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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks by J. Brady Anderson,
Minnesota International Center
Adminisrtator, USAID
Tuesday, February 22, 2000
Foreign Assistance: A U.S. Policy Imperative
Thank you, Ed, for that introduction. On behalf of the United States Agency for International Development, let me also thank Carol and your other colleagues at the Minnesota International Center for coordinating this program.
The Minnesota International Center has been working really hard for a long time to keep people engaged in foreign affairs. This is important work, and it's hard work. But we need to get the message out there-so, for that, and for being such gracious hosts today-thank you.
I also want to thank the other co-sponsors of this event: The Hubert H. Humphrey Institute and Freeman Center for International Economic Policy, and the American Refugee Committee. From thinking up creative ways to fight hunger to helping refugees of war and disaster get their lives back on track, these two organizations are wonderful examples of Americans making a difference in the lives of people all over the world.
Before I start let me also mention the work of the Center for Victims of Torture, another organization based right here in Minneapolis. In my many travels around the world, I have seen people suffer incredible pain and hardship-because of their ethnicity, because of their gender, because of their religion, or their tribe.
In northern Uganda, for instance, where there is a civil war going on, young boys and girls as young as ten are often abducted by the rebel army. The boys are sometimes drugged so they can't or won't run away and are then forced into deadly combat. The girls are often beaten, raped, tortured, and even killed. The pain and trauma of this horrible experience will be with these kids for the rest of their lives.
USAID and organizations like the Center for Victims of Torture are working with survivors of this and other kinds of torture-helping them become an active part of society again.
I believe every human being has a right to live his or her life with dignity and freedom, and I am proud to say that all over the world, we are working to restore these to people who have long been denied both. You know, when I told my friends in Washington that I was coming here, they all said-"What's a Southerner like you going to do in Minneapolis in the middle of winter?" And I told them-"Pray for no snow."
Actually, I appreciate the opportunity to get out of Washington. I'm thrilled to be here today.
Let me start by talking a little bit about what foreign assistance is. It may surprise a lot of you to learn what it's not: it's not big transfers of money-generally USAID does not do cash transfers. It's not, as some have suggested, money down the drain.
Back during the Cold War era USAID had huge infrastructure projects-like highways and dams-and transferred large amounts of money to many countries as part of the U.S. foreign policy goal of containing Soviet communism. Most of that aid was never intended or used to develop the beneficiary. It was more in the nature of a reward for remaining on our side of the Iron Curtain.
But let me tell you what foreign assistance is today: it is a transfer of knowledge and experience.
It is an investment. For less than one-half of 1% of the federal budget-let me repeat that, one-half of 1%-we can help shape the future and lay the foundations for a more stable, peaceful, and healthy world.
And foreign assistance helps America and Americans just as much if not more than it helps other countries.
You may wonder how. Well, one of the most important things USAID does is to help build democracy around the world.
Not because democracy is American, but because it is a system of government whose primary purpose is to serve the people it governs. Here in America our leaders-from the local Mayor on up to the President-are all beholden to the people.
In too many parts of the world, for too long, it's been just the opposite-the people have served the leaders in power.
Which, as we have seen in the Balkans, in Africa, and in parts of Southeast Asia, means that nations somehow find money for weapons and armaments, but not to build good roads or hospitals or schools.
With the end of Communism in Eastern Europe and Eurasia and the fall of the Latin American dictatorships, a lot of this is changing. Millions of people all over the world are choosing their own leaders-some for the very first time in their history.
And while USAID can never make the transition for them, we are working alongside Salvadorans and Russians and Georgians, among others, to make sure that the foundations they lay are strong, and enduring.
But let's get back to how this helps America. Secretary of State Albright often says that democracies do not to go to war against each other.
She's right.
If you look back at the past hundred years, to use the United States as an example, you can see not once did we go to war against a practicing democracy-not in World War II, not in the Gulf War, not in Kosovo.
So it follows that the more democratic the world is, the less our men and women in uniform will be called to fight.
True democracy-with a strong rule of law, protection of individual rights, and independent courts and media-also creates lasting political stability.
This too, benefits America because political stability is good for American exports. A stable, democratic Indonesia, the world's fourth largest country, will be a much better trading partner for the U.S. than an unstable Indonesia with civil strife and a moribund economy.
In 1998, Minnesota alone exported $14.5 billion worth of goods-supporting over 150,000 jobs in this state. In fact, Minnesota ranks 13th out of the 50 states in exporting.
Four out of five consumers around the world live in developing countries, and developing countries are the fastest growing markets for American goods.
Which means that a lot of Minnesotans rely on strong, healthy markets abroad.
To use another example, between 1947 and 1995-almost 50 years-the United States contributed about $30 billion in assistance to the countries of Latin America. In 1995 alone, our exports there totaled over $75 billion-more than twice our investment recovered in one year.
If only my personal investments had such a good rate of return!
USAID also works to provide economic opportunity for people, so people can afford the high-quality goods we export.
When I went to Jordan, I met a man, who, with a small loan of $150 funded by our microenterprise program, had rented a small space in a corner building. And, with a butane gas cylinder, a rubber hose, a burner, and a small refrigerator opened up a falafel café! (He even let me make some.)
This man, who had never been able to get a loan before, is now thinking of expanding his business.
And this is the kind of thing we are doing everywhere.
Another way USAID is helping ourselves by helping others is by fighting the spread of infectious diseases: AIDS, TB, diphtheria-none of these respect national borders. If there is an epidemic in Africa or Russia-there is no question that it will affect us here.
My wife Betty and I have seen the ugly face of AIDS; we know what it's like to lose someone close to that terrible disease. When I was the Ambassador to Tanzania, our dear friend and colleague in Dar-es-Salaam, Fidelis Malobo, died of AIDS, leaving his wife and three children to an uncertain future.
USAID is working to contain AIDS not just in Africa, but all around the world with programs that are culturally appropriate. In parts of the world we are also working on ways to expand the scope of all our programs, whether economic or social, to try to find creative ways to lessen the impact of AIDS on society.
Because President Clinton, too, recognizes the importance of containing this epidemic, he has increased funding for HIV/AIDS prevention by $54 million through his new Leadership in Fighting Epidemics, or LIFE, Initiative. In fact, USAID has already used part of this money to improve homes for AIDS orphans-like the Nyumbani Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. (Nyumbani, incidentally, means home in Swahili.)
And so let me also say this: foreign aid works.
In Eastern Europe, we have been so successful at helping countries make the transition from Communism to democracy that this year we will have ended our programs in eight countries-including Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.
In 1968, 53 percent of the world's population was illiterate. Four out of ten people didn't have enough food to eat. Three-quarters of the world's population didn't have access to clean drinking water. Life expectancy was 50 years.
Thanks to the efforts of the development community worldwide, thirty years later, in 1998, the literacy rates were up 50 percent. Less people were hungry-roughly one out of six. Three times as many people had access to clean water. Life expectancy was up ten years.
But let me give you one last reason why we provide foreign assistance: it is the right thing to do.
America, as one of the world's richest and most powerful countries, has the resources to make a difference, an interest in making a difference, and, I believe, the responsibility to do so.
And we need to take this responsibility seriously: today, if we look at foreign aid spending as a percentage of GNP, the United States ranks dead last among the industrialized nations.
In my travels around the world, I have seen over and over determined people making a difference in their own lives and the lives of their families by overcoming some pretty impressive obstacles, with maybe just a little help from us.
In Honduras, I talked to a group of maybe 50 women who had started their own small businesses with USAID's help.
One woman, whose business was selling children's clothes in a sidewalk stall, told me that she woke up one morning to the sound of water rushing through her house-Hurricane Mitch had caused the river to flood. Her first thought was to get her children to safety, and when she had done that, she came back for the clothes she sold-her livelihood.
Well, unfortunately she was caught in a mudslide and couldn't save the clothes. But, determined not to default on her loan, she took a cleaning job in a hotel. When I met her she had already paid back the loan and was planning on getting another one.
She said to me, "You're a big person, and we are all little people here."
But I told her that wasn't true-she was the big person, not me. It's not easy to keep hoping, keep dreaming, when you've lost everything. But one of the best gifts USAID gives people is just that: hope.
And you know, no matter where we live in this world, no matter what we do, we all want pretty much the same things:
- We want enough food to eat.
- We want good health care when we get sick.
- We want to educate our children so they will have a future.
- We want the freedom to choose our leaders and to worship according to our consciences.
- We want to live free of fear-to know that a knock in the middle of the night is not someone come to drag you away because you criticized a government official.
- And we all want peace.
USAID is helping make all these things happen, all over the world.
Of course this takes time, effort, and resources. But, as President Clinton has said, "the costliest peace is cheaper than the cheapest war."
Or, as Ben Franklin used to say, a penny saved is a penny earned.
And just think-everything USAID does costs less than one-half of one penny for every dollar the government spends.
In conclusion, let me say to all of you here-keep up the good work. It's good to have you on our team.
And again, thank you for inviting me here today.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 12, 2001 |
