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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks by Don Pressley,
Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasiato the International Operations Committee,
National Association of Realtors Washington, D.C.
May 20, 2000
It is an honor for me to be with you today and I want to thank the International Operations Committee and the International Real Property Foundation for inviting me to speak at this event.
You should know that we regard the National Association of Realtors as one of USAID’s key partners in development. You have been a leader in shaping international policy on housing, security of tenure and private property rights for twenty-five years. You have successfully influenced the thinking of policy makers about land and housing, and especially housing for the very poor, around the world.
Close to ten years ago, the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union embarked on their massive economic, political and social transformation.
It was immediately evident that, in this highly industrialized region, housing and urban development issues would have to be high on the reform agenda. Here the state had monopolized the entire housing delivery system: from design, construction, and financing all the way through allocation and maintenance.
Anyone who has visited the larger cities of the industrial "new towns" of the region has seen the rather colossal evidence of state monopolization. Block after tedious block, mile after mile, of enormous apartment buildings. Nothing was built to the human scale: there was little variation to accommodate individual tastes or needs.
Once the system collapsed new approaches for housing production and maintenance had to be found. From the beginning, you recognized the potential of associations such as yours in developing an enabling environment to facilitate market solutions to housing problems. As a result, you sponsored the creation of the Eastern European Real Property Foundation to meet these challenges.
Since beginning work in Eastern Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union in 1992, the Eastern Europe Real Property Foundation (now the International Real Property Foundation) has enjoyed a track record of great success. We were pleased to recognize this in 1997 when the USAID Administrator awarded the National Association of Realtors the Domestic Partnership Award on the basis of the results of that program.
Today, thanks in large part to the efforts of your membership, there are more than 30 real estate associations in ten countries of the region with a combined total membership of 50,000 real estate professionals. These professionals are now seen as providing essential services to their neighbors and are well positioned to be leaders in their communities. Two regional networks of real estate associations and appraisers----CEREAN and CEEVAN---now represent industry interests throughout Eastern Europe and Russia.
Your role in the creation of the burgeoning real estate industry of the former Soviet Bloc countries is unique and your continuing relationship is a shining example of a sustainable partnership among industry professionals-- one which will last well beyond the era of United States government assistance. We at USAID are encouraged by the mutually supportive partnerships that are being formed through "protocol agreements" that have been reached among NAR affiliate associations in the United States and Eastern European real estate associations.
The NAR, by example, has paved the way for the Europe and Eurasia Bureau’s strategic vision for the region.
I’d like to tell you about that vision.
The premise of the Europe and Eurasia Bureau at USAID is that the task of donors is to assist the peoples of the region to create or strengthen the organizations, institutions and associations that support, nurture and ensure the continuation of the values of market democracies; and then leave in place mutually-reinforcing, mutually advantageous support networks among such groups as well as with their Western counterparts.
These "sustainable partnerships" will carry the growth and advancement of the former Soviet countries through the inevitable setbacks, crises and struggles they will face as emerging democracies.
What is a sustainable partnership? USAID uses the term partners and partnerships to cover many situations, but the partnerships that I am discussing are not actually with USAID or even, in most cases, with implementing organizations at all. Sustainable partnerships are among the people, institutions, entities – even countries – of the region as well as with similar groups in the West.
The premise behind creating these partnerships is that not only do we each have a lot to learn from each other, but that there needs to be a variety of mechanisms in place to continue USAID’s work—in the economic, democratic, and social sectors—when bilateral assistance programs are no longer needed.
The concept of partnership includes "mutuality" as one of its primary tenets. My question to you is whether and how you see your membership benefiting from this endeavor. I think I can see some benefits.
For example, it seems to me that, through your association with real estate professionals in Eastern Europe, you now have greater opportunity for profitable business ventures in the region. Developers and other western investors can now have greater confidence that they are operating in a legal, more organized and less corrupt environment.
And these business relations work both ways. I don’t think it will be long before your Eastern European counterparts begin to engage in real estate transactions in the United States.
However, this concept of mutual benefits is truly a question I’d like to leave with you for your further reflection and reaction.
The second question on my mind is whether the United States benefits from these kinds of programs. Let’s face it, there is huge misunderstanding across the United States as to the purpose and value of foreign assistance.
Few people realize that the entire foreign operations of the United States costs less than one percent of the U.S. Government budget.
Fewer still know that the $1 billion allocated to the Europe and Eurasia assistance effort is predominately devoted to supporting grass roots efforts so well represented by the IRPF.
It seems self-serving for me to try to make that case to the American people, but I hope that people like you, who travel to the region, who see the good, can and will be willing to tell your neighbors that their foreign assistance program has benefits that go far beyond the limited support provided by the U.S. Government.
Now another important component of the term "sustainable partnership" is sustainability.
While donors have funded "partnerships" of a variety of types for many years, focusing attention on the sustainability of partnerships seems worthy of increased attention.
From the beginning, the International Real Property Foundation concentrated on the institutional sustainability of each association. The Foundation helped each counterpart association with organizational development and the development of a business plan, defining where the association wanted to go and how to get there. As part of those plans, IRPF emphasized improved member services, ethical and professional standards, self-regulation and revenue-generation strategies.
In carrying out their programs, IRPF has been able to call on the services of a wide range of real estate specialists who are members of NAR or related organizations.
NAR local and state affiliate chapters continue to give generously their time in welcoming counterpart real estate professionals and introducing them to the ways that the real estate industry functions in the United States.
In a number of countries, the associations have matured to the point where they are consulted by governments and are actively assisting in framing legislation, procedures and standards dealing with such topics as licensing laws property registration and appraisal standards.
IRPF's challenge now is to assist the two regional networks---CEREAN and CEEVAN--to become sustainable professional networks in their own right and to serve as conduits of professional and technical know-how to other countries in the region where the real estate industries are still weak. Through your partnership with them and the individual associations throughout the region, we hope they will become an important part of the legacy of our work in the region and will survive long after USAID’s work is done. We are pleased to hear about your efforts to expand your multiple listing service through the regional networks.
As we look across the landscape of Eastern Europe and Eurasia today, we see that we have a long road ahead of us. With a few exceptions, the countries of this region have not quite become the fully functioning, market-oriented democracies we had hoped they would. But, that does not mean that they never will. We can and will continue to help them, in large part through the professional partnerships established in the private sector such as your own.
There have been many lessons learned and so much progress made as a result of NAR and IRPF’s involvement in Europe and Eurasia. As government decentralization takes affect, not just in this region but throughout the world, people and localities have more control over their resources and solutions related to land, homeownership and basic service provision. Your efforts have been instrumental in advancing the US Government's goals of creating market democracies in the region.
I applaud the National Association of Realtors for your vision and your leadership in the international arena and look forward to continued cooperation in the future.
Thank you.
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 |
