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Saturday, April 14, 2012
US drastically reducing aid projects in Pakistan* USAID chief says US working to cut number of projects from 140 to 35 by Sept in five key areas g Move part of reforms aimed at improving distribution of billions of dollars
ISLAMABAD: The United States is drastically reducing the number of aid projects in Pakistan as part of reforms aimed at improving the distribution of billions of dollars in funding, the top US aid official said on Friday.
The total amount of civilian aid will remain the same, but the US hopes the reorganisation will producer better, higher profile outcomes that can win hearts and minds in a country where anti-American sentiment is rampant, said Rajiv Shah, the head of the US Agency for International Development.
The move comes over two years after the US launched a five-year $7.5 billion civilian aid programme in Pakistan that supporters hoped would improve the perception of America, elicit greater support from the government in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda and reduce the allure of those groups to average Pakistanis. The vast majority of aid before that went to the military.
Despite spending $2.6 billion in civilian aid, popular support for the US has actually fallen as relations between the two countries have deteriorated, and elements of the Pakistani government are widely believed to have continued backing militants killing American troops in Afghanistan.
Experts have criticised the aid mission for lacking clear goals and for not providing enough information about how the money is spent. The dominant narrative in Pakistan is that the funds have done little to help average citizens — a message the US has tried to counter.
Shah said the US has done much more in recent years than it receives credit, including providing medical training that saved the lives of an estimated 30,000 children and working to ensure that 900,000 kids were able to attend school.
But he said the US had also tried to do too many things at once in the country, which hindered results and made it more difficult for Pakistanis to see the benefits.
He did not name specific programmes likely to be cut. But he said the US is working to cut the number of projects from a high of over 140 to around 35 by the end of September in five key areas – energy, economic growth, health, education and stabilisation of Afghan border areas. “If we are trying to do 140 different things, we are unlikely to do things at scale in a way that an entire country of 185 million people can see and value and appreciate,” Rajiv told The Associated Press in an interview in Islamabad.
“We are just far more effective and we deliver much more value to American taxpayers when we concentrate and focus and deliver results.”
Shah said another potential benefit of concentrating the focus of the aid mission is that it could give the US greater leverage in pressing the Pakistani government to undertake necessary reforms, especially in the energy sector, which Washington has made its top priority.
Pakistan suffers from serious gas and electricity shortages that have hindered economic growth and increased hardship for many Pakistanis. The US has helped increase the electricity supply, but the effort will do little good in the long-term unless the Pakistani government deals with the sector’s management and pricing issues.
“You can only be effective at direct engagement with Pakistani leaders if you say, ‘Look we are big enough and important enough to your energy sector that we should have a real policy dialogue and make sure you are continuing to make these very tough reforms,’“ said Shah.
Shah said it was in US interests to continue providing civilian aid because it would help foster a more stable and prosperous Pakistan, making it a less fertile breeding ground for militants who threaten America. “Our logo and our tagline says ‘From the American People,’ but in reality this work is very much for the American people,” said Shah. apCourtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk