CONTENTS eport to the Committee on International Relations on Implementa- tion of Legislative Reforms in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1973.... II. The substance of the legislative reforms-what it means to AID__ 1. Section 103-Food and nutrition__ 2. Section 104-Population planning and health. 3. Statement of Hon. John E. Murphy, Deputy Administrator, Agency for International Development, before the Subcom- mittee on Foreign Operations of the Senate Appropriations 34 35 41 (3) Section 105: Education and human resource devel- (4) Section 106: Selected development problems__ (5) Section 107: Selected countries and organizations__-- 4. Policy statements and conceptual framework papers suporting Appendixes-Continued 5. The congressional mandate: Aiding the poor majority Summary I. The congressional mandate.. A. Income B. Nutrition 1. Life expectancy. 2. Infant mortality. 3. Birth rate--- 4. Health services.. IV. Determining AID's target population.... B. Focusing AID assistance- V. Setting AID trgets_-_ A. General comments.. B. Rural production__ C. Nutrition D. Health E. Population F. Education VI. Conclusion Appendixx A-Poor majority population AID-assisted countries Appendix B-Average per capita daily energy (caloric) Appendix C-Some additional useful efinitions____. 1. Capital transfers, capital intensity and capital 2. The role of AID and “direct assistance" to the poor 3. Participation 4. Rural development_ 5. Collaborative style___. Letter from Chairman Thomas E. Morgan to AID Administrator Daniel V REPORT TO THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF LEGISLATIVE REFORMS IN THE FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1973 I. INTRODUCTION The House Foreign Affairs Committee Report of October 25, 1974 requested that AID provide to the committee a full report on the implementation of the legislative reforms contained in the FAA of 1973. In a very real sense we believe that our fiscal year 1976 congressional presentation recently delivered to the Congress is the most important statement of our progress in carrying out the purposes of this legislation. We believe a careful reading of the substantial narrative material, delineating in great detail our specific program in each sector and country, will provide useful insights into the many ways in which AID is moving forward rapidly in implementing the new legislative program. In this connection it should be emphasized that this year special efforts have been made to assure that the presentation reflects with reasonable certainty projects which actually will be carried out in fiscal year 1976, subject to the availability of funds. We make this assertion cautiously, for predicting the development business is difficult, especially in these unsettled times; there will inevitably be changes in certain areas-perhaps in Africa more than others given the large number of least developed countries located there. But as we have done 2 years work in fiscal year 1975 in preparing projects for both fiscal year 1975 and 1976 and for the first time carried out rigorous project review prior to including projects in the presentation, we believe there will be fewer substantial deviations in fiscal year 1976 than has been the case in the past. Chairman Morgan's February 24, 1975, letter to AID Administrator Daniel Parker contained many suggestions which have been of great value in preparing this report. One important recommendation was that we should describe the place of the reforms in the context of the total development effort by the United States and other donors. While we will allude to this subject from time to time in this report, we believe that a clear and succinct statement has been provided as an introduction to the May 1975 Summary Volume of AID's fiscal year 1976 submission to the Congress (pp. 1-9). Thus, in the interest of brevity, we have not sought to prepare an additional general statement on this subject (a copy appears in appendix 1, p. 35). The Administrator's testimony before the committee will also focus on many of the important issues touched upon in the introduction. There are, of course, many issues and problems not raised directly in the congressional presentation which may be of interest to the com mittee. In response to the suggestions made in the chairman's letter of February 24, 1975, this report will focus on the following major topics: -the substantive policy issues involved in conceiving, designing and carrying out new direction programs; -the procedural steps AID has taken to assure the implementation of the reforms; and -the difficulties faced by the Agency in implementing the legislation. The report concentrates on issues of the food and nutrition category. In part, this is because the list of questions appended to the chairman's letter emphasized this broad sector and the numerous important issues that permeate it; moreover, this sector accounts for the bulk of AID's development assistance funding request. We have tried, however, to address the key issues and opportunities in all major sectors and assure the committee that the allocation of space in this report does not reflect less interest on the Agency's part in the critical problems of the health/population and education sectors. II. THE SUBSTANCE OF THE LEGISLATIVE REFORMS WHAT IT MEANS TO AID A. AID'S BASIC APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT AID's development assistance strategy is cast in different form today than it was several years ago. The key elements are, we believe, consistent with the main themes of the 1973 Foreign Assistance Act. -By concentrating our aid in the three key sectors of food and nutrition, population and health, and education and human resources development, we seek to help developing nations increase their capacity to meet basic needs of their people. -Projects and programs are especially directed toward reaching the poor majority within the populations of these nations. We urge recipient governments to design policies and programs to assure that the benefits of economic growth accrue to all the people and not a select few. Influencing LDC institutions, policies, and systems are indirect but essential means of assuring that benefits reach the broadest group within the poor majority. -Private and voluntary organizations (PVO's) are increasingly active, with AID support, in planning, implementing, and evaluating development programs which draw upon their unique capacities to reach directly large numbers of poor people. -AID is stressing the importance of integrating women into the development effort. -Moreover, while it is slow going, we are emphasizing programs which involve the poor as active participants in the development process itself, avoiding any suggestion of a handout. There are, of course, other elements in congressional guidance to the Agency, both substantive and procedural, many of which will be touched upon in this report. At the outset it should be clear, however, that AID is committed to these basic principles and as an Agency is striving to achieve positive, tangible results in each of these basic areas. We believe much progress has been made, but we are well aware of how much remains to be accomplished. This report attempts to describe both. In emphasizing the different character of our current approach, we do not believe the Congress should lose sight of an important fact: AID personnel have had long and valuable experience in the developing world; despite the flow of changing rhetoric and institutional emphases, many AID staff-and a substantial amount of other resources have been at work for years on hundreds of projects aimed at many of the problems identified in our discussion of AID's new directions. What is new is the complete commitment of the Agency (3) |