USAID Africa chief outlines priorities across the continent

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Agency for International Development’s work in Africa seems to have many of the same focuses as the agency has a whole — increasing private sector engagement and helping countries on their “journey to self-reliance.” But behind those intentions is also an effort to make the U.S. the “partner of choice” for countries on the continent as they look to work with others, including China. It has been clear in language from top USAID leadership that the U.S. wants to differentiate its form of development from China’s, which has been described as predatory or taking advantage of African countries. USAID wants to ensure that African partners have a choice in development partners and that they recognize the benefits of a partnership with the U.S., said Christopher Maloney, USAID’s acting assistant administrator for the Bureau for Africa, in an interview with Devex. “We want to make sure that when you work with the U.S., we're offering a strategic partnership — we're not offering vulnerability to strategic dependence. We really want to make sure that we're walking with the country along its own unique journey to self-reliance,” Maloney said. “In other words, we offer you partnerships that will help you to better marshal and manage your own resources, build a robust private sector, and reduce the risk and vulnerabilities to dependence on others and undermining your own sovereignty,” he added. In the context of COVID-19, USAID sees itself as a driver for global health support in Africa, he said. “Our actions and investments are not a public relations effort to counter China or save face, but rather it’s an effort to save lives in Africa during this very critical time,” Maloney said. In addition to the coronavirus response, other work related to the continent is ongoing and guided by three core objectives. Maloney defined them as “advancing trade and commercial ties with key African states to increase American and Africa's prosperity, protecting the United States from cross-border health and security threats, and supporting key African states’ progress towards stability, citizen responsive governance, and self-reliance.” Notably missing from those objectives is any mention of ending extreme poverty, though that also seems in line with a recent change in USAID’s Twitter tag line from “USAID works to end extreme global poverty and enable resilient, democratic societies to realize their potential” to “We advance U.S. natl. security & economic prosperity, demonstrate American generosity & promote self-reliance & resilience.” To orient country programs to the objectives, USAID is overhauling all country strategies to “reflect the principles of the journey to self-reliance,” a process that is expected to be done by the end of this year or by early 2021, Maloney said. USAID will be looking at each country’s commitment, the choices it makes, and the capacity it has to drive its own development journey, and the agency sees its role as incentivizing governments and societies to make a commitment to development and building capacity, he added. “That may naturally lead to some different looks in terms of footprints and areas of work as those strategies play out and as we really sort of think through what a true self-reliance model might look like in a given country,” he said. USAID is assisting countries to build financial self-reliance through partnerships that help governments raise and manage resources more effectively. It is also focused on increasing private sector engagement and improving how the agency works with companies — namely, in the process to co-create long-term solutions, he said. Prosper Africa USAID is home to Prosper Africa’s secretariat and serves a convening and mobilizing function for the initiative aimed to mobilize U.S. capacity to facilitate transactions and foster better policy environments for trade and investment in Africa, Maloney said. The U.S. government is building a one-stop shop for its more than 60 trade investment support services as part of Prosper Africa. USAID’s trade and investment efforts fall under the initiative, and it is working with Prosper Africa teams to identify potential deals with its networks and provide technical assistance in some cases. “We want to make sure that when you work with the U.S., we're offering a strategic partnership — we're not offering vulnerability to strategic dependence.” --— Christopher Maloney, acting assistant administrator, USAID Bureau for Africa One positive example is the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub in Abuja, Nigeria, which has a $60 million investment facility for African and American companies to apply to and create proposals for a variety of USAID funding. The mechanism has been popular, and USAID is exploring similar funds in other parts of the continent, with such hubs offering an opportunity to connect with more companies that have an interest in Africa and an avenue to source deals for Prosper Africa. USAID is also considering a new continentwide trade and investment program that “would complement the U.S. government trade and investment tools through more customized services,” including business consulting, transaction facilitation, and targeted policy interventions, according to Maloney. The program would build off regional efforts, allow the agency to have a continentwide approach, and make it a bigger part of the focus. But that growing private sector focus will not mean pulling back in other areas, he said, adding that it is about applying a market lens to all of the agency’s operations. “The work that we're doing under Prosper Africa and some of these pieces that we're doing with the trade hubs — this helps that become a reality,” he said. Financing self-reliance A key part of the “journey to self-reliance” efforts is the Financing Self-Reliance initiative, which the agency has been preparing for the past two and a half years, Maloney said. The initiative aims to reach beyond just domestic resource mobilization to look more holistically at ensuring that countries have appropriate public financial management, transparency and accountability, and the right private sector and capital market policies to help them succeed in mobilizing and effectively managing their development funds. On the issue of debt, USAID is looking to provide technical assistance to countries so they can evaluate whether they are making a good deal and support capacity-building for negotiations, he said. Transparency and accountability are key, and USAID is working with civil society to improve both in some countries, especially now with COVID-19 funding, Maloney said, noting that the agency must always ensure taxpayer dollars are well spent. “If we have problems, we will demand appropriate accountability. Otherwise, I think we want to make sure that we are doing the best we can for our African partners,” he said. “So if we need to think through other partnership models, other types of modalities, other ways to think through our resources — if that's what it comes to, that's where we might go.”