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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Remarks by Andrew S. Natsios Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development
Remarks to American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) Board
September 20, 2002
I would like to talk today about what USAID is doing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As you know, we have been running programs there for many years. Between 1993 and 2002, USAID funding for the Palestinian areas totalled about one billion dollars. This makes the United States by far the largest bilateral donor to the Palestinian people. I suspect many people would be surprised to learn this.
About ANERA
Operating in the West Bank and Gaza is seldom easy, even in the best of times, and these are clearly not the best of times. Yet despite many obstacles, ANERA has done an excellent job for us, and over the years we have come to consider them one of our most valued partners in the region.
One of the most important things ANERA is doing is running community service and job creation programs. These have taken on even greater importance since the intifada began two years ago, when employment and family income began dropping significantly.
Our most recent ANERA grant, for $4 million, was awarded earlier this month. This should enable ANERA to create some 50,000 quick-starting jobs and support more than 40 projects in 26 West Bank communities and two refugee camps. Altogether some 450,000 people, mostly rural Palestinians, are expected to benefit from these activities.
Among the specific projects ANERA has been carrying out under its community services and job creation program are:
Water Supply and Conservation: rehabilitating deteriorated irrigation canal systems, constructing drinking basins for animals, constructing water tanks, improving water catchments for public buildings, and bringing reliable supply of water to various communities.
Community Sanitation: upgrading basic sewage collection systems and installing small-scale, low-cost wastewater treatment plants, water meters and household connections.
Agricultural/Market Access Roads: upgrading roads that link isolated communities with markets and the main road network, as well as land reclamation associated with newly opened areas.
Education: upgrading school facilities by adding classrooms, labs and toilet blocks.
Public Health: supporting mobile health units for remote communities in the West Bank, and upgrading health clinics in the Gaza Middle Area. ANERA is also constructing four additional clinics in areas where medical services require upgrading because of the difficulties Palestinians encounter traveling between urban areas.
Child and Youth Development: providing day-care centers, computer labs, kindergartens, and other public facilities.
Environmental Protection and Restoration: promoting small scale reforestation, public awareness, and various training and restoration measures.
One of the reasons this program has been successful has been that ANERA has taken great pains to ensure community involvement at every step of the way.
Other ANERA projects
Another important ANERA project is the installation of a pipeline to transport water from Duyuk village spring to Ein Al-Sultan Refugee Camp in Jericho, a distance of about 4 kilometers. This adds to the water currently available to the camp and includes building a 500 square meter underground water reservoir at the Duyuk spring. There are some 3,900 residents of the Ein Al-Sultan Camp who will definitely see the difference this project makes.
ANERA is also an important subcontractor in USAID's two most important on-going health projects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip: the $27 million "MARAM" project, which is focused on maternal and child health, and the Emergency Medical Assistance Program.
The MARAM project is designed to train health care professionals, upgrade and rehabilitate clinics, provide local facilities for childbirth, and improve the long-term viability of the local health care system. Through the Emergency Medical Assistance Program - or EMAP -- public and NGO-run hospitals and clinics receive urgently requested medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment. Between March and August 2002, for example, approximately $2.5 million worth of medical supplies, equipment, and pharmaceuticals was procured and distributed to hospitals and clinics throughout the West Bank and Gaza. ANERA provided a critical logistical role in this effort.
USAID's strategic objectives for the West Bank and Gaza
Our current programs in the West Bank and Gaza reflect six major strategic objectives. They are:
- Strengthening the private sector
- Water
- Democracy and Good Governance
- Higher Education
- Health; and
- Community Services
Sustained Private Sector Opportunities: Long-term economic growth is the key to development everywhere in the world. Yet the engine that drives that growth - the private sector - remains weak throughout most of the Middle East. In Gaza and the West Bank, our programs are designed to support micro-enterprises, improve commercial bank supervision, increase the competitiveness of private firms, and strengthen accounting and auditing practices.
While the events of the past two years have limited our ability to make much progress in these areas, our micro-finance program, now in its sixth year, remains a particularly bright spot. One of its key accomplishments has been to make more credit available to women. USAID grants to Save the Children, the Bank of Jordan and the Arab Bank have made it possible for more than 34,000 Palestinian women to receive $13.8 million in micro-loans. Most of these women come from small, isolated villages where little or no financing is otherwise available. Not only does this program put food on the table, but it is teaching Palestinian women important business skills. It has also been instrumental in getting local commercial banks, which have never provided micro financing before, to look more favorably on women borrowers.
In response to increasing poverty and unemployment since the intifada began, USAID signed agreements in 2002 with Save the Children and the Cooperative Housing Foundation to provide emergency micro-finance services and house improvement loans to needy Palestinians. Under the agreements, more than $3.9 million in loan capital for micro-entrepreneurs and home improvements is available, and more than 250 home improvement loans have already been disbursed.
Water Resource Development: Water use and allocation have always been important questions for the people of the Middle East, and the pressure on existing water sources is clearly growing as the population rises. Consequently USAID and our West Bank/Gaza Mission have begun investing heavily in the water sector.
We are currently funding the construction of a large water infrastructure program in the West Bank, including several production wells and pipelines to increase water availability. The construction is taking place -- in the midst of the intifada - thanks to the commitment of contractors and the cooperation of Israeli authorities. USAID is also planning large-scale water resource programs, such as building a desalinization plant and water carrier in Gaza and a waste-water treatment plant in Hebron.
At the same time, we are also making substantial progress in smaller water projects. For example, ANERA played a key role in constructing village water networks for 11 villages in the Jenin area of the West Bank in 2000. These were built under very difficult circumstances, including border closures, that made building materials scarce and stopped many laborers from getting to the job site. Nonetheless, ANERA and other USAID partners developed a system that brought potable running water to the homes of more than 40,000 Palestinians for the first time. This effort also led to the establishment of a local council to oversee the management of the new water system so that it could be properly maintained for the benefit of future generations.
Democracy and Governance: Democracy and good governance are major priorities for USAID throughout the developing world. While the relationship between honest, democratic government and development is incontrovertible, with the exception of Israel, democracy has made less progress in the Middle East than any of us would like.
Certainly, President Bush's speech of June 24 put this in clear perspective, when he spoke of his vision for a Palestinian state and called on the Palestinian people to "build a practicing democracy, based on tolerance and liberty." If the Palestinians do that, and elect new leaders "not compromised by terror," the United States, he pledged, "will actively support their efforts."
I believe that we will see a democratic Palestine some day, a Palestine that can live at peace with itself and with its neighbors. But, as the President said, "a Palestinian state will never be created by terror - it will be built through reform. And reform must be more than cosmetic change, or veiled attempt to preserve the status quo. True reform will require entirely new political and economic institutions, based on democracy, market economics and action against terrorism."
So, while we await that day, USAID is actively supporting the reform process within the Palestinian Authority. Our programs fund civil society organizations; help government institutions, like the Palestinian Legislative Council, be more responsive to the public; and work to improve legal education and the effectiveness of the judiciary.
Given the need for Palestinian reform that the President identified, USAID assembled a team this July from the National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute and the International Foundation for Elections Systems to assess the Palestinian Authority's ability to carry out free and fair elections. The team made two major recommendations that will likely determine the extent to which the donor community supports the elections the Palestinians have scheduled for this January 20. The first is the establishment of a truly independent Electoral Commission to oversee the elections. The second is a thorough review of the current elections law to ensure that it represents the broad interests of the Palestinian people. To date, we are still waiting for these two conditions to be met.
The report also makes it clear that the Palestinian people need to travel freely in order for their elections to be fair, but acknowledged that this can only happen if Israel's legitimate security concerns are addressed.
Higher Education: Since 2000, USAID has supported a variety of programs that focus on training, internships, and master's level programs - much of it in the United States. To this effect, USAID is currently funding more than 90 Palestinians who are studying for master's degrees in the U.S. In 2003 we plan to launch a long-term program that will provide scholarships for up to 10 Palestinians each year for masters level studies in the United States. And we also expect to start providing scholarships to Palestinians studying at local universities.
Health: In April 2001, we launched a $1.7 million Rapid Emergency Response Program. This provided funds to purchase medical equipment and supplies, support NGO clinics and train 2,400 health professionals in first aid and advanced life support. These activities were expanded substantially under the $10.7 million Emergency Medical Assistance Program in October 2001 that I mentioned earlier.
Children are the most vulnerable part of society in any conflict. For this reason, we have funded a Community Psychosocial Support Program that Save the Children runs. This summer, approximately 15,000 children attended camp, where they benefited from trained counselors who specialize in helping children with psychological and emotional problems stemming from conflict situations. Preparations are underway to introduce a number of psychosocial support sessions into the Palestinian school curriculum, in close coordination with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, and the National Psychosocial Coordinating Body.
Community Services: The Community Services programs that ANERA has played such an important part in have clearly improved the lives of rural Palestinians. This $91 million program has been implemented in several phases by a series of our PVO partners, along with United Nations and some local organizations. Essentially, our projects here fall under three broad categories: basic infrastructure upgrades; training and income generating opportunities; and improving local ability to provide community services.
The program has improved services and infrastructure in more than 240 communities, touching the lives of over 1.2 million people. Results have been plentiful:
- 35,000 people received training.
- 43 schools and 9 kindergarten centers were upgraded.
- 8 youth clubs were built or refurbished.
- 55 public buildings were made accessible to people with disabilities.
- 6 clinics were built or upgraded.
- 39 roads were built or repaired.
- 37 water cisterns were constructed.
- 1,525,000 square meters of agricultural land were reclaimed.
In response to increasing levels of unemployment since the intifada, USAID retooled the Community Services Program to focus on emergency job creation through labor-intensive community infrastructure projects. Thousands of jobs have been and will be created. USAID recently awarded nine grants totaling $50 million in additional funds to U.S. groups, including ANERA, to provide emergency jobs and improve basic community-level services.
Challenges in Implementation
It has not been my purpose here to discuss the larger political and security questions that confront the people of Israel and Palestine. Most of that lies beyond the scope of my professional responsibilities. Nonetheless, we all recognize that ANERA and other NGOs face enormous difficulties in the West Bank and Gaza, particularly under current conditions. And yet you have managed to do an excellent job. By working through local field offices, with local partners and local construction firms and having solid community participation, you been able to continue your work and make a genuine difference in the lives of many Palestinians. That is quite an achievement.
For more information on USAID's activities in the West Bank and Gaza,
please visit the USAID/West Bank-Gaza Mission site - www.usaid.gov/wbg.
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Last Updated on: January 02, 2009 |
