In today’s highly fraught political climate, it is easy to assume that all issues are black and white—especially when it comes to government spending. Every federal dollar is coming under increasing scrutiny, and one area facing some tough cuts right now on Capitol Hill is foreign assistance. However, there exists a long tradition recognizing how [...]
Government-to-government assistance programs have changed dramatically since World War II from tools of Cold War diplomacy to instruments to promoting global economic growth. Our current systems of delivering assistance needs to take this new dynamic into account, as do our decisions about funding development assistance. This was part of a message delivered by President of [...]
For years, the holy grail of foreign assistance reform has been a re-write of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, widely seen to be outdated and cumbersome. After 2008, then-Chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard Berman (D-CA) began to work on such a reform bill. Control of the House of Representatives switched in 2010 [...]
President Obama, Congress, the 2012 Republican candidates for President and the American public have all acknowledged that the United States must get our fiscal house in order and reduce the federal budget deficit. But this house cleaning shouldn’t entail shuttering the windows and bolting the door to the world. The recent debt-reduction deal has made [...]
The role of business in development has sparked much debate recently, but what does it mean? For some it translates into corporate social responsibility, with business helping the local communities abroad as a gesture of good citizenship. Others see the potential for partnerships where the result is good not just for local communities abroad, but [...]
A recent paper by Joshua Foust at the American Security Project proposes a development strategy called “Expeditionary Economics” (ExpEcon) that advocates a more focused approach to economic growth, especially in post-crisis situations. At its core, ExpEcon takes lessons learned from successful business growth models to create the conditions in which local businesses can grow and [...]
The Secretaries: Conversations on Diplomacy, a new series of interviews conducted by Charlie Rose and airing on PBS, will feature Secretary of State Hillary Clinton alongside each of her living predecessors, discussing how U.S. diplomacy has—and hasn’t—changed as we enter the second decade of the 21st century. The first installment aired on April 20th, featuring [...]
Today, the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) released an updated policy agenda focused on new reforms to bring additional transparency and accountability to America’s investment in international development. These recommendations are designed to build on progress that has already been made and make U.S. programs more effective at alleviating poverty, eradicating disease, and driving sustainable [...]
Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, recently released a report, “Fraud and Abuse of Global Fund Investments at Risk Without Greater Transparency” in which he says that “we must be diligent in reviewing all U.S. spending and questioning its necessity and effectiveness.” In response to concerns over recent cases [...]
With uncertainty surrounding the short-term implications of a government shutdown, it is easy to forget the larger conversation we need to have on the potential long-term impacts of the drastic cuts currently under consideration in the House 2012 budget proposal. Testifying before Congress this week, USAID Administrator Raj Shah caught the attention of many when he stressed [...]
