Aid metamorphosis

The gradual Egyptianisation of USAID is becoming apparent. Pierre Loza toured some projects

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"We're looking at reducing the footprint of the American aid mission over time, and moving towards a more Egyptianised programme which we would support through cash transfers," announced US Ambassador to Cairo Francis Ricciardone earlier this month. "We are trying to set up a way to do it so that it is transparent and accountable." Ricciardone was speaking while on a three-day tour of a number of USAID projects in Upper Egypt between 27 February-1 March.

With a diverse range of development projects that span nearly the whole of Egypt, the USAID programme aims to launch projects that can sustain themselves in the long run without USAID's help, according to the ambassador. "Our assistance is not intended to last forever, we don't wish to create dependency," Ricciardone told Al-Ahram Weekly. "We want to help make the Egyptian economy so strong that it can sustain itself without foreign assistance, and work in a natural way to attract investment."

A recent trend in the aid programme, which was unheard of a decade ago, is the conservation of ancient monuments such as the Shonat Al-Zebib conservation site in Abydos, south of Sohag. The site which marks the funerary cult enclosure of King Khasekhemwy dates back to the Second Dynasty, making it one of the world's oldest free-standing masonry buildings. Ricciardone believes that conserving such monuments can have a direct effect on poverty eradication. "We hope that by preserving these monuments we will also add to the attraction of Sohag in terms of tourism, and that too can generate some employment opportunities," he explained.

The conservation effort, which cost LE5 million, took place under the umbrella of the Egyptian Antiquities Programme (EAP) and was conducted by New York University's Institute of Fine Arts. The conservation work included the use of sand bag buttresses to stabilise the deteriorating mudbrick walls surrounding the funerary.

Despite intermittent calls by the US Congress to reduce or even eliminate aid to Egypt, Ricciardone strongly believes in the strategic relationship between Egypt and the US. "I'm on the side that says that Egypt is a precious and invaluable friend to the US," he asserted. Yet on the prospect of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which is certain to have a substantial effect on Egyptian-US economic relations, Ricciardone feels much remains to be done. "I'm confident that we will have an FTA with Egypt in the future," he said. "We won't be signing one because we need to negotiate it first."

According to the ambassador, a great opportunity to sign an FTA presented itself at the end of 2005, but the political climate at the time was unfavourable. At present, Congress needs to renew President George W Bush's authority to negotiate trade agreements. After that, the Bush administration will need to convince a Democratic Congress to begin negotiations with Egypt.

On another front, a central part of USAID's Agricultural Exports and Rural Incomes (AERI) development initiative lies in the formation of grassroots associations, in a bid to integrate rural communities into its development agenda. The programme also includes the training of Ministry of Agriculture staff in the US to become horticulture extension specialists, who in turn will transfer the technical know-how to their communities.

Fathi Khalef is the elected president of Beit Khalef Association for Export Production and Development (BKAEPD), a farmers' association based in the village of Gerga, south of Sohag. An owner of 2.5 feddans, Khalef understands the concerns of small farmers which make up most of his village community. "It started with the idea of improving the income of farmers through the development of export-driven products," he told the Weekly. In cooperation with the CARE organisation, villagers departed from traditional crops and irrigation methods. "Instead of using the old- fashioned drenching method for irrigation we moved to a more efficient droplets mechanism," Khalef explained. "And instead of crops like sugar cane and clover, we chose exportable cash crops like green beans, watermelons and melons."

Tom Herlehy, CARE's chief of party for this $19 million programme which spans most of the country, believes that a fundamental starting point for the success of such schemes lies in the nature of rural communities involved. "We identified very progressive communities in Upper Egypt, where farmers were thirsty for change and wanted to really raise their income and improve their living standards," Herlehy stated. "This was the real start of the project."

An essential function of CARE is to provide matchmaking services between farmer associations and exporters from the private sector. According to Herlehy, as the farmers organise themselves into clusters of specialised producers, they become much more attractive to exporters in a number of ways. If an exporter is growing melons in the Delta, for example, he has got a very limited market window during which he can export to the EU. But if he goes to Upper Egypt, he can extend that season and diversify his sources of production.

Working through generic forward contracts that stipulate everything from price and quantity to the timing of harvest, these farmer associations are working with CARE to introduce international quality standards that would further facilitate exports. The EuroGAP standard is the European Retailers Association Consortium Standard for Quality, which allows farmers direct access to European retail market. So far, three BKAEPD members have obtained EuroGAP certification; it is expected that more members would follow suit in order to advantage of the higher prices in European markets.

Since the inception of the project in 2003, several BKAEPD members have now become certified organic growers. Although USAID's funding will come to an end by September 2007, Herlehy hopes the technical support his organisation provides will continue under the Global Development Alliance, a new USAID-funded scheme which focuses on the creation of private-public sector alliances for development.