ Remarks of Amb. Sally Shelton, "Bringing Cairo Home" Conference Washington D.C. December 19, 1994 I am pleased that so many of you have joined us today for what I expect will be a very important set of discussions on some critical issues. My special thanks to Tim Wirth and his colleagues at the State Department for all they have done, and for bringing these issues to the forefront of American diplomacy. I would also like to welcome our colleagues from other agencies, Secretary Shalala from HHS and the Assistant Administrator David Gardiner from EPA, who, by being here, show their commitment to the theme of our meeting, "Bringing Cairo Home." I was in Cairo, as were a good many of you, and I felt the spirit of consensus and goodwill that overcame the differences and diversity represented there. It's great to have this opportunity to reflect on how we can translate this spirit into action. The Cairo conference, and the process that led up to it, provided a dramatic expression of U.S. leadership --leadership which, rather than imposing values, seeks to work through persuasion and partnership. Many of you, who are leaders in your communities and organizations, well understand the challenges we face in formulating a new vision of the role of the United States in the post-Cold War world. There has also been a great deal of concern in the wake of the November elections about the future role of U.S. assistance programs. Things will be different under a Republican Congress. I'm sure all of you have already seen some of the attacks that have been launched against foreign assistance programs. It has become clear that foreign assistance programs will be under an unprecedented siege during the next year. These assaults are coming from many quarters -- isolationists, budget hawks, some who want to preserve their own piece of the pie, people who believe economic policy alone can cure the ills of the developing world, and those simply looking to grandstand. It is also clear from what we see coming out of the Hill already, that security assistance will probably fare pretty well. Budgets for Israel, Egypt, and probably Russia and the NIS will remain relatively static. This means that our development assistance accounts will face potentially crippling reductions. What is happening here, is that the things that USAID does best, development in countries that really need development, is the most threatened part of our mission. From the rhetoric I have heard in the last couple of weeks, I realize we have not done a good enough job telling our story. Many believe that foreign assistance programs are simply a waste of money and that they do not serve the best interests of the United States. First, we must let it be known that our development aid is cost-effective and that it works. In the last fifty years we have cut infant mortality in half worldwide, and health conditions have improved more in this period than in all previous human history. Foreign assistance has helped increase literacy by 33% in just the last twenty five years. Family planning programs have helped average family size in USAID- assisted countries to drop by one-third since the 1960s. More than 3 million lives are saved each year through USAID immunization programs, and oral rehydration therapy has saved millions more. When people say that no country has ever gotten off the dole, we need to point out that nations like Korea, Taiwan, Tunisia, Costa Rica, Botswana, Greece and Belize who are now some of our closest allies and best trading partners, were once beneficiaries of U.S. assistance programs. We need to point out that the Marshall Plan, widely viewed as one of the most successful foreign policy initiatives ever, was only supported by 18% of the American public when it was announced. We need to point out that nations people were quick to write off as "basket-cases" in the 1960s and 1970s -- nations like Bangladesh, Indonesia and India -- are now showing remarkable progress. We need to remind people that less than one half of one percent of the U.S. budget is spent on economic and humanitarian assistance. We need to help people understand that foreign assistance is helping create the markets of the future for this nation. Don't be afraid to tell people that U.S. exports to developing and transition nations grew by a remarkable $46 billion in the last three years alone, and that trade translated into an additional 920,000 jobs in the United States. The U.S. exports more to South Korea in one year than we ever gave them in assistance. As people concerned about the future of the world, we must clearly articulate why preventing crises is much cheaper for this nation than dealing with them once they happen. We need to show how development is just such a tool of prevention. We know development works. But there is a second message that we must communicate. Our aid programs are being designed to be both responsive to countries' needs and consistent with the long-term interests and values of the United States. Our current programs are very much in harmony with Cairo in their emphasis on environmental protection, population stabilization, and the promotion of health, especially for women and children. As in Cairo, we view the education and empowerment of women as fundamental to development and a goal that advances every aspect of a society. The present approach also emphasizes support for NGOs and the private sector, which in so many countries are the building blocks of democracy and the source of entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic growth. While the focus is on population, the Cairo Program of Action is indeed comprehensive in addressing the full range of sustainable development concerns. For USAID, implementation of the Cairo agenda involves the entire agency to one degree or another. For those of you who are less familiar with USAID programs, I urge you to take time to look over our booklet, Strategies for Sustainable Development, copies of which are available to you today. There is also an overview available of the Agency's ongoing programs and new initiatives in population, health and nutrition and related areas. I would like to take a moment to highlight some of these. First, central to the Program of Action adopted in Cairo was the call for women's education and empowerment. We are now in the process of developing a girls' and women's education initiative, building on experience we have had with successful models supported by our missions in Guatemala, Malawi, and Nepal. We are also giving greater emphasis to supporting micro- enterprise programs for women as well as organizations working on their political and legal rights and the prevention of violence against women. Critical chapters and provisions in the Cairo Program of Action called for a comprehensive concept of reproductive health; improved family planning; maternal health and child survival; and prevention and management of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. In each of these areas, USAID is seeking to be at the cutting edge. That means, to mention just a few things,  expanded efforts to ensure family planning that is high quality, responsive to choice, and widely accessible;  a comprehensive new initiative for adolescent reproductive health;  new efforts to attack the causes of preventable maternal mortality, which include unsafe abortion and lack of basic services to provide emergency care for women with pregnancy-related complications or to provide them with compassionate counselling and family planning services if they so desire;  biomedical research to find new technologies to prevent both unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases;  other kinds of research and demonstration programs to test innovative approaches to delivering reproductive health services; and  initiatives to increase awareness of population/environment relationships and to link population and reproductive health programs with environmental management at all levels. In all of our new initiatives, USAID is seeking to collaborate with a range of governmental and non- governmental organizations, including many that are represented here today. We know we can't do these things alone. I have just recently come from meetings with other donors in Europe. It is encouraging to find the degree to which our commitments are shared by major donor governments such as the UK, Germany, and Japan, each of whom has made substantial increases in the resources they are providing to implement the Cairo Program of Action. Other stalwarts, such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands, will continue to play an important role. France has committed itself to increase its contributions to programs to combat AIDS. All of these donors have far to go, however, in developing their own capacity to manage larger programs, and a number of other donors have yet to increase their commitments at all. While there are many dimensions of Cairo follow-up, these recent encounters have convinced me that the effective engagement of other donors is one of the biggest challenges we have and should continue to be a high priority. I hope all of you can help convey to the American people the two points I've emphasized today: that foreign assistance works and that it is in this nation's best interests. I hope you can also help extend a similar message to your contacts and colleagues in other countries. In our discussions today, we will be drawing the connections between the domestic and international sides of the Cairo agenda. These connections are important to USAID. For one thing, as USAID has been seeking to demonstrate in a special series of programs in cities around the country, called "Lessons Without Borders," we have found that many experiences gained in development work abroad can readily be applied here at home. It is also important for us to try to get things right here at home -- whether the issue is our environment and patterns of consumption, equal opportunities for women, reproductive health, or any other aspect of our own development as a society -- if we want to be fully effective overseas. We have much to discuss in our sessions today, and we certainly won't be able to resolve the challenging issues of giving reality to the recommendations from Cairo. But let's make it a good beginning.