Local Voices and Resources Are the Ultimate Answer in the Fight Against Poverty

By: Staff Person
April 18, 2014

See below for a guest post from Carolyn Miles, President and CEO of Save the Children and MFAN Co-Chair. *** This week, the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) released a policy paper – The Way Forward: A Reform Agenda for 2014 and Beyond – urging the U.S. Government to work more closely than ever before … Continue reading Local Voices and Resources Are the Ultimate Answer in the Fight Against Poverty

Charting A Way Forward on U.S. Development Policy

By: Staff Person
April 16, 2014

These next two years are an important window of opportunity for U.S. aid reform. The midterm elections in 2014 are certain to shake up the membership of Congress. In 2015, the Millennium Development Goals will expire and a new global development agenda will take its place. And 2016 will bring a new administration and further changes in Congress. We urge the Administration and Congress to work together to institutionalize the important reforms that have already been introduced and continue to push forward on strengthening country ownership and accountability.

U.S. Pace on Aid Transparency Won’t Cut it for 2015 Deadline

By: Staff Person
April 8, 2014

Development leaders from around the globe will gather in Mexico City next week for the first high-level meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. The Global Partnership was established at the Fourth High Level Forum in Busan in 2011 and brings together a wide range of development actors working towards more effective, sustainable, and impactful development results. Today, 161 countries and 54 organizations have endorsed the Global Partnership Principles, including the United States.

5 things the US government is doing to make foreign assistance more effective

By: Staff Person
April 2, 2014

President Barack Obama issued the US government’s first ever US Global Development Policy in September 2010. The policy clarifies that the primary purpose of US development aid is to pursue broad-based economic growth as the means to fight global poverty. The US Global Development Policy also offers a clear mandate for country ownership—that is, leadership by citizens and responsible governments in poor countries—is how the US government will support development. The US has been moving in this direction since the George W. Bush administration.

New MCC-PEPFAR Partnership Aims to Boost Ownership

By: Staff Person
April 1, 2014

The 2010 QDDR called for the U.S. Government to change the way it does business, particularly, “work smarter to deliver results.” A new memorandum of agreement (MOA) between PEPFAR and MCC announced last week could do just that. Over the next three years, MCC will help PEPFAR increase host-country responsibility and ownership of HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB) programming in select countries.

PEPFAR and MCC Partner to Promote Country Ownership

By: Staff Person
March 26, 2014

Last week, PEPFAR signed a three-year agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to support efforts to promote greater host-country responsibility and ownership in the US global AIDS program. Country ownership has been at the core of MCC’s mission (and structure and governance) since its creation, so it’s exciting to see a formalized agreement that will help facilitate lesson sharing and technical support between the two US development efforts.

What the 2014 National Security Strategy Ought To Say, But Won’t

By: Staff Person
March 14, 2014

Development assistance is, plain and simple, an investment in a better, safer world. And it ought to be designed to achieve maximum development outcomes. We are finally starting to learn the lessons of 50 years of development assistance, such as the importance of data transparency, program monitoring and evaluation, clear strategies with measurable goals, country ownership, use of local systems, and harmonization with other donors. Let’s not abandon those lessons by attempting to leverage aid for short-term diplomatic gains – which doesn’t usually work, anyway.

The Farm Bill reform that will feed millions

By: Staff Person
March 11, 2014

2014 is the year to do it. We expect the Obama administration to continue to push for reform. Budgetary pressures aren’t letting up, mandating the kind of cost efficiencies local purchasing delivers. The need for food aid seems set grow in the short-term; the increasing threat of climate disasters and manmade disasters, like the plight of Syrian refugees, demand a more responsible approach.

FY15 Budget Request Puts Heavy Emphasis on Initiatives

By: Staff Person
March 7, 2014

President Obama launched the opening salvo in the FY2015 budget process with his recently released request, and while some of his foreign assistance proposals seem destined to go the way of the cutting room floor, you certainly can’t fault the request for having a specific point of view. The FY2015 international affairs budget request is edgy (a word I’ve never used to describe a budget request) in what it chooses to prioritize and push for, given basically flat funding. Indeed the $50 billion request is actually 1 percent below enacted FY2014 levels due to a downsized Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account. The base International Affairs FY2015 request stands at $44.1 billion with an additional $5.9 billion for the OCO account.

The President’s Budget: What to Expect When We’re Expecting

By: Staff Person
February 28, 2014

Continued Commitment on Reform? A signature of this Administration has been to build on the reforms of the Bush era in bringing accountability and transparency to our foreign assistance programs. Last year the MCC scored highest on the Aid Transparency Index, making the Corporation the most open aid agency in the world. USAID Forward has led the way with a significant scale-up of its evaluation and learning capacity so we can better understand what impact our programs are making. Will we see continued investments in operating funds at USAID, State Department and other smart power agencies and what will happen w­­ith new efforts in science, technology and innovation?