Funded Tourism of United States Agency for International Development - Assignment Example

USAID Funded Tourism Projects USAID is an abbreviation for United States Agency for International Development. It was formed in November 3, 1961 by the then United States president John F Kennedy to give a helping hand to the struggling counties to improve their life condition, disaster recovery and give the people development strategies that will help improve their lifestyle (BUTTERFIELD 2000, pg89). It has it’s headquarter located in the Ronald Reagan building Washington, D C. It covers places such as Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe. USAID is funded by the United States government agencies, universities, and private companies. USAID is involved majorly in countries in need such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Thailand, Pakistan and Djibouti. The kind of help they offer can be subdivided into two major categories of either financial or technical (ESSEX 2013, pg76). Technical are knowledge based and involve giving advice to people or organization, training, offering scholarship for students to enhance their knowledge, giving help in some material form depending on situation and finally doing construction work which might be from scratch or meant for rehabilitation (CRANE 2009, pg45). However much support come in terms of financial solution especially in areas where they are call upon to assist or get involve indirectly when an NGO they fund is engaged in the given project. United States Agency for International Development initially provided financial assistance through loaning but not anymore as they now majorly use no reimbursable grants. USAID is never independent as it may appear but works in line with the foreign policy under the close guidance of the secretary of state and the national Security Council. This entire development agenda are implemented courtesy of the authorization from the congress in an act of parliament referred as foreign assistant act (USAID overview, 2013). Normally the objectives of most the project is not primarily tourist oriented like in the case of dam constructions but on conclusion the project ends up being a tourist attraction point. Depending on the nature of the surrounding fall, the landscape and information dissemination (advertisement) about the fall, a lot of tourist may come in to admire the micro weathers, the environment shape, the energy change and constructions system all attract attention. Tourism is one of the world major source of employment and it help raise the GDP of a given country. Therefore tourism has been viewed as a key to promoting development hence helpful in achieving the USAID strategic objectives which is economic growth, poverty reduction, biodiversity conservation and natural resources management (USAID overview, 2013). Pakistan-KOHALA hydropower project This project is located along the Jhelum River adjacent to Siran village which is located 174km Islamabad (BOYER 2009, pg67). This region is under the district called Muzaffarabad. The major vision of the project is as a result of Pakistan strategy to develop water resources through dam control and at the same time ensure stable and sustainable generation of energy. This is an ongoing project in Pakistan that is funded by the USAID and its aim is to enhance development through increasing: Power generation. Dam is constructed along the river flow to increase its sustainability by increasing same rate fall from the raised walls. The dropping water (fall) is directed onto a turbine which when rotated is converted to electrical energy that is so important to the economy. Economy especially in the industrial error require large amount of power to sustain and run the various servicing and production industries. Introduction of fish culture Dams form artificial lakes that can be a good surrounding for fish planting. Since the lakes are normally not that big, it makes fishing easy and more sustainable. This is a good source of capital if well managed and due to scarce fish in the area, it can be very costly to purchase. Tourism Tourism is attraction that is commercialized and the better the structure and the better and the easier marketing strategy. They earn the country a lot of foreign exchange, increase inter-country relationship and source of employment. Already study shows that Pakistan will be suffering future water shortages and that call for proper planning. Irrigation and agricultural sustainability. More stable water is made available for agriculture and modern mechanized irrigation system of agriculture. It is easier to mechanize than when it is left free. The farms can be located adjacent to the pump or mechanized system used to support the system. Pakistan economy is depended on agriculture but unfortunately the rain water in this region contributes less than 15% hence agriculture is depended on agriculture. Navigation Networking is made easier through cross over water system that is now wide enough to accommodate various vessels. Larger dams are good at this as the width and depth of the river can normally tolerate larger vessels. It can be referred to as inland water ways due to their location in relation to other water bodies. Flood management Flood is caused when water breaks its banks and the water has lost control hence damage properties. However this is rarely experience when the flow is control through raised dam built to restrict quantity of water flowing through. The project is extensive and already two reservoirs are already completed. The diamer-Basha Dam and Kurram Tangi will produce 4500MW and 83.4MW respectively. However some USAID funded projects are not yet complete are not yet complete as shown below: 1. Upgrading & Rehabilitation of Tarbela Power Units US$ 16.5M 2. Gomal Zam Project US$ 85M 3. Waran Canal (under Gomal zam) US$ 12M 4. Satpara Dam US$ 26M 5. Upgrading of Mangla Power House US$ 85M The project has to have provision for improving the water efficiency and they have done that through use of use of high level micro irrigation technique that uses drip and sprinkler system on small and medium dams. Also that is incorporated with underground water reservoir, canal lining and treatment system for effluent water. Apart from the funding, United States Agency for International Development has appointed a general consultant that is mandated to oversee the capacity improvement process (HIRA & PARFITT 2003, pg112). It has a remote sensing system incorporated to assess the hydrology; Glacial melts under global warming as a result of climate change. The facility has a training system under the staff capacity building of the WAPDA staff that is involved in encouraging, strengthening and upgrading of the training institute to make it more resourceful ( The natural resource information). The project has a large expectation in that it is expected to reduce the power shortages all over the region. It is approximated that complete finish of the project will come in 2020 December at a cost of US$ 2498 Million. The project is economical since the cost of electricity will be subsidized and the benefit got from irrigation, fishing and navigation makes it a viable project (UNITED STATES 2005, pg45). The project is going to be a success since it experiencing very few challenges that will soon be overcome. The release of funding is one cause of delays as not all the funds are release at the same time. Apart from the project above, USAID has also in the past been engaged in tourism improving development activities like; 1. Bulgaria-Biodiversity conservation and economic growth (2000-2004). The project had the objective of accelerating development by making private firms more competitive. To do this it had to achieve increased and better informed citizen participation with informed decision making techniques. Therefore the public had to be engaged in key development issues and have target groups involved in national parks participation and decision making. 2. Croatia-industry clusters (2001-2004). The project was to ensure growth by increasing by increasing competitiveness and dynamism in the private sector. Even though the overall objective was to increase microeconomic and foreign investment climate, tourism had it share and was viewed as one way of strengthening and opening Tourism Avenue. 3. Ghana-CBEP (1990-2010). The project was aimed at economic growth and it was done on 7million dollar budget. Other objectives of the project was to open up exportation, increase private enterprise performance, increase agriculture and enhance tourism industry. It was an initiative to integrate several tourism sub focused objectives into a strategic USAID goal to develop 14 community based ecotourism destination between 2002 and 2004. 4. Jamaica-Environmental Audit for sustainable Tourism (EAST), (1997-2005). The project had the strategic objective of improving quality in key natural resources in selected areas that were considered to be environmentally and economically viable. It had to help improve waste water management through assisting the government comes up with a environmental policy that will be vital in coastal zone management, watershed management and sustainable tourism. 5. Pakistan-kohala hydropower project (ongoing) 6. Sri Lanka-Competitiveness initiative (1999-2004). The project named the Sri Lanka competitiveness initiative –Tourism cluster was done on a budget of 11millions dollars. This project was aimed at increasing their global competitiveness in the marketplace. It was to bring cluster of industries that included ceramic, coir, jewelry, spices and tourism. 7. Tanzania-Coastal Management (1997-2003). This was aimed at increasing coastal wildlife resources conservation and was done on a 3.5million dollar budget. The approach was to improve accessibility to the coastal tourism area, promote local in investing in the sector, and identify cultural and biologically diverse area for coastal tourism developments. This was also to improve coastal ecosystem, marine-culture, and industrialization and gas exploration activities. 8. Jordan-AMIR (2002-2006). This was meant to facilitate a system of improving economic opportunity of the Jordanians. It was done on a budget of approximately 80million dollars. This was to be achieved through promoting broad based economic activation through policies that create reforms in business management, financial market development, and information and communication technology. 9. Namibia-LIFE 1993-2009). Name the living finite environment, the project was managed on a budget of 17million dollars and had the strategy of increasing the benefits the Namibians who were considered disadvantaged received from sustainable local management of natural resources. 10. Mexico-Selva Lacandona (2000-2003). The project had the aim of achieving strategic planning in the conservation and sustainable development. Its focus was to create joint strategy used in the conservation of biodiversity, improving the system of critical areas such as lacandon forest. The community in the Lacandon indigenous community had to receive training on how to better manage the protected areas United States Agency for International Development operates with less than one percent of the federal government budget to; To help improve economies. Support fight for democracy and good governance. Help support human right related activities. Global health. Support food security and agricultural issues. Training and education. Assist regions recovering from conflicts. Humanitarian issues in areas with ongoing natural and manmade disasters. In conclusion United States Agency for International Development has been involved in many projects all over the world. It run projects that are running for less than five years and sometime they are renewed and end up taking more than the budgeted period (WORLD BANK 2005, pg201). They continuously assess the success viability of the projects through a detail report that analyses the running of the project and compare with the expectation. In cases where the projects are managed in non ethical way that doesn’t go with the doctrine of USAID, the project may be terminated or relevant recommendations requested that can help improve the performance. All programs under United States Agency for International Development have goals that need to be achieved especially within the located time (UNITED STATES 2005, pg132). References BOYER, B. N. (2009). Audit of Usaid/Afghanistan's local governance and community development project in southern and eastern regions of Afghanistan. Darby, PA., Diane Pub. Co. BUTTERFIELD, S. H. (2004). U.S. development aid: an historic first : achievements and failures in the twentieth century. Westport, Conn. [u.a.], Praeger. CRANE, K. (2009). Guidebook for supporting economic development in stability operations. Santa Monica, CA, RAND Arroyo Center. DAVIS, B. G., & HAWORTH, H. F. (1963). Review of USAID water resources development project, Somali Republic. DAVIS, B. G., & HAWORTH, H. F. (1963). Review of USAID water resources development project, Somali Republic. ESSEX, J. (2013). Development, security, and aid: geopolitics and geoeconomics at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Athens, University of Georgia Press. ESSEX, J. (2013). Development, security, and aid: geopolitics and geoeconomics at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Athens, University of Georgia Press. HIRA, A., & PARFITT, T. W. (2003). Development projects for a new millennium. Westport, Conn, Praeger. UNITED STATES. (2005). Independent media development abroad: challenges exists in implementing U.S. efforts and measuring results : report to the Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate. [Washington, D.C.], GAO. USAID overview, retrieved 3/12/2013, 12.50 noon WORLD BANK (WASHINGTON, DC). (1994). Indonesia environment and development. Washington, DC, World bank. Bibliography FASS, S. M. (1988). Political economy in Haiti: the drama of survival. New Brunswick, N.J., U.S.A., Transaction Books. JACKSON, J. T. (2007). The globalizers: development workers in action. Baltimore, Md, Johns Hopkins University Press. LANCASTER, C. (1999). Aid to Africa: so much to do, so little done. Chicago [u.a.], Univ. of Chicago Press. LEE, D. R., & BARRETT, C. B. (2000). Tradeoffs or synergies?: agricultural intensification, economic development, and the environment. Wallingford, Oxon, UK, CABI Pub. ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT. (1998). United States. Paris, OECD. PIŠČIKOVA, K. (2006). Lost in translation: USAID assistance to democracy building in post-communist Ukraine. Amsterdam, Dutch University Press. The natural resource information, clearing house. USAID and sustainable tourism: meeting development objectives. BIOFOR IQC: LAG-1-00-99-00014-00.Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Travieso-Díaz, Matías F. The Laws and Legal System of a Free-Market Cuba: A Prospectus for Business. Westport, Conn: Quorum Books, 1997. Print. http://photos.state.gov/libraries/china/705061/usaid/About%20USAID.pdf http://www.unops.org/english/whatwedo/partners/Pages/USAID.aspx Read More