USAID Africa: Djibouti: GOVERNING JUSTLY AND DEMOCRATICALLY

The two countries share bilateral, regional, and regional interests, including promoting peace and security in the Horn of Africa and shared priorities in health and education. Djibouti is home to many U.S. Government initiatives, including the off-shore USAID office that prepositions emergency aid for Africa and Asia, reducing delivery time by 75 percent. The Government of Djibouti has made significant advances since 2005, including the development of the only deep-sea port in the region, private sector investment, and gains in access to healthcare and primary education. The government dedicates 40 percent of its budget to health and education, highlighting its commitment to investing in its citizens. However, Djibouti's future is threatened by a lack of arable land, successive droughts, high rates of livestock mortality, chronic food insecurity, urbanization, a severe lack of a skilled workforce, high disease rates, an influx of refugees, and nascent political systems. Despite its turbulent post-colonial history, Djibouti has made progress toward developing a stable and potentially democratic political system. However, nascent systems and a lack of human capacity have resulted in calls for greater transparency. To move forward, the Government of Djibouti must build confidence in the electoral process by strengthening the electoral management and procedures, improving voter participation, and engaging in constructive dialogue with the opposition. The opposition must also demonstrate a willingness to engage in constructive dialogue to find solutions to grievances. The upcoming elections will serve as a major milestone for Djibouti as it gradually shares power with non-ruling coalition actors. In an effort to foster this progress, USAID assistance will focus on increasing political participation and competitive participation by working with the Government of Djibouti, the Electoral Commission, and civil society organizations. The U.S. government has provided humanitarian assistance and economic development to those in need around the world since the Marshall Plan. USAID assistance will support credible election management, voter education, effective oversight of electoral processes, and the participation of political parties. The Government of Djibouti's commitment to good governance is evident in its dedication of 15.5 percent of the national budget to the Ministry of Health. However, the capacity of service delivery is extremely limited, and despite significant investments in the health sector, many recent gains have slipped due to weak structures, mismanagement of donor funds, and weak service delivery within the Ministry. USAID's anti-corruption programming has strengthened the Office of the Inspector General and Parliamentarians in performance procedures and performance procedures to request inquiries. The program has increased awareness through public service announcements on Radio Djibouti and improved systems and procedures to guide performance, financial management, and service delivery capacity.