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.

“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.

The President’s FY11 International Affairs Budget request represents only 1.4% of the entire federal budget and less than 7% of national security funding.    Knowing the great need that exists for more funding for development and diplomacy, the military leaders close their letter saying, “we urge you to support no less than the Administration’s request of $58.5 billion for the International Affairs Budget.”

The Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network, of which USGLC is a member, identifies increased funding and accountability of foreign assistance as a priority action in “New Day, New Way: U.S. Foreign Assistance for the 21st Century.”

Click here to view the letter.

In an effort to address the many global challenges the U.S. faces today through increased partnership and multilateral engagement, Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-MO) and Congressman Anh “Joe” Cao (R-LA) created the American Engagement Caucus.  The new caucus establishes a forum for Members to discuss best practices and lessons learned from international bodies like the United Nations and the African Union and partnerships made between countries to overcome threats.  A statement from the caucus reads “America’s security, economic, environmental, and moral interests are inextricably linked with those of the international community.  The United States must find creative new approaches for working with other nations to create a safer, more peaceful, prosperous, and just world.”

MFAN Principal and President and CEO of InterAction Sam Worthington noted, “We are pleased to have the opportunity to work with the new American Engagement Caucus and Representatives Carnahan and Cao as we draw on our common goal of an American foreign policy that demonstrates in word and deed the desire of the American people to work in a bipartisan manner with all of our partners and with multilateral institutions to build a more just and sustainable world.”

The American Engagement Caucus is guided by the following principles:

• Smart Power: To achieve its security objectives, America must project smart power—a blend of military strength and creative diplomacy. America always reserves the right to act in service of its national interests, but prefers and prioritizes international cooperation to address common concerns and shared objectives
• Don’t Go It Alone: In today’s interconnected world, America can’t go it alone. International cooperation is a better way of addressing some of the world’s key problems, whether they are economic problems, environmental problems, or problems of peace and war.
• Cooperation and global partnerships are essential for security: Given threats from terrorist groups ad unstable foreign regimes with nuclear capabilities, working with other countries around the world is essential to our security. Other nations can help shoulder the burden of counterterrorism efforts, especially in regions where the U.S. may lack access and leverage. And America must balance our military might with diplomacy in order to successfully address global security challenges like nuclear proliferation and terrorism.
• International engagement expands trade opportunities: By creating new international markets, we cancapitalize on the power of American innovation to spur economic development and job growth here at home.
• A srong relationship between the U.S. and the United Nations is key to rebuilding alliances and keeping us safe: Our standing in the world is in large ways shaped by and representative of our engagement with the United Nations. It is in America’s economic, environmental and security interest to work with the UN to solve global challenges.
• America’s economic and environmental interests are irrefutably connected: Addressing climate change through new, clean energy strategies will reduce our dependence on oil, revitalize the American heartland and give developing countries a chance to meet their own energy needs and alleviate poverty.

Current membership for the American Engagement Caucus includes:

• Russ Carnahan (D-MO)
• Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-LA)
• Brad Miller (D-NC)
• Laura Richardson (D-CA)
• Bill Delahunt (D-MA)
• Joe Sestak (D-PA)
• Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
• Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
• Mike Honda (D-CA)

Click here to read an op-ed from The Hill on the American Engagement Caucus

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.”

• 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.

Ambassador Green, now the Managing Director of the Malaria No More Policy Center, has spoken out strongly on foreign assistance reform before, including in a video recently posted on the MFAN website and a Washington Times opinion piece last August.

As part of Foreign Affairs‘ featured Reading Lists, John Gershman rounds up a list of books, reports, journal publications, and websites for “What to Read on Foreign Aid. ”  Included in his list, Gershman cites MFAN as “the leading coalition of organizations in the United States working to reform U.S. foreign aid in line with a more strategic approach to development policy in general.”

A professor with New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, Gershman’s list includes the Commitment to Development Index, put out by MFAN partner the Center for Global Development, The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs, The Bottom Billion by Paul Collier, and “Where Does the Money Go? Best and Worst Practices in Foreign Aid,” by William Easterly and Tobias Pfutze.

Click here to read Gershman’s full syllabus for foreign aid.

• One Month Later, Haiti’s Humanitarian Crisis Remains (Huffington Post-Rajiv Shah, February 12) Despite the human challenges, we are working with the Haitian people and their leaders to focus on tomorrow, even as we face enormous challenges.  With this sense of urgency, the United States will continue to work tirelessly with Haiti and our international partners to identify where each country can best contribute, in order to alleviate this humanitarian crisis and lay the foundation for future Haitian development that reduces the impact such disasters have on Haiti’s population.

• MFAN-related: Aid groups fear Haitian relief diverts funds from other needs (The Washington Post, February 12) Samuel A. Worthington, the president of InterAction, a coalition of more than 150 humanitarian groups, wrote Thursday to top officials at the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development that he was “deeply concerned about the impact” that reductions would have in other regions.  “We’re working very hard to make sure all our programs can continue full speed ahead,” said Susan Reichle, a top USAID official. She said agency officials had started prioritizing projects in different parts of the world in case the congressional funds are slow to arrive or are less than anticipated.

• Only Haitians Can Save Haiti (ForeignPolicy.com-Howard French, February 11) The well-educated diaspora could lead a remake of the educational system, providing a much-needed model for the rollout of other vital services, from public health to justice to agricultural extension and a new fiscal infrastructure. With international support, such a program could fund the presence of returnees from abroad in small towns and villages across the country for fixed terms of perhaps two or three years, during which time they would staff local schools and train indigenous teachers. This training and hiring of locals would spread opportunity through society while it built capacity for future years.

• Good Intentions Gone Wrong (The Globe & Mail, February 9) The problems stem from a combination of the overwhelming number of aid groups operating in Haiti and the lack of government capabilities. Haiti has relied on a patchwork of outside assistance organizations for so long that the government has never learned how to deliver services to the country in the best of times. Add to that a massive disaster and a swarm of hands trying to help, and the abundance of good intentions overwhelmed the scarce capacities of the country and the organizations.

• Rapid city growth threat to Africa’s development: UN (Reuters Africa, February 8) Rapid and chaotic urbanisation is threatening sustainable development in Africa, the head of the U.N. housing agency said on Monday, but taking steps to mitigate climate change could help tackle some of the problems of cities. “After HIV and Aids, the biggest threat to sustainable development in Africa is rapid and chaotic urbanisation, because it is a recipe for disaster for increased tensions and pressure.”