The nine principles of reconstruction and development

Parameters, Autumn, 2005 by Andrew S. Natsios

USAID incorporates the principle of results throughout all its programs and operations in over 80 countries in which it has field missions. The rationale underlying this principle is that when an agency is obligated to consider programmatic impact from the beginning stages, this will lead to more clearly defined and strategically focused objectives. Since 1993, the notion of managing for results has emerged as an explicit core value of the agency. When deciding whether to implement a particular project, the agency applies a "results framework" that visually depicts the objectives to be achieved by USAID and through the contributions of other donors and actors.

Likewise, the results principle is equally integral to military science. The principle of the objective directs that "every military operation should move toward a clearly defined, decisive, and attainable objective," and that officers must understand strategic aims, set appropriate objectives, and ensure these objectives contribute to overall unity of effort. (21)

Two examples of USAID's reconstruction and development work in Afghanistan demonstrate the results principle in practice:

* It is vital that Afghanistan establish a legitimate and democratic government if it is to achieve a lasting measure of political stability. To assist in that objective, USAID supported the government of Afghanistan in its October 2004 presidential election. Over 11 million Afghan-born voters registered in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. USAID supported the hiring and training of approximately 120,000 polling workers by the national election commission, and it provided support in setting up 22,000 polling stations and 5,000 polling centers. On the 9 October election day, approximately eight million Afghans voted, 41.3 percent of whom were women. (22)

* Instability, coupled with the region's four-year drought, had devastated Afghanistan's food production capacity. In response, USAID established the Rebuilding Agricultural Markets Program (RAMP), which focuses on all aspects of the agricultural sector, including such elemental requirements as providing seeds and fertilizer, rebuilding rural roads and bridges, improving access to markets, vaccinating livestock, and extending micro-credit lending. To date, RAMP has assisted 588,000 farmers, and has vaccinated 2.3 million livestock per quarter. Its microfinance component has disbursed more than $700,000 in loans to some 9,500 borrowers. The program has improved irrigation in more than 840,000 acres and established 17 village-based seed enterprises, producing an estimated 4.3 million metric tons of cereal crops for 2005. (23)

The National Security Strategy emphasizes that the United States must "insist upon measurable results to ensure that development assistance is actually making a difference in the lives of the poor." (24) The principle of results reinforces this sentiment by requiring development agencies to focus attention on the actual impact of foreign assistance investment.