USADF represents a vital element in U.S. government response to Africa’s most pressing challenges — one that has its roots in the reexamination of foreign assistance that has focused on the greater efficacy of small-scale development projects based on indigenous initiative and participation at the local community or village level.
A basic assumption of this approach is that it is the African people at the local community level who are best able to determine their needs and priorities and have the will to tackle their own problems, if given the means.
The existence of this local initiative as the engine for development is reflected in the volume of inquiries and requests for assistance from indigenous groups that USADF received in less than a year of establishing operations in 1980.
Two of USADF’s initial set of eleven grants, awarded in 1984, went to enterprises in Botswana. USADF awarded Tswelelopele Production Cooperative $3,400 to establish an egg production enterprise in a rural village about 60 miles north of Botswana’s capital Gaborone. Project funds were used for housing, bird feed, and international transport costs. Funds from a Swedish donor were simultaneously used to hire a project coordinator, and a Botswana agriculture officer provided training to farmers in poultry management.
USADF also awarded the Boiteko Agricultural Management Association in Serowe, Botswana $27,200 over two years for facilities improvements that enabled the group to expand its horticultural activities and develop an egg production enterprise. Project funds were used to secure agricultural and business training, develop an improved water system with protective fencing, and establish a 500-hen layer unit. A review of the project in 1998 by the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment found Boiteko’s vegetable and egg project had a high level of overall participation and noted the organization’s open management style. The 10 women members shared in all project decision making, financial reports were being presented on the blackboard at monthly meetings, and leadership rotated.