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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks by Acting Administrator Donald L. Pressley
to the Annual Meeting of
the Partners of the American International Health Alliance
Monday, April 9, 2001
The Role of Partnerships in Foreign Assistance
Thank you very much. I am delighted to see so many of you gathered here this morning. I have been watching the health partnerships grow and strengthen for almost 10 years, and it is truly wonderful to look out at all of you who are so engaged in the improvement of health care in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
The AIHA health partnerships program is an excellent example of how community-to-community partnerships build strong support and interest from small and large communities across the United States. Since the program began in 1992, more than 90 partnerships involving 80 hospitals and 36 educational institutions have been established in 22 countries. It is an impressive record, and I congratulate you for it.
I believe that real partnership - with people, with communities, with institutions, with countries - is critical to our development goals. Let me take just a few minutes to reflect on why the concept of partnership is so important, so central, to USAID's mission.
At first, partnerships simply allow us to talk to one another. But when we are able to communicate with one another, we begin to understand and appreciate one another. Then we can really learn from each other. In that learning process, we also begin to trust one another. In today's world, just think about how valuable it is simply to have trust. And from the basis of trust, partnerships can build enduring ties between the United States and the countries where we cooperate.
That is why USAID supports a variety of partnerships all over the world, and in a number of fields including health. Partnerships have also proven their worth in agriculture, environmental protection, energy production and regulation, university education and research, small business development, and local governance. My goal is to build a network of relationships of trust and cooperation in many, many fields so that you and people like you across the world can continually solve problems, create opportunities and make your communities better places because you took the step to become engaged in a partnership.
Now, if there is one thing we've learned over the years, it is that there is nothing more basic to achieving success than the participation of people in the countries involved. The reason for this is quite simple: it is their community, not ours. We can advise and we can assist, but the decisions about development priorities and policies must be reached with our partners. They are the ones who bear the risk and who must make the commitment to change. If the changes needed to open up economies to innovation and local investment are not supported by a sense of social consensus and shared sacrifice, they will not be sustained. Simply stated, partnerships are about people.
Partnerships play an important role in supporting another USAID goal: building democracy. Partnerships empower citizens and organizations to solve problems and make decisions; they mobilize participation of people and groups to identify and support change; and they kindle community spirit. These are all fundamental elements that helped build local democratic institutions in the United States, and they are doing the same in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
AIHA's healthy communities and health care programs are excellent examples of partnerships that help build democracies. I applaud, in particular, your early work to make community participation an integral part of the health care model that characterizes most of your partnerships today. The community mobilization strategies, community councils, and advisory groups that these partnerships engender have the important benefit of building democracies from the bottom up.
I also want to commend AIHA for its efforts to promote regional cooperation. AIHA pioneered the use of Learning Resource Centers and the Internet to share information and communicate with partners throughout the region; you established regional steering committees to jointly develop tools such as clinical practice guidelines that can be adapted for use throughout the region.
I am pleased to learn that the Continuing Evaluation Panel, in reviewing the AIHA program over the past year, has concluded that most of the original AIHA partnerships have continued successfully, and that the "new" partnerships funded since 1998 are following the same successful course. In fact, one excellent example, the Dubna-Lacrosse Partnership, was recently featured in a front-page article in the New York Times. USAID funding of this partnership ended in 1999, but many of its programs continue to be supported by the city government and other international agencies. And, as a direct result of the partnership, the city of Dubna is funding many new, health-related programs, some of which have been replicated elsewhere in Russia.
AIHA's partnerships support many important goals: sustainable development, involving people, building democracies, and regional cooperation. With your experiences on the ground and your valuable perspectives, you serve as a critical link in the social, economic and political transition of this entire region. You should be proud of what you've accomplished. I know that I am proud of all of you. And I also know that these partnerships will survive and prosper.
Many of you may have heard that USAID continues to be under attack for being cold, heartless bureaucrats, for being slow and cumbersome, for focusing on process rather than really helping real people.
But, when I see you and when I contemplate the power of who and what you represent, I believe that occasionally - just occasionally - we get it right. The health partnerships are, to me, a great example of getting it right. I salute you, and I wish you all the best as you continue to save people's lives. Have a great conference!
Thank you.
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Last Updated on: January 02, 2009 |
