USAID's Strategy in The West Africa Regional Program (WARP)

The West African Regional Program (WARP), which is managed out of Accra, Ghana, supports activities in the following 18 West African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

The conflict in Côte d'Ivoire, long the political and economic hub of the subregion, is both symbolic and symptomatic of the fragility of the West African region where overall socio-economic indicators are among the worst in the world. A military uprising in September 2002 has given rise to a military and political crisis which so far has defied resolution. The Côte d'Ivoire conflict has serious ramifications for all of West Africa in the form of refugees and displaced people as well as severe economic disruption.

Population growth (averaging 2.8 percent), infant mortality (100 deaths per 1,000 births), and literacy (below 50 percent) all cast a shadow over the region's developmental potential. These somber statistics, however, do not reveal the positive impact of development assistance programs, because rampant population growth, which requires ever greater levels of services and investments, cancels out the gains, and because conflict can instantaneously erase decades of development.

The United States has a significant stake in the future of West Africa. The region's extreme poverty and disproportionately high number of unemployed youth, combined with deep-seated ethnic and religious diversity, create an inherently unstable environment. Failure to improve living conditions through improved access to the global economy, along with failure to instill tolerance and respect for individual rights through good governance, could have devastating consequences for the United States. For instance, it could undermine the global war against terrorism and/or create a constituency for radical fundamentalists. Therefore, it is in the interest of the United States to counteract these trends through development assistance programs such as the West African Regional Program.

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