In 2009, the development community came together and worked with policymakers to drive unprecedented progress toward our shared goals for foreign assistance reform.
The effort to fundamentally upgrade U.S. global development policies and operations is still gearing up. With policy reviews underway at the White House and the State Department, and with legislation percolating in both the House and the Senate, momentum is apparent
The response has been positive to news that the White House will be conducting an interagency review of all U.S. global development policy. Momentum is clearly growing for a refocused approach to development and how the U.S. manages its foreign aid.
MFAN strongly commends President Obama for signing a landmark Presidential Study Directive on Global Development Policy. The directive establishes clear White House leadership on modernizing our country’s approach to global development, adding to the tremendous momentum generated by actions taken by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the State Department.
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.
Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) and other bipartisan Members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs (HCFA) deserve credit for passing H.R. 2410, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, which would provide funding for the State Department to carry out diplomacy and development programs…[and] we urge U.S. leaders to move forward with modernizing the U.S. foreign assistance system.”
