Weaknesses in democratic governance dampen economic activity, cause civil unrest, and can create fertile ground for terrorists. The work of USAID to strengthen the principles of democracy and good governance in Africa creates the conditions for peace and promotes U.S. and world security.
This effort consists of information sharing on state-of-the-art innovations; technical assistance to USAID’s Africa field missions; grants to African non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for human rights and democracy-building activities; grants for critical democracy and governance activities, such as elections support and civic education; an initiative to combat corruption in Africa; and innovative pilot projects integrating the promotion and practice of good governance principles into other development sectors.
Democracy and good governance provide the foundation for sustainable development in Africa. Effective government, which represents the interests of the people and is accountable and transparent, is the best insurance that the needs and desires of citizens will be met. Long-term improvements in health, education, economic growth or the environment in African countries ultimately require responsive and representative governments that can implement the changes necessary to promote and consolidate such gains.
A number of obstacles to the consolidation of democratic political systems in Africa remain. These include entrenched political leaders, a lack of checks and balances, conflict, the political dimension of economic reform, a lack of a democratic political culture, and corruption. However, positive trends are emerging. In the last few years elections have led to the peaceful transfer of power in Nigeria, Zambia, Mali, Senegal, Madagascar, Ghana, and Kenya. There is also a growing trend toward decentralization, which devolves authority away from central control to sub-national and local governments. And civil society organizations continue to grow in numbers and strength, although the need to create urban-rural linkages and broaden constituency bases exists.
USAID helps advance democracy in Africa by promoting the rule of law; free and fair elections; a politically active civil society; and transparent, accountable, and participatory governance through activities in 26 countries in Africa, as well as three regional programs. Program foci range from increasing access to and participation in the political system, to empowering local NGOs, to elections support, to strengthening democratic institutions such as the legislature. The types of programs vary from technical assistance and training to financial support, and the funding levels range from small grants under such programs as the Democracy and Human Rights Fund to multi-year, multi-million dollar projects such as the Anti-Corruption Initiative.
Examples of recent program accomplishments
In Rwanda, USAID has helped begin to rebuild the justice system after that nation’s horrific genocide. In addition to supporting training for English-speaking lawyers to help address the legal needs of English-speaking returnees, USAID assistance is also helping the autonomous National Judicial Council and the Ministry of Justice. Since 1999, USAID has worked in 30 of Rwanda’s 154 communes to train 15,000 newly elected officials in managing local, small-scale development projects. This enables communities to set their own development and investment priorities in such areas as water, marketing, livestock and milling. In 2000, the training assistance was expanded to include voter education in preparation for the next elections.
In Senegal, USAID organized the leading human rights and women’s NGOs as a consortium, and through them launched a successful nation-wide public information campaign that figured prominently in successful, peaceful, democratic presidential elections in February 2000. The elections brought about the first change in party leadership via the ballot box in Senegal’s 40 years of independence.
In Kenya, USAID-funded civil society organizations (CSOs) made significant achievements in bringing opposing parties to the negotiating table on constitutional reform and in undertaking a basic rights campaign against economic injustice. CSOs took on the government in 1999 after the government failed to implement the political and economic reforms negotiated before the elections in 1997. In addition, USAID-supported technical assistance was used to assist the process of drafting and getting the Parliamentary Services Commission Bill (PSC) enacted on November 11, 1999. This bill reduced the president’s arbitrary power to appoint (and dismiss) the Clerk of the National Assembly and gives the PSC greater independence from the executive branch of the government.
USAID has established cross-sectoral strategic partnerships with several U.S. organizations. The World Resources Institute and the Environmental Law Institute field-tested an environmental-governance advocacy program. The Foundation for Democracy in Africa helped form public-private partnerships in Mali, Senegal, Benin and Nigeria with the goal of increasing Africa-U.S. trade under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Marquette University’s Les Aspin Center for Governance trained 16 civic leaders in election and conflict monitoring and 18 civic leaders in anti-corruption and good governance. Pact designed a collection of HIV/AIDS prevention strategies for use by community groups and their local governments in six African countries.
