Kerry & Lugar Deliver Message to Obama: Time is of the Essence for a USAID Administrator

By: Staff Person
September 23, 2009

As part of the Center for Global Development’s newly launched blog – Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance – MFAN Principal and CGD Senior Policy Analyst Sheila Herrling highlights a recent letter from Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) and Ranking Member Dick Lugar (R-IN) urging President Obama to name a nominee to the vacant … Continue reading Kerry & Lugar Deliver Message to Obama: Time is of the Essence for a USAID Administrator

Obama’s UN General Assembly Address Hits Important Development Notes

By: Staff Person
September 23, 2009

At the UN General Assembly this morning, President Obama again put development at the center of his foreign policy vision, laying out an agenda for how nations can cooperate to solve some of the world’s toughest challenges, including poverty and disease, nuclear proliferation, climate change, the economic crisis, and conflict.

New Oxfam Report Calls Country Ownership the Key to Smart Development

By: Staff Person
September 22, 2009

Aid, used in smart ways, can save lives and help people get themselves out of poverty. The best hope for poor people lies in their own capacity to demand accountability and performance from their governments and invest in their own efforts to escape poverty. That is why Oxfam – an MFAN partner organization – is calling for specific reforms that make U.S. foreign aid support the efforts of governments and people to lead their own development.

Sen. Lugar Blasts Lack of USAID Administrator at Afghanistan Hearing

By: Staff Person
September 17, 2009

During his opening statement at today’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Afghanistan, Senator Dick Lugar noted that the lack of a USAID Administrator is a major problem given the importance of development to U.S. objectives.

MFAN Partners Advocate for Legislation to Strengthen USAID

By: Staff Person
September 17, 2009

MFAN partner organizations – including Oxfam America, ONE, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), and Bread for the World – are hard at work advocating for Senate passage of the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009 (S.1524).  The bill, which was introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) … Continue reading MFAN Partners Advocate for Legislation to Strengthen USAID

World Bank Urges G20 to Stave Off Poverty Crisis

By: Staff Person
September 16, 2009

Ahead of a G20 meeting in Pittsburgh, the World Bank released a paper warning that “the global recession is expected to push 89 million more people into extreme poverty by the end of 2010.”

MFAN Principal Ray Offenheiser Comments on Lack of USAID Administrator in Washington Post

By: Staff Person
September 16, 2009

MFAN Principal Ray Offenheiser Comments on Lack of USAID Administrator in Washington Post
Today for his “In the Loop” column, Al Kamen vents about the lack of a USAID Administrator by throwing out eccentric suggestions like South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) , former deputy Secretary of Defense and head of the World Bank Paul Wolfowitz, and even Bono. Outlandish nominations aside, Kamen makes a great point. The proclaimed vetting process and failure of the Obama Administration to nominate a leader for USAID is just as ridiculous.