MAGIC_DRAFT_Summary_Statement_of_Work_for_Posting.docx

USAID/SOUTH SUDAN

Markets for Agricultural Incomes and Competitiveness (MAGIC) DRAFT STATEMENT OF WORK for comments Solicitation number SOL-668-13-000015

The purpose of this Summary Statement of Work is to provide a basic overview of the intended USAID/South Sudan Markets for Agricultural Incomes and Competitiveness (MAGIC) project and to receive comments from the broader community of implementing partners, donors, and government counterparts. Following comments and further internal reviews, USAID/South Sudan expects to release a final solicitation later during this calendar year. USAID/South Sudan intends to award MAGIC in the first quarter of FY 2015 to allow the program to prepare farmers for the first growing season in March 2015.

Background

As the world’s newest sovereign nation, South Sudan faces numerous opportunities and challenges during this critical transitional phase. USAID’s programs are at the core of the U.S. Government’s assistance to South Sudan. Broadly, USAID/South Sudan will help to: coalesce citizens around a national identity while mitigating ethnic conflict; build effective and equitable systems of democratic and economic governance; encourage robust, diverse economic growth; build a better, healthier quality of life; and foster a more resilient nation by promoting a transition from humanitarian assistance to sustainable development. To the greatest extent possible, this program supports specific plans of the Republic of South Sudan (RSS), including the international partnership framed in the New Deal Compact announced in March 2013, and related initiatives.

South Sudan has promising economic potential because of its oil and mineral reserves, possible market for ecotourism, livestock, rich soils, abundant water, and river access to international trade. However, war and extremely low levels of infrastructure, literacy, market development, and other ingredients of prosperity have kept the country extremely poor. Conflict with Sudan since July 2011 independence has closed the border to formal trade and the shutdown of oil exports in January 2012 triggered what may be the sharpest decrease of GDP in modern history.

Most households live from subsistence agriculture, with only minimal income from market production: over half the population lives below the national poverty level of about 80 cents per day, leaving about 40 percent of the population food-insecure (3.8 million residents and 750,000 refugees and displaced persons). Half of the food-insecure population is at least partially reliant on food aid, which undercuts competitive markets.

Agriculture in South Sudan

With nearly two-thirds of all income spent on food, a vicious circle of constraints makes economic and agricultural development highly challenging in South Sudan. At present, locally-produced agricultural products are less competitive than exports on the local market as a result of numerous market and production constraints. In the broadest terms:

· Low-quality inputs and poor farming methods result in crop yields less than half those in neighboring countries and farmer profits as low as one-fifth those of the neighbors.

· The high cost of labor and lack of machinery limit the expansion of farm fields.

· Low production from small cultivated areas results in only small capacities to store any surplus above household needs for later sale.

· Lack of surplus production results in few dealers interested in purchasing, aggregating, storing, or transporting crops.

· Lack of general understanding of markets and lack of specific pricing information lead farmers to distrust dealers.

· Low population densities and painful wartime experience limit farmers’ interest in cooperatives that could address these issues.

· Inefficient labor, transport, and marketing systems drive up costs, so it is difficult for local farmers and dealers to compete with the price or quality of imports.

· Low profits are insufficient to fund significant improvements, or to qualify farmers or dealers for financing.

· Undercutting all, the road system is among the worst in the world in terms of both density and quality, creating high risks and high costs to improvements; limited commercial traffic makes it difficult to rationalize or to maintain infrastructure investments.

· Lack of power supply limits investment opportunities essential for the economy.

Transformation from subsistence agriculture to farming as a profitable business requires improvements in all of these issues: yields, production, storage, transport, processing, marketing, cooperation, finance, infrastructure, and the proper legal framework. In many areas of South Sudan, it also requires improved security and stability. Several of these market failures or breaks in value chains are described by economists as coordination failures, which are country-specific and inhibit the private sector from realizing returns on investment. Markets have consistently proven incapable of overcoming the high risks and transaction costs to generate significant investment, trapping small-holder farmers in chronic poverty. To make market-based investments more attractive, development agencies can fund interventions at key points in the value chain, thereby decreasing input costs, increasing production through new technologies, and improving public infrastructure. Investor confidence in the response of other agents in the value chain can be increased through cooperatives and trade associations. Researchers have found no examples of rapid agricultural growth (“transformation”) in countries that did not have significant interventions in the sector, but have found several successful cases in which an initial phase of promoting production (creating a salable surplus) was followed by a phase of promoting low-cost and low-risk market access.

Recent strategy work with the RSS, focused in the former Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Cooperatives and Rural Development (MAFCRD), produced the National Effort for Agricultural Transformation, a country-led effort to transform South Sudan’s agricultural sector through increased production and increased incomes. Transformation strategies in each agro-ecological zone are based on five key questions:

1) What is the highest potential crop or economic opportunity?

2) What output markets will absorb increased production?

3) What are the key constraints across the value chain?

4) What is the best change model to overcome these constraints?

5) What are the necessary investments to scale this change model?

At the time of writing, MAFCRD is being replaced with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Tourism, Animal Resources and Fisheries (MAFTARF) and the NEAT initiative may be modified. Regardless, USAID FORWARD requires that programs support any country-led strategy, for example through further policy work, agricultural development, and infrastructure.

USAID/South Sudan Strategy

The MAGIC program will contribute to USAID/South Sudan’s overall strategy for an “Increasingly stable South Sudan, demonstrating responsiveness to citizens’ needs.” The draft Economic Growth Development Objective 4 seeks to expand economic opportunity through increased agricultural production, more developed agricultural markets, increased access to infrastructure, and an enhanced enabling environment.

USAID/South Sudan focuses the vast majority of agriculture interventions in the “Greenbelt” – the fertile and relatively stable agro-ecological zone that spreads across the three Equatoria States in the southern part of the country, as shown in the figure below. This is a strategic decision based upon:

· Discussions with the former MAFCRD and other donors, including for implementation of the NEAT strategy, which have given USAID a leadership role in the area, while other donors have other focus regions;

· The political stability of the area which offers the best opportunity to attract investment and develop markets;

· The relatively high population density along the southern border and along corridors connecting provincial towns to Juba (in the “Juba-shed”) offering the economies of scale essential to develop functioning value chains;

· Edaphic and climatic conditions offering the best opportunity to develop rain-fed agriculture;

· Relatively better road infrastructure connecting producers to potential markets for longer periods of the year than elsewhere in the country;

· USAID’s health programs in South Sudan are also focused in the Equatorias, offering opportunities for collaboration and synergy, especially in the area of nutrition.

Despite this focus, the overall strategy also provides enough flexibility to respond to needs and opportunities throughout South Sudan.

The overall Economic Growth strategy is diverse and requires close coordination. Programs include, but are not limited to:

· Seed development

· Agriculture productivity improvement and market development

· Higher education programs, including those focused on agriculture

· Water, Sanitation, and Health

· Private sector development, including investment facilitation in agriculture

· Infrastructure development, particularly in support of agricultural markets

· Enabling environment/capacity building

· Resilience strategies, particularly in conflict-prone environments

· Environment/biodiversity

The full results framework for the Development Objective is included below, with areas of MAGIC participation highlighted.

IR 1.1: Farming Practices Improved IR 2.3: Increased Access to Financial Services IR 1.3: Agro-input Dealers Strengthened and Expanded IR 1: Increased Agriculture Production IR 1.2: Producers’ Organizations Development and Strengthened IR 2.1: Post-Harvest Handling and Processing Improved IR 2.2: Value Chain Linkages Strengthened IR 4.2: Improved Private Sector Capacity DO 4: Economic Opportunities Expanded Overall Mission Strategy Goal: Increasingly stable South Sudan, demonstrating responsiveness to citizens’ needs IR 2: Agricultural Markets Developed IR 3: Increased Access to Improved Infrastructure IR 4: Enabling Environment Enhanced IR 3.3: Agriculture Infrastructure Improved IR 3.2: Other Trade Infrastructure Improved IR 3.1: Road Network Improved IR 4.3: Improved Legal & Regulatory Framework for Economic Growth IR 4.1: Enhanced Capacity of Public Institutions IR 1.1: Farming Practices Improved IR 2.3: Increased Access to Financial Services IR 1.3: Agro-input Dealers Strengthened and Expanded IR 1: Increased Agriculture Production IR 1.2: Producers’ Organizations Development and Strengthened

IR 2.1: Post-Harvest Handling and Processing Improved IR 2.2: Value Chain Linkages Strengthened IR 4.2: Improved Private Sector Capacity DO 4: Economic Opportunities Expanded Overall Mission Strategy Goal: Increasingly stable South Sudan, demonstrating responsiveness to citizens’ needs IR 2: Agricultural Markets Developed IR 3: Increased Access to Improved Infrastructure IR 4: Enabling Environment Enhanced IR 3.3: Agriculture Infrastructure Improved IR 3.2: Other Trade Infrastructure Improved IR 3.1: Road Network Improved IR 4.3: Improved Legal & Regulatory Framework for Economic Growth IR 4.1: Enhanced Capacity of Public Institutions

The USAID/South Sudan FARM Project

The current USAID/South Sudan Food, Agribusiness and Rural Markets (FARM) project has been operating since February 2010 and has a project life of five years. The goal of the FARM project is to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and food production in the three Equatoria States of South Sudan, with an emphasis moving smallholder producers from subsistence farming to production for markets. Increased productivity combined with increased volumes of domestically-produced food is expected to reduce food prices in South Sudanese markets and improve food security. The project should lead to higher rural incomes, improved food security and better economic opportunities for the poor. Implementation is centered on three components:

1) Increasing Agricultural Productivity

2) Increasing Trade

3) Improving the capacity of private and public sector to support market-led agriculture

More specific goals include:

Increase access to and use of appropriate technology, agricultural services, inputs and improved practices, for both men and women equally.

Address constraints to accessing markets and marketing services by identifying important improvements needed on priority feeder roads to better connect high production areas to local and regional markets.

Foster the provision of agricultural supporting services by the private sector, so that private service providers ensure equal access to services, for both men and women. In some cases, services may be primarily directed to women as the principle producers of some commodities.

Promote effective public sector service delivery and capacity to create an enabling environment for market-led agricultural development through the adoption and implementation of appropriate policies and regulations.

In response to changing priorities, the project has gone through iterations of contraction and expansion, particularly in target counties and in commodity focus. The program has benefited from a mid-term performance evaluation and a baseline impact assessment, both of which influence the current implementation and the MAGIC design. These reports will be publicly available before or in tandem with the full solicitation.

Notable successes to-date under USAID-FARM include:

· Technical assistance provided to 497 Farmer-Based Organizations (FBOs) and 10,980 farmers

· Seed distribution to allow planting on over 10,000 hectares of land

· Development of six cooperative societies, selected from the most advanced of the FBOs

· Successful implementation, in support of the former MAFCRD, of two national-level Agricultural Fairs

· An overarching agriculture policy was developed and submitted for review by the Council of Ministers, while five additional policies were successfully passed

· Mobile technology for market information was piloted using smart phones, allowing 103 farmers to sell nearly 68,000 kilograms of maize

· $1 million in grants has been distributed for plowing, land clearing, and other agricultural productivity activities

· Twenty eight public service announcements were developed into eight languages and broadcast over public and private radio stations

USAID/South Sudan MAGIC

The MAGIC project will strive for results in increased competitiveness of South Sudanese agricultural goods, improved livelihoods and increased household incomes. This will be achieved through interventions in several areas, as outlined in the components below.

Component 1: Agricultural Markets

For improved competitiveness of South Sudanese products, it is critical that agricultural markets develop in conjunction with agricultural productivity. Experience has shown that surplus commodities do exist in the country, and that many USAID beneficiary farmers have increased productivity beyond subsistence, but there is often no ability to bring this to a wider market. Learning from any failure to offload surpluses, farmers are less incentivized to produce beyond their own needs in future growing seasons. Therefore the MAGIC project will increase attention to market development, seeking private sector-led transformation that requires interventions beyond training at the farmer level. In this model, production will be driven by buyer demand, and production technologies and systems and cannot be effective without participation of equipment, input, and logistics companies. Potential private sector partners should be identified as early as possible in the planning process.

Post-harvest handling and processing: Given the very limited market services currently available to producers and traders, the project will focus on sustainable approaches and management structures for developing post-harvest handling and processing facilities. Over periods of conflict, farmers tended to relocate far away from roads, making it difficult to bring their products to market. Farmers also report that their challenges include loss of crop due to pests and poor storage facilities. The project will develop appropriate and improved transport systems, integrated pest management (IPM), on-farm storage facilities, and enhanced business-based storage facilities at or near markets. Very few processing centers in the Greenbelt are operating at sustainable levels, so the project will likewise encourage the development of private-sector processing facilities and build the capacities of the owners to operate them successfully over the long-term. MAGIC will apply lessons and successes from current pilots of new storage techniques, the results of a current assessment of processing facilities, as well as an upcoming training-of-trainers in IPM. In addition, MAGIC will pilot post-harvest handling and processing of a wider variety of products, such as fruits and vegetables, with an eye to nutrition-sensitivity.

Value Chain Linkages: Overall, the project must improve the quality and access to market information for traders and producer organizations to inform their business operations. Farmers lack knowledge of the options available to them for selling surpluses, while stakeholders along the value chain lack information about where surpluses are held and often lack the ability to reach them. An efficient dissemination of market information which will include commodity price information will provide not only a better price negotiation tool to farmers, but also a production decision making tool based on price forecast. MAGIC will benefit from pilot activities being conducted in the current project and will build on these efforts to facilitate practical and useful means and methods for distributing relevant market information to key agriculture stakeholders.

To further develop market linkages, MAGIC will facilitate new or improved win-win relationships between buyers and sellers. Linkages may start through producer organizations and traders. Other examples include: connecting producer and producer associations with other buyers interested in longer-term business relationships such as processors and exporters; facilitate contractual relationships between producer groups and buyers; introduce calendarized crop planting and harvesting, to sync their availability to market demand; and increase the effectiveness and reach of farmer groups.

Financial services: At present, only about two percent of the South Sudanese population uses formal financial services. MAGIC will not build capacity directly within the financial system nor provide direct financing, but the project will need to better understand the opportunities for improving access to agricultural services within the nascent financial system. To reduce information asymmetries and other risks, the project will identify and link creditworthy beneficiaries to financial institutions, such as the planned Kenyan Cooperative Bank and the South Sudan Agriculture Bank, plus institutions particularly supported by USAID’s Development Credit Authority[footnoteRef:2]. More importantly, the project must improve the credit worthiness of beneficiary agribusinesses and producer organizations by imparting basic business principles and by teaching responsible borrowing. As the donor community moves away from full subsidies, the demand for financial services is expected to increase over current levels. The project may also encourage and provide training on flexible financing options between input and service suppliers and farmers. [2: Current DCA partners include Finance South Sudan Limited, Equity Bank, and Kenya Commercial Bank]

Infrastructure: One of the most critical binding constraints to commercializing agriculture and increasing agricultural trade is the lack of functional infrastructure, particularly roads and power supply. MAGIC will not finance construction or improvement of feeder or major trunk roads, but the project will be relied upon to assist infrastructure programs in selecting projects that coordinate with viable market opportunities. To facilitate coordination from the outset, the full MAGIC solicitation will include a list of current and planned road projects implemented by USAID and other donors.

Component 2: Agriculture Productivity

The program will build on relevant experiences of the FARM project, but deepen the program substantially in terms of focus on building sustainable, non-subsidized systems of service provision from both the public and private sectors. Increased agricultural productivity remains a primary goal of the national government and USAID will continue to support this objective through MAGIC.

Farming practices: The FARM project has implemented a robust program in training farmers in improved seeds, labor saving devices, management practices (including small-scale irrigation), soil fertility measures, and conservation farming. The recent baseline impact evaluation showed that the vast majority of farmers in the target zone already are familiar with, and in most cases also practice, many of the technologies taught and promoted by FARM. MAGIC will therefore work to identify and address causes for gaps in knowledge and implementation of FARM technologies and focus resources only on those areas where knowledge is low.

Producer’s organizations: A recent assessment found that participation in a cooperative organization was the strongest indicator of farmer’s productivity. Therefore, MAGIC will continue to work with FBOs to train on agribusiness concepts and practices and will “graduate” them to sustainable operation and cooperative status whenever possible. Many producer groups fail to thoroughly analyze costs and benefits, labor and management capabilities prior to investing in transport, processing or other businesses, and these capacity gaps should be addressed by the project.

Agro-input dealers: MAGIC will continue to develop various approaches to foster the development of private-sector agricultural input suppliers and distribution networks to serve smallholder farmers. Activities will work to strengthen private sector service providers such as input suppliers, seed multipliers, agro-vet shops, manufacturers of ox plows and other tools, etc. through training in business, management, marketing skills, and developing business models to enable them to work profitably and sustainably within the market. The previous USAID-Seeds for Development project, implemented by the International Fertilizer Development Center, developed the skills of a robust network of agro-input dealers, with whom the MAGIC project should continue to work through as a platform. The project should also take into consideration the potential role for public-sector Community Agriculture Extension Workers (CAEWs) in providing services.

Component 3: Capacity Building

The MAGIC project will continue ongoing programs to build human, institutional and physical capacity of various levels in Sudan’s agricultural sector. The project will emphasize support with the State and County Governments to develop an approach to strengthen capacities of producers, private sector and local government to promote market-led agricultural productivity.

Private Sector: As discussed under Component 1, the MAGIC project will train local entrepreneurs and/or their associations in business, marketing, financial management and service provision. Target areas would include CAEWs, agricultural input suppliers, manufacturers, consolidators/aggregators, processors, transporters, equipment and services provision businesses, etc. There will be a need to identify possible embedded services within the businesses and assist entrepreneurs to develop innovative business models to reach non-traditional clients, including smallholders. Trust is often low between members of the agriculture community, so relationship-building will be an important and challenging aspect of the project. For example assistance may help buyers offer additional services such as extension services, transportation, and access to input.

Public Sector: The role of the public sector is to provide and implement a legal and regulatory framework that is conducive to the development of a private sector dominated agricultural sector. While the MAGIC project will work with all levels of government, it should have an increased and specific focus on building capacity cooperation with State and County-level officials, as governance that is most relevant to project beneficiaries happens at this level. Specific focus counties may be selected upon implementation based on need, market opportunities, and advantageous coordination with other USAID projects and donor programs.

RSS and State governments have likewise expressed high-priority for upgrading the extension staff at State and County levels, and strengthening the links with CAEWs, NGOs and private sector extension services. MAGIC will improve public sector capacity to provide services such as agricultural research and extension, control of public health aspects of agriculture, and control of domestic and trans-boundary animal and plant health threats. The project will support the government’s priority to build up the quality of extension and cooperative development services through a series of short courses for State and County officers. The project will also make entrepreneurship a center piece of training both government officials and farmers.

Agricultural Policy: Many agriculture-related policies have been developed and adopted over the course of the FARM project. Therefore, policy development under MAGIC is expected to be modest and implemented on an as-needed basis. Support at the State and County level for implementing nationally-accepted policies is expected.

Enabling Environment: The MAGIC project will facilitate the development of public-private sector dialogue on the policy, legal and regulatory environment between State and County governments and private sector firms including producer organizations. In addition, the project will need to strengthen the dialogue between FBOs and local officials to strengthen farmers’ voices in governance.

Component 4: Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Coordination

Malnutrition is widespread throughout South Sudan, with the three Equatorias having among the highest rates despite being the agriculture powerhouse of the country. According to the new Lancet Series on Maternal and Child Nutrition, malnutrition costs 8 percent of economic growth.[footnoteRef:3] Investing in agriculture is the best way to promote economic growth and improve nutrition in agrarian countries such as South Sudan. However, increased agricultural production and income do not automatically lead to improved nutrition – consensus among experts suggests that increased gender focus, explicit nutrition goals, nutrition education, and nutrient dense crops are also critical.[footnoteRef:4] [3: Executive summary of the Lancet maternal and child nutrition series. June 2013. http://download.thelancet.com/flatcontentassets/pdfs/nutrition-eng.pdf] [4: Key recommendations for Improving Nutrition through Agriculture. http://unscn.org/files/Agriculture-Nutrition-CoP/Agriculture-Nutrition_Key_recommendations.pdf]

Likewise, the South Sudan Agriculture Sector Policy Framework provides for the promotion of food and nutrition security and identifies lack of knowledge of a balanced diet and post-harvest handling (food storage, preservation, handling and healthy preparation/cooking) as constraints to nutrition that the agriculture sector should address. It promotes support for a large and small-scale food processing industry for improved nutrition security. The strategy also calls for strengthened coordination with the Ministry of Health on nutrition issues.

Corresponding to nutrition, widespread morbidity in South Sudan results from “hygiene-challenged environments” due to lack of sanitation, long distance to water of questionable quality, poor hygiene behaviors and low access to quality primary health care services. Many of the benefits of increased nutrition intake will not be realized if members of the household are suffering from diarrheal and respiratory diseases. USAID/South Sudan has announced a forthcoming procurement for a WASH program that will focus on improving access to WASH products and services and improving WASH behaviors, and will work in the same geographic areas as the existing Integrated Service Delivery health project (ISDP) and the FARM Project.

While MAGIC is not expected to conduct specific WASH or nutrition interventions, South Sudan is a Feed the Future aligned country and must coordinate with the WASH and ISDP programs to promote diversified diets and reduce the prevalence of households with moderate and severe hunger. The participating projects will also need to mutually monitor and evaluate activities to measure the combined impact. These efforts may be supported to some degree by the current USAID/South Sudan Monitoring and Evaluation Support Project (MESP) being implemented by Management Services International.

Innovative Grants and Public-Private Partnerships

A key implementation mechanism of the MAGIC project will be issuing grants under contract. This Innovation Grants Facility (IGF) will provide flexible funding to take advantage of new opportunities, pilot innovative approaches, provide small organizational strengthening grants to local NGOs, and private firms wanting to enter processing. It can also be used for feasibility studies for new businesses or products. In addition to grants selected by the MAGIC project implementer, USAID/South Sudan may also forward relevant grant proposals that it receives which are too small for direct funding. In keeping with the “relief to development” principle outlined below, MAGIC will place greater emphasis on cost-sharing and partnerships approaches where feasible. In line with USAID/Forward, opportunities for formal public-private partnerships, particularly Global Development Alliance (GDA) facilities, should be sought out and facilitated.

Gender Considerations

Gender is a central and cross-cutting concern for USAID/South Sudan, particularly in the agricultural sector where women provide the bulk of agricultural labor. In many value chains, women are the principal farmers, and in every value chain there are certain tasks that they traditionally handle. It will be critical to the success of the project that women have increased ability to use new practices, technologies, information and markets. The MAGIC project implementation will benefit from a targeted gender assessment that will take place in late 2013, (the results of which may not be available in time for solicitation). Analysis will ensure that gender differences are identified prior to implementation, to gain a better understanding of the role gender may play in each value chain, and therefore future impact. While reporting on gender is a requirement, more importantly, women can play major roles in the private sector that are unacknowledged. Because women are often ignored by service providers, they may not have access to the inputs needed to improve productivity. Specifically, MAGIC will:

(a) Apply analysis on gender-based roles and responsibilities in determining value chain opportunities and constraints.

(b) For interventions under its work plan, analyze any specific gender issues to consider and outline appropriate actions that will be undertaken during implementation that are important to improved market viability.

(c) The contractor will report gender-disaggregated data whenever possible and appropriate.

Guiding Principles

Throughout the MAGIC project, adherence to the following guiding principles will be key to successful implementation:

Work with dynamic and progressive individuals and leaders with the ability and incentives to catalyze the value chain. The role of the project is to facilitate changes in the market system (e.g. the value chain or cluster) where it can have the greatest catalytic effect with the least amount of market distortion. Identifying dynamic individuals, be they youth, women, government officials or private firms who are risk-takers and have the incentives to invest in the value chain is the much-preferred strategy over direct provision of services and financing by the project.

Transition from relief to development. After decades of receiving goods and services at no cost from the donor community, there is strong need to develop an identity of self-sufficiency among beneficiaries. Time-bound small grants, soft loans or starter packs may be necessary to kick start activities that will in a short time become fully commercial, but these subsidies should be provided in a way that reduces market distortions and increases opportunities. Strategies for cost-sharing should be implemented whenever possible and beneficiaries should be taught to work within the existing financial system of the country.

Market-led production and competitiveness in end markets. Many selected crops and livestock are now produced primarily for own consumption, but with surplus production, it is critical that smallholders be competitive in end markets. The initial target markets may be local (town, county) or Juba. The initial objective should be to increase competitiveness to meet the quality and price demanded by markets.

Flexibility to respond to new opportunities and changing conditions. With dynamic and even volatile markets, the project must have the ability to respond to new opportunities and to drop activities, value chains and/or approaches that are no longer viable. Any nation in transition will face unforeseen opportunities and challenges to which the U.S. Government, USAID and the EG Office must adjust quickly to be effective. As a result, the USAID-MAGIC project must demonstrate the same degree of flexibility in adapting programs in accordance with rapidly-changing needs.

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