Friday, August 15, 2008

Reforming U.S. Aid to Developing Countries

Here are some recent reports on the topic:

Brookings-CSIS Task Force for Transforming Foreign Assistance for the 21st Century
With hard power assets stretched thin and confronting unprecedented global challenges of transnational threats, poverty, and pandemics, America must reform its weak aid infrastructure to leverage its soft power more effectively. While foreign assistance funding has seen the greatest increase in four decades, this has brought a proliferation of programs, policy incoherence and organizational fragmentation. Moving around the organizational boxes or increasing aid will do little to boost impact, unless there is broad agreement around a unified framework designed for 21st century challenges. This requires integrating the national security perspective of foreign assistance as a “soft power” tool intended to achieve diplomatic and strategic ends with that of a “development tool” allocated according to policy effectiveness and human needs.

U.S. Foreign Assistance: Reform to Lead in the 21st Century
Editor’s summary: In a recent op-ed, Lael Brainard and Noam Unger explore how the current global food crisis showcases America’s weakened foreign aid capacity and argue that the U.S. must modernize and reform its foreign aid system in order to lead effectively and offer real solutions to global poverty. The article was published in a recent Los Angeles Times online forum on food diplomacy.

Oxfam Applauds Congressional Resolution Making US Foreign Aid Reform a National Priority
International development and relief agency Oxfam America recently welcomed a bipartisan resolution introduced by Representatives Betty McCollum (D-MN), Christopher Shays (R-CT) and John Tierney (D-MA). The agency said the resolution, which would commit the House of Representatives to fundamental US foreign aid reform, is an important step to strengthen America’s efforts to fight global poverty.

Why the Next U.S. President Should Create a Cabinet-Level Department of Global Development
The extraordinary challenges and opportunities of today require a new vision of American global leadership based on the strength of our core values, ideas and ingenuity. They call for an integrated foreign policy that promotes our values, enhances our security, helps create economic and political opportunities for people around the world, and restores America's faltering image abroad. We cannot rely exclusively or even primarily on military might to meet these goals. Instead, we must make greater use of all the tools of statecraft through "smart power," including diplomacy, trade, investment, intelligence, and a strong and effective foreign assistance strategy.
Nancy Birdsall and Steve Radelet, Center for Global Development, January 28, 2008

On the Brink, Weak States and US National Security
"Weak and failed states pose a 21st century threat that requires institutions and engagement renewed for the 21st century.But, the security challenge they present cannot be met through security means alone. The roots of this challenge—and long-term hope for its resolution—lie in development, broadly understood as progress toward stable, accountable national institutions that can meet citizens’ needs and take full part in the workings of the international community."
Jeremy M. Weinstein, John Edward Porter and Stuart E. Eizenstat, Center for Global Development, 2004

Smart Power: Building a Better, Safer World
The extraordinary global challenges and opportunities of the 21st century require a new vision of American leadership. Advances in technology, communications and transportation allow ideas, goods, finance and people to cross international borders at unprecedented speeds. While these changes create significant new opportunities to enhance global cooperation, they also make Americans more vulnerable to threats that arise from potentially destabilizing forces. Our increasingly inter-connected world requires strong U.S. leadership to enhance global security, strengthen democratic governance, create global economic opportunities, fight poverty and disease and restore America’s image abroad. To achieve these goals, we must use smart power – the integration and appropriate application of all the tools of statecraft, including diplomacy, development, and economic policies together with defense and intelligence activities.
Center for U.S. Global Engagement, July 2007

One has a campaign to generate letters to the directors of development assistance agencies to encourage better, more transparent aid processes.

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