USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah Speaks at a Global Washington Event

By: Staff Person
August 24, 2010

On August 13th, nearly 500 people gathered at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, WA to hear USAID Administrator Shah discuss the role of technology and innovation in development with a panel of leaders from the local development community.   In Administrator Shah’s opening remarks he emphasized USAID’s commitment to evidence-based development strategies and the need for … Continue reading USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah Speaks at a Global Washington Event

Trade and Aid for Effective Foreign Assistance

By: Staff Person
August 19, 2010

While Americans sometimes complain that foreign assistance is merely a “giveaway” (a view to which I do NOT subscribe), robust trade is mutually beneficial – it boosts OUR job creators and entrepreneurs as well as allowing them to compete in an increasingly challenging commercial world. This potential benefit has never been more important: developing countries are the fastest growing markets for American goods and services. They already account for 40% of our export markets.

Secretary Clinton Speaks about GHI at SAIS

By: Staff Person
August 17, 2010

“So therefore, we must be strategic and make evidence-based decisions in targeting the most dangerous threats, to ensure that our investments that, after all, come from the American taxpayer, deliver results. And we must also must stay focused on the long-term picture – not only addressing the urgent needs that people have today but building the foundation for better health tomorrow and for the next generation.”

PSD to be Released Next Month?

By: Staff Person
August 16, 2010

“If we can continue to show things are really effective, generate results with the dollars and take efficiency very, very seriously, I believe Americans want to do more.”

CGD Defends Untied Aid

By: Staff Person
August 12, 2010

Staats reminds us that tying development assistance to U.S. companies is not only bad development, but it goes against the principle of ownership of aid that has popped up in the Obama Administration’s initiatives like Feed the Future and the Global Health Initiative.

MFAN Member Staats on Vacancies at USAID

By: Staff Person
August 10, 2010

“USAID cannot be the premier development agency everyone envisions without appointed and confirmed leaders at the helm of its regional and functional bureaus. Nor can it elevate development across the U.S. government — as Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and even Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have called for — without a full cadre of assistant administrators to inform major development policy reviews taking place right now and congressional efforts to rewrite foreign assistance

MFAN Partner Analyzes MDG Strategy from Aid Transparency Angle

By: Staff Person
August 6, 2010

18 months in, the Obama administration is starting to deliver on its commitment to transparency within U.S. foreign assistance programs and policy. On July 30, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah unveiled the new U.S. strategy for meeting the Millennium Development Goals “Celebrate, Innovate, and Sustain: Toward 2015 and Beyond”. We applaud the announcement, which includes launching an ‘aid transparency initiative,’ and look forward to seeing concrete timelines, detailed plans and robust policy that will ensure the potential of this initiative is brought to life.

MFAN-GHTC Event Highlights Research and Innovation

By: Staff Person
August 3, 2010

“Even the way we change is changing,” Thomas Kalil, Deputy Director for Policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), told attendees at the July 28 congressional briefing co-hosted by MFAN and the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC). Nearly 90 individuals from congressional offices, US government agencies, and the development and global health communities participated in a discussion about how research and innovation can be leveraged to advance the nation’s foreign assistance goals.