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Archive for the ‘USAID’ Category

USAID Announces New Personnel

Thursday, March 11th, 2010
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2010
Press Office: 202-712-4320
Public Information: 202-712-4810
www.usaid.gov

WASHINGTON, D.C. – USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah is pleased to announce that the following individuals recently joined the Agency:

  • Sean Carroll, Chief of Staff - In this role, Mr. Carroll will be part of the Agency’s leadership team, with responsibilities for managing the front office, interagency issues, core strategic and operational priorities, strategic internal and external communications and other Chief of Staff functions, working closely with the USAID Administrator. Mr. Carroll comes to USAID from the Club of Madrid, where he served as Program Director since 2004. Previously, Mr. Carroll was Senior Fellow and Director at the Inter-American Dialogue, as well as a Consultant to the United Nations/World Food Program. He has also served as Professional Staff and Subcommittee Director on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on International Relations; and, over 13 years, held various positions at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI).
  • Amie Batson, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health - As Deputy Assistant Administrator for Global Health, Ms. Batson will serve as USAID’s Deputy of the Global Health Initiative with responsibility for overall coordination of USAID’s work in support of this important endeavor. Ms. Batson joins USAID after a 20-year career in global health that has included positions in the WHO, UNICEF, and most recently, the World Bank as Assistant to the Managing Director. Notably, as one of the original drivers behind the creation of the Global Alliance for Vaccines & Immunization (GAVI), she led the World Bank’s efforts in vaccine financing.
  • Ruth Levine, Director of Evaluation, Policy Analysis & Learning - Ms. Levine will build a team to strengthen the Agency’s ability to learn from program implementation, and to link the best available evidence to decision-making for greater effectiveness and better informed policy. Ms. Levine was most recently Vice President for Programs and Operations and Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development. Ms. Levine is an internationally recognized health economist with over 15 years experience designing and assessing the effects of social sector programs in Latin America, Eastern Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.
  • Alex Dehgan, Science and Technology (S&T) Advisor – Dr. Dehgan will be the focal point for implementing the Administrator’s vision to restore science and technology to its rightful place within USAID and ensure that USAID is the global leader on employing science, technology, and research to help solve traditional and persistent development challenges. Prior to USAID, Dr. Dehgan was a Senior Scientist and Policy Advisor with the Science Advisor to the Secretary of State. Dr. Dehgan also served as a Senior Adviser to the Special Adviser for the Gulf and South West Asia, as well as the liaison to Ambassador Holbrooke and the Office of the Special Representative to the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
  • Tom Garwin, Senior Advisor on Impact Planning - Mr. Garwin will offer expertise and guidance on a variety of complex government programs, policies, management processes, and analytic methods of particular interest to the Administrator. Prior to coming to USAID, Mr. Garwin was the first Director of Impact Planning and Improvement at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He has also been an independent consultant in the areas of strategy, evaluation, measurement, and organizational performance.

What do you think about USAID’s role in the QDDR?

Thursday, March 11th, 2010
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Today, Alyssa Rosenberg at GovernmentExecutive.com posed two questions about the heightened media attention around the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in relation to the State Department’s Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), set to release mid-term findings by the end of the month.  See her post below:

“This may be an idle thought, but for those of you out there who keep a close eye on the State Department, I’d appreciate some insight into this question: are questions of USAID’s staffing and budget dominating the coverage of the strategy review under way there because they are the critical questions? Or because USAID has aggressive stakeholders and its roles is very much enhanced because of Haiti, etc.?”

Let us know how you would answer her questions by leaving a comment below.

Sec. Clinton Goes to Bat for FY2011 International Affairs Budget

Monday, March 1st, 2010
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Reuters-Secretary Clinton testifies before Congress

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made a forceful case to Congress last week on the importance of President Obama’s recently submitted request for the fiscal 2011 International Affairs Budget.  In four separate hearings – on back-to-back days – before House and Senate authorizers and appropriators, Clinton discussed the budget request for U.S. foreign affairs spending and explicitly linked it to our national security and national interests.

Of the $4.9 billion increase from FY2010, $3.6 billion would go to what the State Department calls “frontline states”—Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.  The remainder represents a mere 2.7% increase that Clinton said would “address global challenges, strengthen partnerships, and ensure that the State Department and USAID are equipped with the right people and resources.”

She acknowledged current economic constraints, citing her former role as U.S. Senator and the valid concerns of constituents across the country: “For every dollar we spend, we have to show results.” But she went on to affirm that the budget request supports programs that are “vital to our national security, our national interests, and our leadership in the world, while guarding against waste, duplication, and irrelevancy.”

In elevating the role of development within U.S. foreign policy, Clinton said the budget “makes targeted investments in fragile societies which, in our interconnected world, bear heavily on our own security and prosperity.”  She also argued for paying it forward, that a little bit now will go a long way: “These investments are a key part of our effort to get ahead of crises rather than just responding to them, positioning us to deal with the threats and challenges that lie before us.”  To bring this point home, she emphasized: “We can bury our heads in the sand and pay the consequences later, or we can make hard-nosed, targeted investments now, addressing the security challenges of today while building a stronger foundation for security and prosperity in the future.”

She highlighted the Administration’s global food security and health initiatives, along with climate change, as the major components of the budget’s investments in development.  A cross-cutting focus of these initiatives is women and girls “who are the key drivers of economic and social progress in the developing world.”

There will also be money for an additional 410 Foreign Service Officers at the State Department and 200 at USAID in an ongoing effort to ramp up civilian capacity.

“These initiatives are designed to enhance American security, help people in need, and give the American people a strong return on their investment,” Clinton concluded.  “Our aim is not to create dependency, but to help people develop solutions that they can sustain for themselves over the long term.”

Kenyan Ambassador to the U.S. Shares His Thoughts on Effective Foreign Assistance

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
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Ambassador OgegoAs part of an ongoing dialogue with developing world voices, Kenya’s Ambassador to the U.S., Peter N.R.O. Ogego, recently spoke with MFAN on his experiences working with bilateral and multilateral donors and how to reform foreign assistance and aid programs to have a greater impact at fighting poverty and disease, promoting economic growth and innovation, and creating sustainable, accountable societies and governments.  Ambassador Ogego articulated six principles of aid effectiveness that should be considered when reforming foreign assistance:

  • Greater partnership between donors and recipients of aid. Ambassador Ogego spoke extensively of the problems in the 1970s and 80s in Africa when both bilateral and multilateral aid was provided on a conditional basis with little recipient country consultation, and how the conditionality of aid, as in the Millennium Challenge Corporation model, continues to impact effectiveness.
  • Better coordination among donors in country and inside the beltway. This synchronization of aid efforts needs to be transparent so as not to confuse the recipient country agents.
  • Emphasis on capacity-building. The Ambassador noted that it is not only a question of providing equipment and technicians to jump-start development efforts, but the level at which donors will transfer the technology and skills to local society.
  • Coherent and cohesive assistance policies and programs. Too often donors are unclear in describing their programs and aid packages, which results in wasted energy, resources, and ultimately money.  More fundamentally, he argued these policies should be based on recipient country needs and not donor interest.
  • Flexible time frame. Outstanding circumstances and shifting priorities may affect what kind of aid is needed and when.
  • Standard system of review of aid efforts (or Donor Performance Assessment). The Ambassador suggested that just as outside groups monitor how recipient countries handle aid, the donors themselves should be subject to self-review to determine best practices and streamline efforts.

For the most effective foreign assistance, Ambassador Ogego called on Washington to listen to officials on the ground – including Ambassadors like himself and country directors – and to have the understanding and ability to be flexible in their mission.  To garner more public support for U.S. aid efforts, the Ambassador suggested that the U.S. recognize it’s part of a “global village” and use its abundance of resources and technology to lead a proactive and conscious delivery effort, offering our best to those parts of the world struggling to reach their potential.  After all, a growing, peaceful Kenya is good for the world.

Secretary Geithner Says U.S. Will Work with Partners to Help Rebuild Haiti

Friday, February 5th, 2010
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The U.S. Treasury Department  released the following statement yesterday:

U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT

OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Treasury Dept

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 4, 2010

SECRETARY GEITHNER VOICES SUPPORT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEBT RELIEF FOR HAITI, FINANCING OF RECOVERY THROUGH GRANTS

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the United States will work with its partners around the world to relieve all debts owed by Haiti to international institutions and to ensure grant financing to support Haiti’s reconstruction and recovery from the devastating earthquake in January.

“The earthquake in Haiti was a catastrophic setback to the Haitian people who are now facing tremendous emergency humanitarian and reconstruction needs, and meeting Haiti’s financing needs will require a massive multilateral effort,” said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. “Today, we are voicing our support for what Haiti needs and deserves – comprehensive multilateral debt relief.”

Secretary Geithner also welcomed International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s call to provide full relief for Haiti’s outstanding IMF debt, including the $102 million emergency loan approved on January 27, 2010.

“We are committed to working quickly and closely with these institutions in a way that provides immediate grant assistance to help the Haitian people recover and rebuild,” Secretary Geithner continued. “I very much welcome the initiative taken on this issue by leaders in Congress, the IMF, and the MDBs and look forward to working with them to provide the critical support Haiti needs for recovery as well as to discussing this issue with my G-7 colleagues this weekend.”

Treasury announced that the U.S. intends to seek a commitment with other donors for the relief of Haiti’s debt to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the International Development Association (IDA) in a manner that provides direct and immediate grant support to Haiti.

In September 2009, the U.S. concluded an agreement with Haiti that eliminated 100 percent of the Haitian Government’s outstanding debt to the U.S. This action was taken following Haiti’s successful completion of the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative process in June 2009.

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