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Funding for twenty schools in Afghanistan, Kristof noted, would cost the same as sending a single soldier to serve there for one year, and these schools could provide a valuable alternative to extremists’ teachings and prepare locals to start their own successful businesses and develop the country on their own.   Kristof praised Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who has been a major proponent of increasing the role of development in U.S. foreign policy, noting that there are more people in the military’s various marching bands than there are diplomats in the State Department.

Kristof pointed to the work of USGLC coalition member CARE as the good example of education programs that have had an impact on the ground: “CARE, a humanitarian organization, operates 300 schools in Afghanistan, and not one has been burned by the Taliban.”  He concluded that, ensuring that the United States retains the world’s most formidable military force is critical, but without the foreign policy pillars of diplomacy and development, America will be ill-equipped to face the current challenges of the world we live in.

Now, 6 months later, it is evident that, although much remains to be done, our foreign aid has made a profound impact on helping the country recover. Following the deaths of 230,000 Haitian citizens and the displacement of another 1.5 million, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) led “the largest urban food distribution in history,” feeding over 3.5 million.

It also helped provide emergency shelter and medical vaccines to over 1 million Haitians, and helped coordinate billions of dollars in aid pledged by governments and NGOs. Clean drinking water is now more available to poor Haitians than it was before the earthquake.

Former President Bill Clinton—co-chair of the international commission overseeing all foreign aid to the country—stated that he is optimistic that Haiti’s economy and quality-of-life will be better than it was before the earthquake hit once all the pledged outside assistance has been provided. The American government has sent about $100 million of the $1 billion+ promised.

Significant progress is being made, and Haiti can be transformed into a much healthier and safer place, but only as long as there is sufficient funding to continue recovery efforts beyond just laying the groundwork.

It’s this diversity within Islam that Pandith says people need to be more aware of, for it not only creates more educated policies in the West and reduces intolerance, but it also provides Muslim communities with examples of how other Muslims are approaching societal issues and retaining their religion within different cultures. She went on to emphasize that this public diplomacy and the development projects that accompany it are essential to combating terrorism and oppression, which military action can only weaken temporarily, saying that we need “a dual-track situation where we’re working on hard core foreign policy issues, but we’re also working to increase the opportunity in terms of economic aid, in terms of development, in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship being used as tools…”.

In order to meet the first Goal of “eradicating extreme poverty and hunger,” the report states that the U.S. must continue to prioritize its Feed The Future initiative to educate rural farmers on the best farming practices and provide them with the necessary initial resources. The initiative has already demonstrated success in teaching others how to develop sustainable agricultural and business procedures so that communities can feed themselves without relying on outside aid. Similarly, InterAction points out that the President’s Global Health Initiative must remain fully funded and increasingly focus on partnering with foreign governments and communities to find holistic solutions to improving quality healthcare access in the long term. Also amongst the recommendations is that the White House launch a “Global Education Initiative” to promote the expansion of primary education to all, in accordance with the second Millennium Development Goal. Basic education improvements will create new job and business opportunities and better prepare the world’s poorest to take advantage of opportunities and gain more control over their community’s economic and political future. InterAction weaves a strong thread through all of these recommendations for fixing problems for the long term so that poor communities can lift themselves to a higher standard of living that lays the groundwork for a stronger economy and more stable government. It also emphasizes getting the most out of every dollar to do so, proposing more accountability offices in both the federal government and at intergovernmental organizations like the UN to oversee that development funds for programs are spent as efficiently and effectively as possible.

You can read InterAction’s full set of recommendations here.

The President’s $58.8 billion International Affairs Budget request has a major role to play in how effective the United States can be in bolstering exports and competing in the global marketplace. Today more than 1 in 5 U.S. jobs are tied to global trade — and the fastest growing markets for U.S. export are developing countries, totaling nearly half of U.S. exports. And just last week, Land O’ Lakes CEO Chris Policinski wrote in Roll Call that “we can create thousands of jobs for working Americans by developing new markets. In fact, the process has already begun. Over the past four decades, international trade has tripled as a share of our national economy.”

Watch what President Obama had to say about the National Export Initiative back in March

As China, India, and other countries continue to bolster their economic prospects by investing abroad and reaching fresh markets in the developing world, the United States must do the same if it hopes to retain its global economic leadership. In his announcement, the President highlighted that “95 percent of the world’s customers and fastest growing markets are beyond our borders.  So if we want to find new growth streams, if we want to find new markets and new opportunity, we’ve got to compete for those new customers – because other nations are competing for those new customers.”

This will require more than just domestic policy reforms to incentivize American businesses and help them expand. In order to double exports and, most importantly, remain competitive long term, the U.S. has to invest in economic development abroad. Across the developing world are billions of people who represent vast, untapped markets for American products. Committing the funds now to help the world’s poorer communities develop local businesses that will raise their incomes and their ability to purchase goods is critical. China and other economic competitors are already pouring billions of dollars into impoverished African and Asian communities to create millions of new consumers for their nation’s companies. America ought to do the same. The Chinese government’s direct investments in economic, education, and healthcare improvements have built up new markets, access to natural resources, and loyalties that have helped its trade with Africa rise from just over $10 billion in 2000 to likely over $100 billion this year.

In the United States, the International Affairs Budget supports similar development programs across the world, promoting the establishment of successful new markets along with democratic governance to enhance political stability. If we invest in the developing world now, it will create more jobs and prosperity at both ends in the years to come.

by Chris Policinski

Roll Call:  June 30, 2010

This weekend, business leaders, heads of state, journalists and leading thinkers will be gathering in South Africa for events of the utmost importance for both the U.S. and the developing world. No, not the World Cup, but the 2010 Global Forum, convened by the editors of Time, Fortune and CNN.  This year’s forum will focus on the many economic opportunities that exist in the developing world — opportunities that stand to benefit both the citizens of developing countries as their economies grow and the wealthy countries that are able to partner effectively with these emerging economies. The reality is that investing abroad is an essential part of America’s economic recovery.

When jobs are scarce and economic times are tough, we can’t ignore the fact that the fastest-growing markets for America’s goods are in developing countries. These countries represent 40 percent of U.S. exports already, but there are more people overseas who would buy American products if we just opened the doors. We can create thousands of jobs for working Americans by developing new markets. In fact, the process has already begun. Over the past four decades, international trade has tripled as a share of our national economy. Despite all the talk of the decline of American manufacturing, U.S. exports account for one out of every five American jobs…

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Chris Policinski is the CEO of Land O’Lakes Inc. and is on the board of the U.S. Global leadership Coalition.

Shah also highlighted that the Administration recognizes the key to both improving global health in the long term and doing so efficiently is to develop locally-operated health services rather than providing solely direct aid year after year. The United States will be “rooting our investments in those who will ultimately be seeing them through: [host] governments, NGOs, and the private sector,” so as to establish “the conditions that will reduce the need for future aid.” Shah also stated that “major operational reforms” are being introduced to USAID in order to foster “entrepreneurial energy and evidence-based decision making.” By cutting out unnecessary paperwork and administrative red tape, he hopes to give USAID employees more time to actually work with patients and communities on the Global Health Initiative and encourage them to come up with locally-appropriate solutions. He said it was this entrepreneurship and bending of the rules that allowed USAID to respond effectively to the earthquake in Haiti and has given birth to new tools like “text-4-baby,” which takes advantage of the increased ownership of cell phones in the developing world to text maternal and child health advice to poor and rural mothers.  Shah also insisted that USAID would increase monitoring and evaluation of all its projects to ensure money is only going to programs that work through “results-based financing.”

Watch USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah’s full speech here.

The G20, which represents 85% of the global economy, has fallen short of its pledges for funding international development, according to the report. Jubilee says that of the $50 billion promised at their April 2009 meeting in London, less than $25 billion has actually been put forth. Moreover, commitments made to double aid to Sub-Saharan Africa are $18 billion short. The report card on the G20’s progress gives “F”s in meeting the need of curbing tax havens, increasing IMF and MDB lending, developing standards for responsible finance, supporting trade finance, fulfilling past aid pledges, forgiving unsustainable debts,  and addressing climate change. Their “overall performance on behalf of the poorest countries” was graded as a “D” because of their unaccountability, lack of political will, and contribution to renewed debts in poor countries. “In the 78 poorest countries where the vast majority of the population live on less than $2 per day,” there have not been the substantial improvements needed. G20 governments are eager to receive the initial praise for making substantive promises to fight the lack of food, healthcare, and education in the developing world, but haven’t had the political will to follow through, the report says. Hollow promises only lead to more suffering and instability in the world’s poorest places, threatening not only locals’ well-being, but the prosperity and security of industrialized nations as well.

Shah cited USAID’s response to the recent disaster in Haiti as an example of the rising entrepreneurial spirit in their agency. USAID looked for innovative ways to help Haitians in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, when the normal channels for requesting and receiving resources for humanitarian aid were proving cumbersome. The Agency purchased local food stockpiles, for example, and distributed as much as they could get immediately, eliminating the waiting time for official food assistance to arrive from the US. They also partnered closely with the military to restore the Port-au-Prince airport and operate it at three times its standard capacity, to get food and other supplies on the ground and distributed across the country in record time. As a result, USAID and the World Food Program were together able to feed 3.5 million Haitians, and the United States ensured that over one million received vaccinations. Now, months later, USAID continues to work in Haiti and has made it a priority to operate jointly with locals (like water truck drivers who distribute chlorine tablets for them as they deliver water, helping cut diarrheal diseases by 12%) and NGOs (like the Gates Foundation, with whom they are teaching Haitians how to use cell phones to effectively manage their financials and develop businesses).

Shah’s reform efforts match the ever-increasing need to efficiently and innovatively meet challenges around the world, both for humanitarian recovery and for stabilizing communities as a matter of national security. With these reforms and continued support for the President’s Feed the Future and global health initiative, the United States could move back on target to meet the Millennium Development Goals, which include halving the worldwide total of hungry people.

In her speech, she declared that over the next 5 years the Foundation will invest $1.5 billion into making childbirth safer and reducing infant mortality. Each year hundreds of thousands of women die from pregnancy-related causes that could have easily been avoided if they had access to basic medical education and resources. Likewise, almost 8 million children under five years of age are expected to die this year alone due to malnutrition and insufficient medical care.

She outlined how the Foundation will support comprehensive, integrated training programs for health workers in the developing world, provide the basic vaccines and other medical resources necessary, promote lifesaving practices that mothers can follow to keep themselves and their children healthy, and expand the availability of voluntary family planning services in poor urban areas. “The Gates Foundation is joining many others in the global health community in working toward a more integrated approach to women’s and children’s health,” she proclaimed. “Women and children have a continuum of needs, and we must design health programs accordingly.”

Mrs. Gates also insisted that governments around the globe prioritize such efforts as well, and work together through the G8 and UN to achieve results that can save millions of lives. “This is a pivotal moment for women’s and children’s health,” she emphasized. “Canada is proposing a bold but achievable plan that can save countless lives – and I hope all G8 members will lend their strong support. The need is urgent and clear.” The G8 Summit will be held next week in Ontario, Canada.