American Aid to Emerging Africa

...In the realm of policy, the inclination of many host governments to undertake prestige investments is a serious factor limiting the effective ness of U.S...

...The second measure would be the establishment of a fund for hiring American and other expatriate experts at the discretion of the host government...

...mission has been in the country only since 1955 and the size of the pro gram ($1.1 million) is just a fifth of our commitment to Ethiopia...

...The annual services of an Englishman can be obtained for $5,600...

...has felt it necessary to set itself up in the foreign aid business in Africa for several important reasons...

...An examination of several of the crucial areas in Africa can indicate exactly how successful this policy has been...

...The peasant must also desire to use it...

...Ethiopia, the oldest independent state in Africa, has the largest U.S...

...Africans are being trained as teachers of vocational skills at the Kampala Technical Institute...

...There are two answers to this problem...

...How effective has foreign aid proved in accomplishing U.S...

...A local training school has graduated 700 teach ers, while an estimated 2,400 Ethiopian teachers have received in-service training...

...The major U.S...

...The case of the Ethiopian Imperial College illustrates this point well: All 14 members of the first graduating class, instead of turning to secondary or vocational teaching professions, departed for India or the United States to work for post graduate degrees...

...Thus far, no concrete goals have been set for individual projects, with the result that there is considerable doubt as to what achievements are expected...

...In agriculture, it is likely to be five years from the time the extension worker is trained to the time the peasant is willing to commit all his acreage to the new techniques...

...Our total expenditure on that continent to date has been approximately $640 million—$300 mil lion from the International Cooperation Administration (See Chart I), $235 million from the Export-Import Bank (See Chart II), $40 mil lion for the Development Loan Fund (See Chart III) and $65 million from surplus agricultural commodities under Public Law 480 (See Chart IV...

...Since its independence in 1958 $1.9 million in technical assistance has been extended...

...Commodity stabilization agreements would also greatly benefit the international trade-oriented economies of African states...

...Italy, not the United States, is primarily responsible for Somalia's economic growth...

...Since 1953 Uganda and Kenya have received $1.2 million in American aid...

...nationals being priced out of the market is also strikingly in evidence in Ethiopia...

...This propensity to build "monuments...

...After Ethiopia...

...Kenya and Uganda —depends on the size and, significantly, the time-table for independence...

...Greater thrust can best be realized by greater concentration in the few sectors which promise highest returns, such as agricultural extension, vocational training and road networks...

...The level of aid in each of the territories— Nigeria, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland...

...ICA has also been working in the field of range and livestock management, instruction in the use of the plow, skinning and tanning techniques and the demonstration of modern fishing methods...

...The International Cooperation Ad ministration has been working in education since 1953...

...Hence, the ICA program is but a small fraction of the national development effort...

...In Uganda...

...programs in education should concentrate on primary schooling and vocational training...

...Most of ICA's endeavors have centered on diversification of agriculture and technical training...

...Certainly American economic assistance has been indirectly responsible for a significant improvement in the material conditions of thousands of Africans...

...ICA has also been instrumental in establishing two vocational schools and numerous community development projects...

...Export-Import Bank...

...American foreign aid to the British dependent territories is supplementary in nature...

...Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in 1958, Joseph Palmer, of the State Department's Division on African Affairs, PETER KILBY is an American free lance writer now on a two-fear visit to Nigeria and West Africa...

...To be more effective in the business of economic assistance, it would seem advisable to amalgamate all the aid functions—ICA, PL 480, DLF—into a single agency whose declared aim would be to promote economic development...

...Higher education is best left to a later date...

...Government should take to promote economic development lie in the field of foreign trade...

...These two projects, in combination with the well-drilling, have won for the United States considerable good will from the Somali people...

...aid since the first American mission in Africa was established there in 1944...

...undertaking in Somalia to date has been the drilling of 208 wells which presently yield over a million gallons a day of sorely needed water— and as a consequence, the cattle mortality rate has dropped by 15 per cent...

...Under normal conditions these bargaining points should be sufficient to persuade the host government to use its resources more sensibly...

...policies...

...The Imperial College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts, founded in 1956, has produced 28 graduates qualified for agricultural extension work and vocational train ing...

...It consists of technical assistance in the fields of agriculture and education...

...technical assistance...

...The benefit is slight while the cost is great...

...A total of $135 thousand has been expended on instruction in land use planning and irrigation farming...

...First, greater efforts should be made to instill in the host government a genuine enthusiasm for economic development, the knowledge of what it requires and the resolution to pursue appropriate policies...

...The Republic of Liberia has received a total of $20 million in U.S...

...Second, judicious use of economic leverage can promote appropriate developments...

...Even considering the more pressing U.S...

...Liberia has the largest technical assistance program on the continent...

...These are tremendous assets to the free world which must be conserved and strengthened...

...What ICA's Harold Schwartz has observed for Ethiopia is no less true for all agricultural programs: "It is not enough to simply arrange a source of good seed...

...found in almost every African state, represents a mis-allocation of scarce resources and a recurrent maintenance burden...

...The in creasing number of independent African states are poorly equipped to cope with their economic problems, and racial tension threatens the existence of many communities and even the maintenance of peace on the continent...

...Clearly, in the long view, U.S...

...Where a peasant's wants are as limited as they are in the Ethiopian society, where the standard of living is so low, and where the desire to accumulate manufactured products for use or for display does not exist, education involves more than just a simple understanding of the merits of increased production...

...WHAT HAS BEEN the impact of these foreign aid programs...

...for a two-year course in public administration...

...Inability to plan, lack of coordination and archaic budgetary procedures have meant that badly needed ICA-trained specialists have not been hired, that surplus agricultural commodities have gone unused and...

...Foreign aid is designed not only to promote short-term economic development—its success as a part of foreign policy is in large measure dependent on the continuing economic benefits it produces...

...The Ghanaian Government hires a relatively large number of foreign nationals to staff its agencies, but one important factor which has prevented the hiring of Americans is the cost differential...

...Of the non-military fiscal 1959 Mutual Security Program appropriation, less than 1 per cent, or $11 million of $1.4 billion, was allocated to Africa below the Sahara, while North Africa was given $104 million...

...Are these reforms enough...

...Roads will not only expand the market economy and attract more foreign investment, but will bring health, education and methods for increasing productivity to the bulk of the population...

...commitments in other areas of the world and the limited nature of the entire foreign-aid program, U.S...

...technical assistance program on the continent, amounting to $4 million for fiscal year 1959, of which capital contributions amounted to $1.3 mil lion...

...aid to Ghana amounted to $369 thousand...

...There have been demonstration programs in land planning, soil conservation, reforestation, irrigation, farm-to-market road construction, animal husbandry and community development...

...The use of specific project targets—such as miles of road constructed, students graduated, acres cultivated—would be valuable devices in focussing the project, creating a sense of urgency and galvanizing efforts...

...The U.S...

...Not just once, but per petually...

...A reflection of this work is the growth of school enrollment from 70,000 in 1956 to 175,000 in 1958...

...The problem is not one of devising the proper methods and refinements, but of engineering widespread acceptance of simple techniques...

...The lack of a road network probably constitutes the single greatest barrier to Liberian development...

...The aid program in Somalia differs fundamentally from American efforts in Ethiopia...

...The question of administrative competence in the African governments is equally serious...

...Development Loan Fund, ICA technical and capital assistance...

...What can ICA do to combat these tendencies...

...At the same time the College has not found sufficient numbers of qualified Ethiopians to fill its student enrollment...

...In 1952...

...In primary education, the period may be 10 years...

...THESE INDICATIONS of U.S...

...The U.S...

...Surely these are the potential ingredients for "violent and authoritarian changes...

...Will program concentration, project targets, economic leverage and intensive efforts in public administration in themselves accomplish the objective of economic growth...

...The assimilation of new skills is itself a very slow process, depending on such complex variables as social structure, religion, extent of impoverishment and the degree of contact with the external world...

...aid to sub-Saharan Africa has been woefully inadequate...

...The U.S...

...the Italian war reparation to Ethiopia is being devoted to creating a merchant marine...

...The same pattern of U.S...

...Thus, Nigeria has received approximately half of the total aid...

...To these very considerable achievements in agriculture and education must be added Trans World Airlines' personnel training and supervision of the national airline, as well as indispensible water and geodetic surveys...

...This is seen most graphically in food production and public health...

...First, the U.S., instead of expecting quick results, must recognize the long-term nature of economic development...

...It must create a desire to imitate higher cultures and materially more advanced standards of living...

...American aid since 1952 has totaled $32 million, $9 million in the form of grants...

...The U.S...

...And the exact nature of these "pressing problems" is economic...

...With such a purpose clearly stated and officially recognized by Congress, the morale and sense of mission of such an organization would be sufficient to carry out almost all of the necessary reforms...

...In Kenya, ICA is helping the Government establish a more equitable system of land tenure for the Kikuyu by assisting in a soil survey...

...On the other hand, it cannot be said that the United States has accomplished its objectives...

...Both the Liberian and Ethiopian programs have suffered from a proliferation of projects and lack of coordination...

...With the advent of a new decade, in which foreign aid will be come even more important as independence flowers all over the African continent, two important questions must be examined: •What contribution has American aid made to the economic growth of the newly independent African states...

...In the great majority of ICA undertakings, there is a considerable lag before the full impact on productivity is felt...

...As another State Department witness bluntly told the committee: "United States attitudes and policies regarding Africa's economic development can spell the difference between orderly changes in keeping with democratic ideas and institutions, and violent and authoritarian changes that arise from poverty, disease and despair...

...also helped finance a survey for Volta River development in 1958...

...The first would be for ICA to initiate a large program whereby selected nationals would be sent to the U.S...

...cold war objectives...

...the Agricultural Technical School at Jimma was established and has since graduated 175 students trained in practical farm techniques...

...Over $4 million in technical assistance has been devoted to problems of public health—the most important of which is malaria control...

...In Ghana, it is the Black Star Steamship Line, in Libya, the National Radio...

...In the category of capital assistance, $2.5 mil lion has been allocated to road construction and the rehabilitation of the port of Mogadiscio...

...policies to maximize the economic development of African states...

...American foreign aid began to go into the Rhodesias and Nyasaland in 1954...

...by laxity in this area the United States is simply making its foreign aid program that much more difficult...

...Other farming projects include research, seed distribution, pest control, improved livestock breeding and poultry and egg pro duction...

...In Ethiopia, the army requires 30 per cent of the national budget for maintenance...

...In 1959, technical assistance amounted to $2.4 million, while capital assistance, in connection with the road program, accounted for $600 thousand...

...Certain changes, then, must be made in U.S...

...for three Ken yans...

...for an American the figure is $14,000...

...similarly, improvement in public health and its reflection in greater output is gradual...

...Changes in American trade policy on these matters are long overdue...

...ICA activities have been spread over a wide range of categories: Agricultural research and extension services have been followed in importance by vocational and primary education, public health (especially malaria control), road construction, timber conservation and community development...

...But if these moderate regimes are to maintain themselves and justify their present orientations they must be able to demonstrate to their peoples...

...teacher training specialists in elementary education are advising on methods, materials and cur riculum...

...Thus, it is not strange that the millions of dollars poured into North Africa have failed to produce appreciable results...

...more money is expended on the Ethiopian airline than on the basic needs of roads and railways...

...failures in advancing aid should not obscure the fact that much of the trouble with the program is due to the policies and administrative in competence of the recipient govern ments...

...stated the point succinctly...

...Other actions which the U.S...

...wants African friendship, its best prospects are in an economically healthful continent AMERICAN AID TO EMERGING AFRICA By Peter Kilby DURING THE LAST 15 years, the United States has embarked on a significant program of foreign aid to Africa...

...Prior to 1957, U.S...

...Since 1955, Nigeria has received $2 million in U.S...

...with an authorization of $735 thou sand for fiscal 1959...

...in general, that many valuable ICA contributions have not been fully utilized...

...Ghana launched a five-year development plan last July with public investment set at $980 million...

...A closely related question is that of project targets...

...Unfortunately, no...

...Second, the primary aim of the individual national aid programs should be to effect a quantitative impact on the economy...

...Nowhere in Africa has ICA had a calculable effect in bringing about conditions for self-sustaining growth...

...A new processing system has raised the market value of Ethiopian coffee, the major export product, by 25 per cent...

...Finally, in agriculture, the sector which necessarily must constitute the backbone of any African economy, the greatest need lies in the realm of salesmanship...

...African technicians have been trained in crop research, water and soil conservation, agricultural ex tension, range management and the control of infectious animal diseases...

...security interests will be served more effectively and at lesser cost if the objective of economic development is given higher priority in U.S...

...in concrete and understandable terms, the advantages of cooperation with the West and of middle-of-the-road policies for the solution of their current pressing problems...

...There are only 950 miles of service able roads in the entire country and less than half are paved...

...If America wants African friend ship its best prospects are in a healthy Africa, an Africa where widespread social and economic development gives lasting substance and political stability to democratic institutions...

...it is also giving instruction in soil chemistry, training in adult literacy techniques and specialized education in the U.S...

...thus took the very valid position that political stability in underdeveloped areas—the objective of foreign aid—had to be strengthened and preserved over the long run by economic progress...

...Not only is U.S.-African trade substantial, but practically all development capital going into the continent is, to a greater or lesser degree, under the purview of the United States Govern ment, i.e., the International Board for Reconstruction and Development...

...Oklahoma State University, under contract to ICA, administers the pro gram...

...Although tariff policy and agricultural import quotas are seldom discussed, their potential contribution is probably larger than that of foreign aid...

...Lipon independence in October, it is likely that Nigeria will boast one of the largest ICA missions on the continent...

...As in the other African programs, agriculture has received primary emphasis, accounting for 40 per cent of all projects...

...In addition, an American specialist has advised the Federation on the development of investment opportunities for foreign capital...

...We have thus far been fortunate in Africa that the new states which have emerged—as well as those of longer duration—are governed by regimes which are moderate, friendly and dedicated to the maintenance of their independence...

...A truly effective foreign aid program demands that at certain times and in certain places substantial amounts of capital assistance be forthcoming...

...Third, U.S...