The Foreign Service Journal, May 2004

The U.S. has been the only out- side actor in the Casamance since 2000, and there is satisfaction now, in 2004, in seeing other members of the international community follow suit. We believe that U.S. development activities in the Casamance have greatly contributed to increased sta- bility and reconciliation. Perhaps if these types of activities were implemented before a conflict erupts, much suffering and instability could be avoided altogether. Kathryn Lane Casamance Coordinator USAID Mission/Senegal There’s No Leapfrogging the Community Level During the mid-1990s, after the closure of our USAID mission, I worked as the democracy and human rights coordinator as well as special self-help coordinator at Embassy Banjul in The Gambia. With the ambassador’s approval, I made decisions on funding and dispensed tax- payer money to projects. Many good projects were launched, but at the same time projects were canceled that were not on track. Personally, I had had enough of money being thrown at unsustainable, unrealistic projects. I had witnessed the closure of our local USAID mission, which quite literally disappeared without a trace. I was at once saddened and angered, not by the closure itself, but rather the fact that it could be closed down and practically nothing of the massive amounts of time and effort expended on devel- opment remained manifest in the country. I am a fan of the self-help program. I truly believe that well-directed small investments at the community level are the key to sustainable development, and that the com- munity level must not be leapfrogged for larger, more unwieldy schemes. I have also come to realize that, without a doubt, women are the key to project success. I watched as the women and girls of the villages headed out to the fields every morning and returned from their toils with the set- ting sun, while many of the men seemed to lounge around under the shade of the baobab trees sipping tea and smok- ing cigarettes. This led me to review several years worth of self-help files, and conduct follow-up visits to numerous project sites. Almost without fail, those projects run by women and for women were the successes. The following guidelines that I employed will, I am confident, ring true elsewhere: • The idea for a project must be completely indigenous. Offer advice and guidance, but the initial impetus and the subsequent management must be local. • The smaller and simpler the project, the greater the likelihood of success and, more important, sustainability. • Focusing on community-oriented women’s groups and local women’s organizations will ensure that projects will benefit more than a handful of individuals. •While one-time investments on things like school build- ings, perimeter fences, and equipment are quick and easy, money-making ventures are better for the community in the long run. Chicken farms, wells for community gardens, arts and crafts centers are all viable sustainable projects. • Be sure to include an educational element (i.e., money raised will go into building new schools, buying school supplies, etc.). Michael Kelly Working for Justice One would never guess that South Africa’s “Big Five” game animals are playing a role in an ambitious new pro- ject to achieve a more effective and accessible justice sys- tem. The lion, elephant, rhino, leopard and buffalo inspired a unique training program to help thousands of Department of Justice employees drive the restructuring of court support services in South Africa. “Re Aga Boswa,” which means “we are rebuilding” in the Sotho language, is a comprehensive effort to trans- form court services, redefining the court environment as the nucleus of service delivery. It is a partnership of South Africa’s Department of Justice and the local NGO, Business Against Crime, with USAID. KwaZulu-Natal’s court system, where the new court services support model has been piloted, has been funda- mentally transformed — not just by structural adaptations to service delivery, but by recognizing Department of Justice staff at every level as the fuel behind a new engine. To prepare for the changes, Re Aga Boswa designed the “Habits Training Program.” It focuses on developing a partnership between multiple role players. A story called F O C U S M A Y 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 53 I truly believe that the community level must not be leapfrogged for larger, more unwieldy schemes.