Evaluation of the US-Asia environmental partnership [US-AEP]

Interim evaluation covers the period 1992-2002. In its early years, US-AEP focused on establishing a recognized presence in Asia. In 1997, promoting a "clean revolution" in Asia became the program goal, with a focus on public policy and environmental regulations, urban environmental management, industrial environmental performance, and the transfer of U.S. environmental technology to Asian countries. US-AEP has been cost-effective and a model for USAID advancement of its environmental goal. To date, US-AEP has: (1) helped broaden awareness of the need to address Asia"s environmental problems; (2) pointed up the need to target assistance on specific environmental problems; (3) established a network of partners in both Asia and the United States capable of working effectively towards solving Asia"s environmental problems; (4) established a flexible management structure to ensure effective implementation and coordination of program efforts at the regional and country levels; (5) contributed significantly to U.S. sales of U.S. environmental technologies; and (6) matched over 700 Asian firms with U.S. exporters. US-AEP has formed 195 U.S.-Asia partnerships to date. Through its partnership with the Council of State Governments (CSG), 36 projects have been undertaken involving 23 states and 110 state agencies. Through its partnership with the National Association of State Development Agencies (NASDA), US- AEP has provided small matching grants to small- and medium-sized U.S. firms to market their environmental goods and services in Asia. Program grants have generated over $350 million in export revenues. The Environmental Exchange Program (EEP), funded by US-AEP and administered by the Institute for International Education (IIE), has facilitated meetings, tours, and information exchanges for 4,223 Asian and American decisionmakers. US-AEP regional and field-level accomplishments include: establishment of a Regional Environmental Center for Livestock Waste Management in Taiwan; the Water Efficiency Team (WET) project in Indonesia, which has enabled more than 370,000 community residents to receive piped water; a project to improve air quality in Chang Mai, Thailand; promotion of technology export opportunities for U.S. firms related to the Asian Development Bank-funded $175 million Pasig River Rehabilitation Project; and passage of a clean air act in the Philippines. US-AEP has approached development assistance in two new ways. One has been to tie development to U.S. exports in order to incorporate environmentally beneficial U.S. technologies into Asia"s burgeoning stock. The second has been to create partnerships to promote sustainable development beyond the reach and longevity of development assistance programs. The achievements cited above attest to the extent to which the US-AEP partnership approach has been effective in achieving these results. The approach has been particularly effective in facilitating interaction between public and private entities, in making arrangements for broad-based participation in conferences and workshops, and in expediting the replication across country lines of successful activities, such as the regulatory dialogue and country efforts to phase out leaded gasoline. The decision by Department of Commerce (DOC) to terminate its participation in US-AEP as of 9/02 has disrupted the emergence of the kind of institution that will be critically needed over the next several decades to address the serious environmental problems currently emerging in Asia. It is recommended that the US-AEP program remain within the management structure of the ASIA Near East (ANE) Regional Bureau; more specifically, that the ANE Bureau establish one or more regional US-AEP offices in Asia to directly supervise contract and local staff and to continue to improve coordination of the program with related efforts in the region.