EMBASSY CAIRO PLANS FOR FY 2008 D&G SPENDING

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001425 SIPDIS USAID FOR ME/LAUDATO AND ME/MEA/MCCLOUD E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2018 TAGS: EAID KDEM PHUM PGOV PREL ELAB EG SUBJECT: EMBASSY CAIRO PLANS FOR FY 2008 D&G SPENDING REF: CAIRO 1373 Classified by Ambassador Margaret Scobey for reason 1.4 (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY AND INTRODUCTION: Working in a political environment that is increasingly hostile to reform and openness, our strategy is to exploit opportunities to promote political reform and human rights, both in partnership with civil society and where possible with reform elements within Government of Egypt institutions. This includes direct funding of Egyptian civil society organizations pursuing a democractic reform agenda at the national and local levels. Through direct grants and capacity building, USG assistance, either directly to Egyptian civil society organizations (CSOs) or to US NGOs with Egyptian partners, we are simultaneously strengthening the management capacity and sustainability of civil society organizations while directly supporting reform agendas. In the case of CSOs, we are working with registered and unregistered NGOs, and civil companies engaged in civil society programs. Based on the recommendations of the recent Carnegie-led inter-agency D&G evaluation team, we are planning new programming in several areas including new media, legal advocacy, additional grassroots "rights based" programming outside of Cairo, and labor. In response to the review team's recommendations, we will review the size of our direct grants to ensure that groups can usefully and responsibly spend their funds. We expect that by reducing the size of grants we will have sufficient resources within the overall budget to work in the new areas identified above. Finally, based on the team's assessment, we plan to maintain funding for the US-based institutes (NDI, IRI and IFES) at current levels. Overall, we expect that our D&B spending in FY 2008 will be $48 million. This spending level will be possible only if the political environment for these projects does not worsen. There are some indications that elements within the GOE are clamping down on civil society, and USG-funded programming in particular. We will continue to monitor this trend and its potential impact on the operating environment. END SUMMARY AND INTRODUCTION. -------------- NEW MEDIA AND OTHER NEW PROGRAMMING -------------- ¶2. (C) An inter-agency team led by the Carnegie Endowment reviewed USAID Egypt's civil society grants program in June. Based on the team's recommendations, and taking into account what appears to be an increasingly difficult operating environment (reftel),we have reviewed our D&G program, including programs for FY 2008 funding based on new areas of opportunity identified in the recent evaluations. These include: --support for bloggers to expose them to new technologies and methods for covering current events; --training and equipment to promote use of technology such as camera phones and the internet to expose human rights abuses and report on electoral fraud; --greater support to the legal profession including human rights law and legal aid programs at universities; and --increased attention to NGOs outside of Cairo. -------------- TAKING A RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH -------------- ¶3. (C) The program review team also recommended new projects using what the team described as a "rights based approach" in our programming outside of Cairo. These programs, which would be in addition to existing grants and projects, would focus on CSOs working, for example, to improve access to justice for Upper Egyptian women on matters concerning family disputes, property rights, and assistance in obtaining national identity cards. ¶4. (C) We are also considering support for projects to explain the benefits to women of the new child law. This controversial new law, approved by the Egyptian parliament in June after a five year fight by its authors at the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, is a significant development for women and children in Egypt. It sets a legal age for marriage in Egypt, and allows women who are not married to the father of their children to receive birth certificates for those children, who may now be able to attend school. The law also criminalizes FGM. We expect, however, that enforcement will be a challenge and that public education is key to successful implementation of these reforms. The evaluation team also suggested additional work supporting labor unions. Finally, new programs wil emphasize networking among emerging social and political forces. -------------- FY 2008 FUNDING LEVELS -------------- ¶5. (C) Egypt's FY 2008 operational plan allocates $21 million for the direct grants program. In response to the review team's recommendations, we will review the size of our direct grants, to ensure that local groups are not being given larger grants than they can usefully spend and responsibly manage. We expect that by reducing the size of grants we will be able to maintain sufficient levels of funding to existing programs, and free up resources to work in the new areas identified above. Finally, based on the team's assessment, we plan to maintain funding for the US-based institutes (NDI, IRI and IFES) at current levels. Overall, we plan to spend $48 million on our D&G programs in FY 2008, and to move forward on these proposals to expedite use of FY 2008 funds. This level of D&G spending, however, will be possible only if the political environment for these projects does not worsen. There are some indications that elements within the GOE are clamping down on civil society, and USG-funded programming in particular. We will continue to monitor this trend and its potential impact on the operating environment. ¶6. (SBU) In keeping with these goals, we have revised USAID's FY 2008 operational plan for support to civil society as follows. Begin text of operational plan: 2.4 Program Area - Civil Society Egypt's civil society is fragmented, institutionally weak and has a limited role in political life. The weakness of Civil Society Organizations and political parties is exacerbated by a restrictive legal and regulatory framework. State control of media distorts the information market and limits public discourse. In addition, it stunts the growth and development of professional journalists and limits the economic viability of media organizations. "Civic Participation" and "Media Freedom and Freedom of Information" program elements are most critical to the achievement of the expected results in FY08. The participation of Egyptian CSOs in political and economic life is impeded by a number of institutional and legal and regulatory constraints, including limited financial resources, weak management skills, absence of transparency and accountability, lack of effective public outreach, and lack of technical know-how. The current law governing Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) over-regulates and makes it difficult and burdensome to establish and operate NGOs effectively. On the one hand, the GOE realizes the need for NGOS to assist with mounting socio-economic problems and the restructuring of the economy and, to some extent, the need for local activism. On the other hand, the GOE is still quite wary and suspicious of CSOs, retaining a law that can help keep potential confrontations in check. Within Egypt's constrained political and civic environment the USG has made impressive gains in strengthening Egyptian civil society and promoting key democratic reforms. Through direct grants and capacity building, USG assistance is simultaneously strengthening the management capacity and sustainability of civil society organizations while directly supporting programs in diverse areas such as political reform, political party development, election monitoring, women's rights, NGO enabling environment, civic education, anti-corruption, media reform and human rights. Grant recipients are either Egyptian CSOs that utilize advocacy, training and public outreach to broaden political and civic participation, or US NGOS that build local capacity to do so. In FY 2008, the Mission will continue to seek out organizations to support new and innovative programs in human rights, new media, civic education, political participation, legal advocacy and access to legal services (including "class action-type" cases),political and civic empowerment of women, local governance and anti-corruption. Assistance will also build on the achievements of successful projects to date, expanding work with groups that are making strides in specific thematic and geographic areas. Additionally, the Mission will explore new areas of assistance, focusing on social policy development -- e.g., policy dialogues over social issues such as access to the legal system, women's rights, labor, etc. Also, we will encourage partnerships to combat existing divisions in civil society and link weaker organizations to more experienced ones. A recent evaluation of the program determined that grants budgets may be too high for many organizations to responsibly manage. New programming will be balanced with a general reduction in grant size. We will continue to support the institutes at current levels to encourage more informed political participation and representation and more democratic and accountable electoral management in preparation for 2010 and 2011 elections. Access to objective and professional news is necessary for the purpose of transparency, public debate, and advocacy. Citizens need sufficient awareness, skills and venues to express opinions and demands. USAID continues its efforts to promote greater independence and professionalism in the media and assist Egyptian television, radio, print and electronic media to improve professionalism and both financial and editorial independence. The Media Development Program, along with grants to key media CSOs, have resulted in 1200 trained journalists, improved economic performance of state-owned and independent media and improved coverage of local economic and political issues by media outside of Cairo. Grants to Egyptian CSOs complemented these activities by documenting and countering instances of intolerance and hate speech in the print media, providing legal support to journalists, and using the internet, SMS messaging and other forms of new media to promote civic participation. In FY 08 USG funding will improve the professionalism of the media and journalists, and the quality of local media news coverage, and support the enabling environment for an economically viable media. Mission programs will work with state-owned media in anticipation of future structural and organizational reform, including possible privatization, and with independent media to help fulfill its information and watchdog role. Our funding assumptions are that 1) that USG assistance will remain at comparable levels in the future in order to support organizations and initiatives that are showing success, and 2) that Egyptian civil society organizations will professionalize to increase their absorptive capacity. SCOBEY