MFAN Letter to the NSC on the Open Government Partnership U.S. National Action Plan

By: MFAN Letter
October 9, 2015

Download a formatted version of the letter here. *** October 2, 2015 Ms. Mary Beth Goodman Senior Director National Security Council The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear Ms. Goodman: We at the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network appreciate the open and consultative process led by the White House to gather recommendations … Continue reading MFAN Letter to the NSC on the Open Government Partnership U.S. National Action Plan

ACCOUNTdown Reviews USAID Effectiveness to Build for Future

By: Nora O'Connell
August 10, 2015

Recently, the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) launched the ACCOUNTdown campaign and scorecard to push for greater aid effectiveness reform by the Obama Administration.  ACCOUNTdown focuses on the U.S. government’s progress to strengthening its international development programs’ accountability and country ownership. The ACCOUNTdown report highlighted a range of improvements by various U.S. development agencies and … Continue reading ACCOUNTdown Reviews USAID Effectiveness to Build for Future

MFAN Event, 7/28: ACCOUNTdown to 2017

By: Staff Person
July 23, 2015

ACCOUNTdown to 2017: Strengthening a Bipartisan Legacy of Modernizing U.S. Foreign Assistance  Please join the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) for a discussion on how Congress and the Administration can solidify existing reforms and further progress on aid effectiveness. Tuesday July 28, 2015 8:30 – 10:00 am The Holeman Lounge at the National Press Club 529 … Continue reading MFAN Event, 7/28: ACCOUNTdown to 2017

Success is in the Eye of the Beholder

By: Diana Ohlbaum
May 21, 2015

A good evaluation will tell you whether a program achieved its intended results. A better evaluation will tell you why. But the best evaluation will tell you whether those were the right results — for the people they were intended to help. As the global development community has begun to get serious about conducting evaluations, … Continue reading Success is in the Eye of the Beholder

U.S.-based NGOs Oppose Costly Changes to Cargo Preference That Cut U.S. International Food Aid Programs

By: Community Letter
May 1, 2015

The organizations listed below are extremely concerned about the potential negative impacts of Section 303 of H.R. 1987, the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2015, which would provide the Secretary of Transportation the exclusive authority to unilaterally apply cargo preference rules on programs run by other departments and agencies, and ignore the outcomes … Continue reading U.S.-based NGOs Oppose Costly Changes to Cargo Preference That Cut U.S. International Food Aid Programs

Want to Know What We Got for Our Money? MCC’s Telling Us.

By: Diana Ohlbaum
April 24, 2015

In this space back in February, I suggested a list of ways for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to advance its thought leadership and boost its development effectiveness.  One of those ideas was to conduct “after-action reviews” to provide an honest look at what did (or didn’t) happen during a compact, why (or why not), … Continue reading Want to Know What We Got for Our Money? MCC’s Telling Us.

Broad Coalition Urges President to Nominate a Permanent USAID Administrator

By: Staff Person
April 16, 2015

April 16, 2015 (WASHINGTON) – This statement is delivered on behalf of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network by Co-Chairs George Ingram, Carolyn Miles, and Connie Veillette: Today MFAN, as part of a broad coalition of international development advocates and stakeholders, including four former USAID Administrators, is urging President Obama to expeditiously nominate a permanent Administrator … Continue reading Broad Coalition Urges President to Nominate a Permanent USAID Administrator

Lessons From The Road To Transparency: Four Tips For Publishing To IATI

By: Laia Grino
March 19, 2015

In honor of Sunshine Week – a weeklong celebration of open government – we’d like to share four lessons InterAction has learned in our own journey towards openness. Today, we join the more than 300 organizations that have published data on their activities according to the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) standard (view our data on the IATI Registry or a … Continue reading Lessons From The Road To Transparency: Four Tips For Publishing To IATI

MFAN, Devex Launch New Series on Aid Effectiveness: Reform for Results

By: Staff Person
March 19, 2015

Today, Devex and the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network are launching a new series on U.S. foreign assistance reform, Reform for Results. Last Spring, we released our policy paper, The Way Forward: A Reform Agenda for 2014 and Beyond, which laid out concrete goals the U.S. government could take to make U.S. aid work harder and … Continue reading MFAN, Devex Launch New Series on Aid Effectiveness: Reform for Results

What We Learned: Looking Back at “Do More with Data”

By: Staff Person
March 6, 2015

Last week, MFAN and AidData, in cooperation with the State Department and USAID, hosted Do More with Data: Moving U.S. Government Aid Transparency Forward, an event that brought together internal and external drivers of U.S. government foreign assistance transparency to explore ongoing and new efforts for making data more readily available for more people. Following … Continue reading What We Learned: Looking Back at “Do More with Data”