Gamal Essam El-Din spoke with Mary Ott, USAID-Egypt's deputy director, on the agency's present and future roles There has been a lot of talk in Congress lately about the importance of reviewing USAID programmes in Egypt. One example was Congressman Tom Lantos's bill asking that the annual military assistance to Egypt be phased out, and devoted to supporting economic reforms instead. How much is USAID itself affected by these debates? All I can say is that the USAID is not part of these congressional debates. These are just legislative proposals submitted by US congressmen, but none of them has turned into a law. For the past 30 years, the US and Egypt have collaborated closely as partners in economic development. The USAID Mission in Egypt still has many programmes to implement until 2009, and even this does not mean that there are any intentions that these programmes will come to an end in 2009. We are happy that Egypt now is more developed than the year in which USAID started implementing development programmes (in 1975), and I am sure that it will be more developed in 2009 and beyond. Would you agree that a remarkable feature of current USAID in Egypt is that your funding has shifted focus from large infrastructure programmes to more small- scale projects? This is true to a large extent. In its first years in Egypt, the USAID-funded programmes focussed on large infrastructure projects in areas such as electric power generation, telecommunications, port facilities, grain storage capacity, clean water and, above all, restoring and reopening the Suez Canal. Since 1975, USAID programmes have totalled over $5.8 billion in urban infrastructure. Now, the USAID-funded programmes all over the world, and not only in Egypt, are shifting focus and broadening their scope to focus on improving quality of life programmes, particularly in basic education, health care, empowering poor rural women, and raising incomes through small scale enterprises. The reason for this is that infrastructure projects all over the world can now have easy access to funding from global financial institutions and local capital markets, or even through issuing bonds. All of the latter can provide good funding to infrastructure projects in Egypt and elsewhere. But other sectors such as basic education, civil society institutions and health suffer from a funding deficit. It is these sectors, which the USAID, in partnership with the Egyptian government, are very keen to fund and improve. These projects leave quick tangible effects on the lives of ordinary citizens. But does this mean that USAID has abandoned funding infrastructure projects in Egypt altogether? The answer to some extent is no. The USAID is now providing money to waste water treatment and sanitation projects in the Upper Egypt governorate of Minya, and this serves a large number of people. The USAID is also working with several Egyptian governorates and the Supreme Council of Antiquities in the preservation of Egyptian antiquities and cultural heritage. But let me say that most of the USAID- funded infrastructure projects in Egypt are set to be completed in the year 2006-2007. You visited Alexandria this week to review the results of the Small Business Development Programme there. Tell us more about this popular programme. Since 1990, the USAID has played a key role in the development of Egypt's small and micro enterprise (SME) sector, with estimates of supporting more than 70 per cent of all activities in this sector. Currently, the USAID assists not-for-profit foundations such as the Alexandria Business Association (ABA) to act as financial intermediaries for providing loans to the SME community. ABA is doing a wonderful job and the people we reached through this programme have largely benefited from its loans in raising their incomes and improving their lives. This year, the loans the USAID-supported ABA provided to clients reached LE819 million, compared to LE719 million last year. $13 million remains to be spent in Alexandria on this project. It has so far generated around 252,000 job opportunities. In general and since 1990, USAID has extended around LE3.5 billion in loans to more than 650,000 entrepreneurs here in Egypt, and I am proud to say that Egypt in this sector has become a good model for other countries. But why do these SMEs mainly focus on women? They also include men. But the fact remains that it is always women in Egypt and elsewhere who earn little. This is in addition to the fact that in many cases women are the primary source of income for their children; when you invest in raising the incomes of these women, you invest in improving the quality of life for many families, and you in invest in having good children in the future. Figures in Egypt show that 24 per cent of households depend for their living on women, and this is a large reason why SMEs are of major interest to the US. I am happy to say that as many as 180,000 limited-income women have largely benefited from this programme. Most USAID programmes are implemented in Alexandria. Does this mean that this city receives the lion's share of US funding in Egypt? One cannot say so. We have a lot of programmes in Upper Egypt governorates such as Minya and Assiut. But if you mean Alexandria as a city, the answer may be yes. The USAID is doing an excellent job in Alexandria in areas such as designing and constructing the sewage system, which received around $425 million, improving the city's telecommunications, and establishing the education reform pilots which support decentralising school management and improving the quality of education. Do not forget the fact that Alexandria's governor, Abdel-Salam El-Mahgoub, is an enlightened and dynamic man who helps a lot in boosting USAID's funding operations in this beautiful city. USAID is frequently critiqued on two main points. First, that it should stay away from funding family planning and birth control programmes because of the religious and other ethical concerns involved. And second, that most of the money goes to American consultants. How do you respond? My answer to the first question is that our programmes for family planning and health care are designed upon the request of the Egyptian government, and in collaboration with local religious authorities. All of them believe that poor Egyptian families, especially in Upper Egypt, are in dire need for good health services, and the USAID strongly shares this belief and is eager to help. As for the second question, you must know that bilateral aid programmes always require that you get the best of American and foreign experts who can help in transferring technology to generations of local technicians and workers, and who are capable of designing sustainable projects. The fact that these experts charge a lot must not be considered a negative point. How do you respond to the charge that after 9/11, USAID programmes have become politically oriented, especially with regards to education, where projects are now designed to stem extremist ideas in primary stages? In America, we believe that the best investment for developing human resources is improving the quality of education. In Egypt, the USAID performs under the exclusive advice of the Egyptian government. We do not have initiatives of our own, so that someone can allege that our programme in this sector is politically oriented. Most Egyptian governments, especially the new reformist-minded cabinet, put improving education as a top priority on the agenda of action, and we support them. I think the USAID will spend more than $300 million on the education sector in the next few years. Do you have any programmes for supporting the new government's economic reform plans? Yes. I can cite funding for upgrading Damietta port facilities, and modernising Egypt's Customs and Tax Authorities. We also provide assistance for boosting the government's new mortgage system to help people own new houses under easy-term loans. The USAID is also helping in the early negotiations leading to a free trade agreement between Egypt and the US.
