It will certainly be a big boost to the empowerment of women, youth and the disabled in the country. The United States African Development Foundation (USADF)has disclosed that it has budgeted $30m to finance small and medium-size enterprise development projects in 18 African nations including Nigeria.

The Foundation said it would finance projects, which focus more on empowering women, youths and the less privileged ones up to the tune of $250, 000.00.

Women, youth and the disabled in 18 African nations are living better lives and realising their dreams of economic self-sufficiency, while also strengthening their countries' economies, with the help of the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF).

According to Lloyd Pierson, USADF President, the ideas for the foundation's small and medium-size enterprise development projects would come directly from the Africans themselves.

"We don't go in and say, 'Here is what you should be doing.' We want those ideas to come from the local community - for Africans to say, 'Here is what we want to do.' Suggestions," he said, "could come from an entrepreneur within that community" or from a group. It is grassroots, rural-focused development at the community level," he said.

He explained that the USADF has local non-governmental organisations (NGOs)working as business development officers to help it carry out its development programs.

He pointed out that the NGOs search out for opportunities and are constantly seeking ways to build up from the grassroots level to spur economic growth and development of the region.

Pierson -a lifelong development specialist who formerly was the assistant administrator for African affairs at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)and chief of operations for the Peace Corps - He cautioned that USADF projects tend to be somewhat small and focused, with the largest project usually not exceeding a total one-time grant cost of $250,000.

"What makes that funding so important is that USADF seeks buy-in and participatory support from the local host government. Whatever that amount of USADF money is, we want to double it with leveraged funds, some of which come from the host country, to form a partnership to spur economic and enterprise development. This gives the local government a stake in the success of the programs.

We try to leverage United States taxpayer funds that are the core revenue of this agency -appropriated dollars. ...We don't always get the matching funds, but we at least look for the host country to provide some funds, so that the goal is to double every dollar that we get. USADF's budget for fiscal 2008 is $30 million. It is important to get the money, but also important to get the commitment on the part of that country to recognize and be supportive of the kinds of populations we are serving," he said.

Pierson said the USADF programs are to be run by Africans, and any entities in which USADF invests must be 100 percent African-owned. "So we are not sending large numbers of expatriate consultants out to implement our programs. We look for Africans to build that capability internally," he said.

He disclosed that the U.S. African Development Foundation is presently working in Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.