Yesterday, The New Republic foreign policy blog, “Entanglements,” posted a piece by David Rieff examining Secretary Clinton’s recent speech on the Global Health Initiative (GHI) at Johns Hopkins’ SAIS. Rieff discusses Clinton’s speech in terms of the Obama administration’s approach to development – questioning whether there is enough funding and bureaucratic support to realize the numerous goals Clinton laid out. Rieff offers a critical review of GHI and other development efforts: the decision to have three agencies in charge of GHI’s day-to-day operations; policymakers’ claims of development assistance as a tool of “public diplomacy” and a way to win hearts and minds in Afghanistan and Pakistan; and the continued priority funding for military programs. Despite the critical tone, Rieff raises some interesting points about the overall direction of the Obama administration’s approach to development. Read full text of the post here and see key excerpts below:
Posts Tagged ‘White House’
Watch Highlights from the MFAN-GHTC Event
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Last week, we gave a recap of our recent event with the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) on leveraging innovative research for development. Now, GHTC has posted a series of clips from the event on their YouTube channel. See below for MFAN Principal and President and CEO of the Global Health Council Jeff Sturchio’s opening remarks, and watch the rest of the event by clicking here:
MFAN Co-Chair Beckmann: “Rhetorical Rubber Meets the Road” on Aid Reform
Friday, August 6th, 2010
MFAN Co-Chair David Beckmann, World Food Prize laureate and President of Bread for the World, has a new piece on foreign assistance reform, offering two steps President Obama should take now to put the U.S. on a path to more efficient, effective aid — the same two action steps listed in MFAN’s Open Letter, published yesterday. The op-ed first appeared in The Huffington Post, but find full text of the piece after the jump:
MFAN Partner Analyzes MDG Strategy from Aid Transparency Angle
Friday, August 6th, 2010
See the guest blog post below from MFAN Partner Publish What You Fund, one of the 200 signatories to the Open Letter.
Obama Administration Starts Delivering on Aid Transparency
18 months in, the Obama administration is starting to deliver on its commitment to transparency within U.S. foreign assistance programs and policy. On July 30, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah unveiled the new U.S. strategy for meeting the Millennium Development Goals “Celebrate, Innovate, and Sustain: Toward 2015 and Beyond”. We applaud the announcement, which includes launching an ‘aid transparency initiative,’ and look forward to seeing concrete timelines, detailed plans and robust policy that will ensure the potential of this initiative is brought to life.
The Strategy commits to “improving the transparency of aid flows”[i] to address “data shortages, comparability problems [as] large lag times weaken [U.S.] ability to measure progress toward the Goals”[ii]:
MFAN Statement: More than 200 Endorsers Agree that Aid Reform is Within Reach
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
August 5, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – This statement is delivered on behalf of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) by Co-Chairs David Beckmann and George Ingram:
Forty days after President Obama pledged to issue a new development policy “in the near future” – and with no word yet on when it will be released – MFAN, joined by more than 200 partner organizations and individuals, has published an Open Letter urging the President to show much-needed leadership to reform foreign assistance and strengthen America’s commitment to global development. The letter, published in today’s issue of Politico, urges President Obama to:
- Create America’s first-ever Global Development Strategy – which is referenced in the leaked Presidential Study Directive draft, “A New Way Forward on Global Development”; and
- Partner with Congress to rewrite the outdated Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, a working draft of which House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman recently released.
We applaud the steps taken by the Obama Administration thus far to elevate development as a pillar of U.S. foreign policy, which will help us do a better job of reducing poverty and spurring economic growth worldwide. But these efforts, including initiatives such as Feed the Future and the Global Health Initiative, will not reach their full potential unless our country has an overarching Global Development Strategy.
“The volume and variety of signatories – from NGOs, think tanks, and corporations to former U.S. government officials and private-sector leaders – indicates the widespread support and urgent need for the President to take definitive action toward reforming our foreign assistance system,” said Co-Chair George Ingram. “We must have a Global Development Strategy to clearly state what we are trying to achieve, how different actors within the U.S. government will contribute to that mission, and who will be in charge of – and accountable for – achieving results. Likewise, the Cold War-era Foreign Assistance Act no longer provides a realistic and understandable framework for the U.S. foreign assistance system, and the President must be engaged with Congress in a collaborative effort to rewrite the legislation. The stakes – for U.S. national interests and for the health, prosperity, and stability of the developing world – are too high for continued inaction.”
The Open Letter is the centerpiece of our Reform Within Reach campaign, which is also focused on sharing development success stories and educating the American public about the important role U.S. development efforts play in our national security. Individuals can still sign on to our Open Letter by clicking here.
