USAID director in Ukraine explains foreign aid projects (05/17/98)

USAID director in Ukraine explains foreign aid projects

by Irene Jarosewich

NEW YORK - Greg Huger, director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) mission for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, spoke at the Ukrainian Institute of America on the evening of April 27 about USAID programs in Ukraine. Since 1992, Ukraine has been allocated almost $1 billion in U.S. foreign aid, one of the top recipients of USAID funds in recent years.

USAID, the agency that manages most U.S. foreign aid, currently runs programs in all oblasts of Ukraine, programs as diverse as developing compact water purification units for use in a town near Chervonohrad, to developing law school curriculums in Crimea, to setting up a nursing education center in Kyiv. Overall, USAID programs operate in more than 350 communities in Ukraine and in more than 11 sectors, including business, legal reform, independent media, health care, energy and environment, municipal and civic development, humanitarian aid and agricultural reform.

U.S. foreign aid, according to Mr. Huger, is not charity, rather "it's a relationship of mutual interest on both sides," since Ukraine's transition to a market-based democracy is in the long-term interest of the United States. Mr. Huger clarified a common misconception that "the money really doesn't go to Ukraine," by explaining that USAID funds are never intended to go directly to foreign governments, including in the case of Ukraine, rather that it is standard U.S. policy to provide foreign aid funds to U.S. organizations, which in turn provide technical assistance to designated countries by providing professional expertise (lawyers, bankers, doctors, accountants, planners) and arranging training programs, exchanges, technology transfers, etc.

Presently, 25 percent of USAID funds for Ukraine go to programs to help the central government in Kyiv, while 75 percent of the programs are community-based and operate in the oblasts (regions); about 60 organizations are being funded to carry out USAID programs. In the next month, USAID will issue a request for proposal for a Ukrainian American organization to implement the public education aspect of the next phase of USAID market reform and privatization programs.

USAID assistance is not intended to continue forever, stated Mr. Huger, and is "part of a continuum to help put into place (economic, judicial, civic) building blocks ... and then have these processes work together." In Ukraine, USAID is "involved in the transitional period," continued Mr. Huger, "and is trying to help alleviate some of the pain."

Ukraine's transitional period has produced mixed results, according to Mr. Huger. Ukraine's foreign policy stance and political transformation into a democracy is commendable. Small business privatization (shops, salons, bookstores, restaurants) was relatively successful and is almost complete, whereas agricultural reform, especially land privatization, is moving slowly. Corruption seriously undermines legitimate economic activity and threatens to become entrenched, and the central government continues policies that discourage both foreign investment and internal economic development. Mr. Huger estimated that between 40 and 60 percent of all economic activity in Ukraine operates outside existing laws, in the shadow economy.

Among the terrible consequences of the severe economic crisis is the dramatic increase in the trafficking of women - the enticement of young and unsuspecting women into the underground world of international pornography, prostitution and forced labor by promising supposedly legitimate jobs as waitresses, models, singers and teachers in foreign countries.

According to Marta Kololmayets, the press secretary for USAID in Ukraine, who responded to questions about the problem of trafficking in women, officials estimate that since Ukraine's independence more than 400,000 women have fallen victim to illegal prostitution and pornography schemes. Ms. Kolomayets will be working on establishing a USAID-funded public education and assistance project to inform young women of the dangers of too-good-to-be-true job offers, as well as set up a job skills training program geared in particular towards naive, rural women - the ones whose isolation and lack of opportunities often makes them the most vulnerable to pornography scams in foreign countries.

One of the major obstacles to the perceived success of any foreign assistance project, said Mr. Huger, is the "merger of short-term expectations with long-term results." Often the expectations far outpace the results, and "we forget that most things will take five to 10 years to even get off to a good start. I have to explain that to our own government ... (and that we) can expect problems."

Nonetheless, Mr. Huger, who claims to genuinely love the challenge of his job in Ukraine, especially the problems, feels that Ukraine is making progress.

Ukrainian American organizations encouraged to apply for funds