A Closer Look at CGD’s Report on U.S. Development Efforts in Pakistan

By: Staff Person
June 1, 2011

Earlier we posted a summary of CGD’s newest report, Beyond Bullets and Bombs: Fixing the U.S. Approach to Development in Pakistan, and how it can be used as an important tool for policymakers as they weigh budget priorities and strategic interests, as well as advocates pushing for foreign assistance reform. The meat of the report aligns well with several MFAN priorities, such as having clear lines of authority, allowing for locally-driven priorities to set agendas, and being transparent. Below, we take a closer look at CGD’s findings and connect them to broader reform principles.

New CGD Report on Development in Pakistan

By: Staff Person
June 1, 2011

The Center for Global Development’s (CGD) long-awaited report, Beyond Bullets and Bombs: Fixing the U.S. Approach to Development in Pakistan, is a wakeup call to the White House and Congress that critiques a Pakistan policy burdened by too many priorities, measured by poor indicators, and obscured by a lack of transparency. The report, out today, makes a compelling case for continued U.S. foreign assistance to Pakistan, but pulls no punches in its criticism of U.S. policy. Simply put, CGD’s exhaustive study identifies the elements of the strategy that are not working and outlines what must be done to get the program back on track.

Tweet Stream: Secretary Clinton’s Speech on Development at the OECD

By: Staff Person
May 31, 2011

Last Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered remarks during the Gender and Development session of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris. Her speech reinforced several foreign assistance reform principles including accountability, transparency, and country ownership, but she also talked about the Obama Administration’s new development initiative—Domestic Financing for Development (DF4D). See MFAN’s live tweet stream (@modernizeaid) of Clinton’s speech below in reverse chronological order

MFAN Partner Sara Messer Explores Domestic Financing for Development

By: Staff Person
May 31, 2011

In a new blog post, ONE’s policy manager for aid effectiveness, Sara Messer, reviews Secretary Clinton’s speech on development last week during an OECD session on the subject. In the speech, Clinton expands on the Obama administration’s newest concept, Domestic Financing for Development (DF4D), though details on the initiative’s implementation remain vague. Read Messer’s full post below.

OECD Week Recap

By: Staff Person
May 27, 2011

Yesterday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) concluded its 2011 Ministerial Council Meeting, while commemorating the organization’s 50th anniversary. The U.S. served as Chair of this year’s meeting—with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leading the U.S. delegation—and Germany as Vice-Chair. The vision statement released this year focuses on coordinating policies for sustainable, broad-based economic growth and, with that goal in mind, implementing a new development paradigm.

Secretary Clinton Praises OECD’s New Framework for Development

By: Staff Person
May 26, 2011

Secretary Clinton opened today’s session on Gender and Development with remarks on the OECD’s new Framework for Development. Building on an OECD vision of engagement that goes beyond aid, Secretary Clinton pointed to three key areas for development reforms: transparency, corruption, and tax systems. She linked the three to a U.S. consensus—guided by the President’s Directive on Global Development and the QDDR—that focuses on accountability and country-led, sustainable growth, noting that progress will enable developing nations to “define their needs and chart their futures while becoming less dependent on aid and ultimately ending their need for aid altogether.”

OECD Forum Session Addresses “New Paradigms for Development”

By: Staff Person
May 26, 2011

During the first panel, speakers agreed that a “new era” where developing countries take ownership of their own development is possible so long as donor countries make meaningful investments in their potential. Panelists also seemed to agree that developing countries themselves must take responsibility for their own development by promoting sustainable growth and through more efficient mobilization of domestic resources. Atwood and Koenders—who talked about aid effectiveness in light of the upcoming 4th High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, Korea—called this a global partnership.

MFAN Partner Event 6/1 on Performance-Based Financing

By: Staff Person
May 25, 2011

Management Sciences for Health and the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, in conjunction with Representative Donald Payne (D-NJ), invite you to a briefing on performance-based financing in global health.

Preview of Secretary Clinton’s OECD Speech on Development

By: Staff Person
May 25, 2011

Secretary Clinton is scheduled to speak today at the OECD’s 50th Anniversary celebration. Her speech gives her the opportunity to push OECD countries in the right direction. We expect the Secretary to emphasize “Domestic Resource Mobilization”—the idea that poor countries themselves have to do more work to make sure that their local assets (taxes, natural resource revenue, etc) are best invested in advancing development. This is fertile ground; there is a lot more that can be done to better employ funds that are already available and under control of poor countries, without rich country interference. But we hope she doesn’t leave out what rich countries need to be doing to make this easier for poor countries.