Fostering Development in Africa and Finding Partners to Support That Commitment

On behalf of Secretary Rice, the Africa Bureau and my team, I want to salute the National Academies for convening a symposium on this subject. This Administration joins all of you in the strong conviction that science and technology can significantly help unlock Africa's potential for social and economic development. We want to apply the best knowledge we have to the significant challenges facing Africa. That is why your input and involvement is so valuable. I hope that our discussions at this roundtable further spur your thinking about how the technologies you work with every day can provide solutions to the pressing needs of the developing world. Africans are hungry for Science and Technology assistance as they look to a more positive future.

I personally feel that what this Administration is doing in Africa is one of the most exciting, yet unreported, stories of our time. Over the past 4 years, the United States has ramped up its engagement with Africa, financially and diplomatically. The U.S. provided more than $3.1 billion in overseas development assistance to sub-Saharan Africa in 2004. That is three times what was provided in 2000 and more than any bilateral donor. This truly reflects President Bush's unprecedented commitment to reducing poverty.

Our assistance to the continent supports the considerable efforts and progress that African nations are making on their own through initiatives such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) to promote peace, market-led economic growth, and prosperity. We are working in partnership with Africans to unleash the remarkable potential of Africa's land and people.

This partnership encompasses initiatives such as President Bush's 5-year, $15 billion Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief -- the largest financial commitment any nation has ever made to an international health initiative dedicated to a single disease.

In addition, our partnership includes the groundbreaking Millennium Challenge Account, a proposal that builds on lessons learned from 50 years of development assistance. We know assistance works best when delivered to countries committed to three ideals: 1) sound economic policies that support entrepreneurship; 2) effective political governance and a commitment to root out corruption; and 3) a willingness to invest their own people, especially through education and health care. Thus far, Congress has appropriated $2.5 billion for MCA to support poor countries that rule justly, invest in their people, and encourage economic freedom. Eight of the 17 countries fully eligible for this funding are in Sub-Saharan Africa. An African country, Madagascar, was the first to conclude a compact for MCA assistance.

And, as you all read in the newspaper this morning, we have committed an additional $675 million to respond to humanitarian emergencies in Africa. A large portion of the funds will go toward programs to satisfy the food needs for the estimated 14-million people at risk in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and provide additional resources to Somalia and Djibouti.

Official Development Assistance also supports dozens of public-private partnerships that leverage resources beyond what can be provided by the U.S. taxpayer. Public-private partnerships among the U.S. Government, other governments, businesses, and civil society groups represent an innovative, exciting approach to development assistance. Let me describe one partnership underway in Africa, which serves as a model for this new way of doing business.

The Congo Basin Forest Partnership unites more than 30 governments, international organizations, business and environmental groups in the goal of establishing networks of protected areas across west central Africa. This initiative will achieve twin goals. It will help conserve one of the two largest intact tropical forests. At the same time, it will offer local people a stake in the forest by promoting sustainable harvesting and providing livelihoods such as ecotourism. The Congo Basin Forest Partnership is also a powerful mechanism for stemming the illegal commercial bushmeat trade and advancing the U.S.-led fight against illegal logging.

Driving forces in the Congo partnership are the six Basin countries that have courageously bet their future well-being on the benefits of forest conservation.

The United States is contributing $53 million over four years to support the training programs, policy infrastructure, and management and enforcement regimes necessary to make the vision a success. These funds will be matched by international conservation non profits. In total, we have the potential of helping to develop as many as 27 new national parks and protecting more than 25 million acres.

Why is Congo Basin a model partnership? It integrates the goals of economic development, social advancement, and environmental stewardship. It unites a wide array of stakeholders. It is based on the plans of African nations themselves. It is designed to promote the rule of law and effective governance. And finally, it builds the capacity of Africans and African institutions, including through the use of technologies such as remote sensing and GIS.

The U.S. Government has also launched several promising partnerships to provide Africans with greater access to energy, clean water and sanitation. The areas of water and energy are critical to a nation's development. With the benefit of the latest technologies in these areas, we can help provide basic services to those who live in devastating poverty. In doing so, we raise hope in people's lives. Let me tell you about a few of these water and energy partnerships.

In the energy sector, we are striving to bring modern energy services to the approximately 2 billion people in the world who do not have access to them. The majority of these citizens live in Africa and Asia.

We are doing this through the Global Village Energy Partnership (GVEP), a 10-year initiative that demonstrates how energy services help reduce poverty and enhance economic and social development.

In the first six months of 2004, for example, USAID spent about $7.2 million to provide more than half a million people with access to clean, efficient, and healthy forms of energy. You can bet that this made a real difference in the lives of individuals who live in areas either not served or underserved by current energy delivery systems.

A member of our diplomatic corps relayed this example of how GVEP touched the life of a young mother in Uganda. The mother was able to give birth in the dark of night with the assistance of solar light. Had it not been for this solar installation, the mid-wife would have delivered the baby relying on a dangerous and noxious kerosene lamp. Instead, the baby's first breath was of pure air. The mother named her son, Solar.

To reduce vehicular air pollution in developing countries, the EPA, on behalf of this Administration, leads the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles, which promotes the elimination of lead in gasoline. Progress on lead phase-out in Africa is considerable. In a very short time, over half of all gasoline sold in Sub-Saharan Africa has become lead free. Twelve Sub-Saharan African countries have completely eliminated lead in gasoline. Fifteen additional African countries have set dates in the near future to follow suit. This is a remarkable story!

On another front, indoor air pollution caused by poorly ventilated stoves that burn wood or manure poses a threat to the health and wellbeing of more than 2 billion people, especially women and children. Through the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air, we are working to increase the use of affordable, reliable, clean, efficient, and safe home cooking and heating practices.

In addition, the US is exploring ways to help countries located along Africa's Rift Valley tap into the geo-thermal field that lies beneath the Valley floor. Geothermal energy, while underutilized, represents an environmentally friendly, cost-effective source of energy for these nations. It is estimated that there is more than 6,000 megawatts of geothermal power potential along the Valley. Ironically, more than 90% of the 200 million people who populate this region currently live without access to electricity.

Switching gears, the U.S. is also focused on providing Africans with access to clean water and basic sanitation.

For example, through the West Africa Water Initiative, we are working with several NGOs, foundations and other governments to provide potable water and sanitation to rural villages in Ghana, Mali and Niger. To date, more than 800 water boreholes have been drilled and more than 900 latrines have been constructed. These efforts have brought new services to more than 50,000 people.

To aid local and national governments in their efforts to better manage water and optimize its benefits among competing uses, we are supporting programs by the Global Water Partnership that improve participatory planning processes and promote science-based decision making. Currently, more than ten African countries are receiving assistance through this program.

Of course, providing clean water and access to sanitation has tremendous links to public health. Together with UNICEF, CARE, PSI and others, we are working to improve hygiene and increase access to technologies for disinfecting and safely storing water at the household level in seven African countries. None of us can tolerate a child dying in the world every 20 seconds as a result of a water-borne disease.

The U.S. Government's flagship water program is the $970 million, 3-year, "Water for the Poor Initiative." It encompasses more than 100 programs focused in three areas. They are:

• drinking water and sanitation;
• watershed management; 
•  and increasing the productivity of water use in agriculture and industry.

In each of these areas, technology and innovation are playing an important role. For example, to provide clean drinking water, we can employ technologies such as locally developed clay pot filtration devices, or more advanced UV disinfection, or chemical treatments to disinfect and remove particulate contaminants.

In the agricultural sector, inexpensive drip irrigation technologies can help small independent farmers reduce the amount of water they need to irrigate their crops. The development of drought resistant or salt-water tolerant crops would also be useful.

As an added benefit, many of these technologies can be locally manufactured and locally maintained, which creates jobs and contributes to economic development.

There are countless other development projects in other sectors besides energy and water that are hungry for the latest scientific innovations. We are looking to extend internet and telephone access to Africa's rural areas. We are exploring ways to bring "Internet 2" to African universities so that they can exchange data with their peers, or provide health care to patients using "telemedicine."

All of these partnerships that I have touched on provide a platform through which we can continue to apply the innovations of science. So I urge you to continue to consider ways that we can work with you to distribute technologies to people in the field and fine-tune those that we are already using.

Taking a broader view of the topic, we can also promote sustainable development in Africa by helping governments incorporate science advisory capabilities into their policy-making process. I know this is a priority for the National Academies. I salute your work to do so in Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda.

Our Bureau is also driving toward this goal through a program that will offer university and government leaders from four African countries the opportunity to attend a one-week Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy course at Harvard's Kennedy School this November. The idea is that the participants would in turn train others in their country to access the best available scientific information and facilitate its use in public policy decisions.

In conclusion, we must succeed in Africa. Our work will advance freedom, democracy, equal rights, and women's rights. It will cultivate business opportunities and foster greater security for the globe. Above all else, we must act because human decency compels us to help our fellow human beings improve their quality of life. As President Bush noted, "We cannot leave behind half of humanity as we seek a better future for ourselves."