MFAN Partner on the Tea Party and the President’s Global Development Policy


“Of course, aid is about more than money; how rich countries design their aid programs is as important as how much they give. In this sense, the pressure on the budget could help drive aid reforms and force the administration and Congress to make tough choices about where and how we spend our aid dollars and push for stronger evidence on what works in development. The push to be more selective with our development assistance, focus on economic growth, and do a better job of measuring impact and results (and share it publicly) is already lined up in the presidential policy directive on U.S. global development policy and seems like a reform mantle that both parties could get behind.”

MFAN Partner Sees Aid Transparency as an Emerging Bipartisan Issue


A major focus on aid transparency is emerging within U.S. foreign assistance, with the launch of the U.S. “aid transparency initiative” and an “aid dashboard” as part of the new framework on aid effectiveness. These steps demonstrate the political will for accountability and aid transparency, yet real value for money is still not being delivered. What is needed to ensure that aid money is used to best effect is comparability. For more effective foreign assistance, U.S. efforts should complement those of other donors.

Partisan Politics and Foreign Aid


“If current polls hold, Republicans will make significant gains in the Senate and likely take the House of Representatives, elevating a set of lawmakers to new heights of power and complicating Obama’s efforts to execute his foreign-policy agenda.” -Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy

MFAN Partner CGD’s Staff Tracker


In light of new confirmations this week, below is the latest version of the Center for Global Development’s USAID Staff Tracker.  Of note, former MFAN Principal and MercyCorps President Nancy Lindborg was confirmed as the assistant administrator for democracy, conflict, and humanitarian assistance at USAID on Wednesday.  Read more about recent confirmations made before the … Continue reading MFAN Partner CGD’s Staff Tracker

SFRC Chairman Kerry Ready to Enact Reforms in New Development Policy


Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry yesterday released a press release expressing his enthusiasm for President Obama’s new development policy, calling it “a comprehensive development policy based on measurable outcomes, country ownership, sustainable economic growth and multilateralism – a policy that will build capacity in the developing world, not dependence.”

GMF Transatlantic Blog Series Explores Relationship among Three Ds


“Absent direct, personal intervention by President Obama to define his own vision of aid reform and to take the actions needed to enforce the reforms, the stalemate will continue, and plans to strengthen the third D will suffer.”

State Department Authorization Passes out of SFRC


On Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the State Department Authorization Bill, S.2971, by voice vote – the first State authorization bill to pass out of the SFRC in five years. The revised bill focuses on reforms at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the State Department, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), among others.

Lew, Shah Outline Obama Administration’s Food Security Plans


In a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last week, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Jack Lew and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah provided an update on the status of the Administration’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative (GHFSI).