What we’re reading this week: Calls to restore USAID and name an Administrator…the dawn of ”Africa’s Century” …Foreign assistance to Pakistan… Local voices for foreign aid reform
Farmer Out. Who’s Next for USAID?
On Monday, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof used a blog posting to lament that the Obama Administration’s vetting process led global health pioneer Dr. Paul Farmer to drop out of the running to be nominated as Administrator for United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Who do you think should be the next nominee for USAID Administrator?
We are pleased to announce the launch of MFAN’s ModernizeAid blog – a place for lively discussion on elevating global development, modernizing foreign assistance reform, and strengthening U.S. efforts to alleviate poverty, promote economic growth, fight disease, and create opportunity in developing nations.
July 28, 2009 (WASHINGTON): MFAN commends Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA), Ranking Minority Member Dick Lugar (R-IN), and Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Bob Corker (R-TN), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Jim Risch (R-ID) for introducing the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009 (S.1524).
July 22, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on foreign aid reform during which bipartisan members of the committee, including Chairman John Kerry (D-MA), Ranking Minority Member Richard Lugar (R-IN), Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) expressed support for revitalizing USAID and making U.S. assistance more effective. MFAN Co-Chair David Beckmann was a featured panelist at the hearing.
July 22, 2009 (WASHINGTON) – In his opening statement, MFAN Co-Chair David Beckmann urges SFRC Chairman Kerry (D-MA) and Ranking Minority Member Lugar (R-IN) to push forward with efforts to make U.S. foreign assistance more effective at alleviating poverty and hunger, fighting disease, and creating opportunity in developing countries.
July 16, 2009 (Washington): We commend Secretary of State Clinton for her important address today at the Council on Foreign Relations, and we are particularly supportive of her inclusion of “elevate and integrate development as a core pillar of American power” and “integrate civilian and military action in conflict areas” in her list of the five foreign policy priorities of the Obama Administration. Even more important than the Secretary’s development rhetoric were her pledges of action on modernizing the U.S. foreign assistance system.
MFAN commends Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her decision to undertake America’s first-ever Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), which is further evidence that she is more committed to development than any Secretary of State in history.
June 25, 2009 (Washington, DC) – MFAN strongly supports the call made today by eight former Secretaries of State for Congress to provide more robust funding for development and diplomacy. The Obama Administration and Congress must also modernize the U.S. foreign assistance system – our primary mechanism for carrying out development – in order to make sure that any resources committed to these efforts are spent effectively and get into the hands of people who need help most.
MFAN applauds members of the House of Representatives for demonstrating their commitment to “smart power” foreign policy with yesterday’s passage of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 (H.R. 2410), which will strengthen U.S. diplomacy and development capabilities and bring better balance to U.S. efforts to engage with the world.
