March 10th, 2010
Members of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s (USGLC) National Security Advisory Committee released a letter today urging Congress to boost development and diplomacy spending. “Our military works hand-in-hand with diplomats and development experts in meeting the challenges and responsibilities we face around the world,” said General Hagee. “It is critical that our civilian agencies are properly resourced so they can lead key elements of our national security strategy.”
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.
Posted in House, Senate | No Comments »
March 10th, 2010
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
Tags: American Engagement Caucus, economic growth, InterAction, national security, smart power, United Nations
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March 1st, 2010
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.”
Tags: Afghanistan, Berman, climate change, Clinton, development, economic growth, Food Security Initiative, Haiti, house committee on foreign affairs, Kerry, poverty, senate foreign relations committee
Posted in House, Senate, State Department, USAID | No Comments »
February 23rd, 2010
As 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.
Tags: Africa, developing world, development, economic growth, foreign assistance reform, Millennium Challenge Corporation, State Department, United States Agency for International Development
Posted in USAID | No Comments »
February 23rd, 2010
In a piece published in The Daily Caller, former Representative Mark Green (R-WI), who also served as Ambassador to Tanzania from 2007-2009, calls on Congress to maintain support for a strong International Affairs Budget and follow through on foreign assistance reform, saying: “…there’s no denying the fiscal challenges that our elected leaders have on their plate. But there’s also no denying how much of a difference our foreign assistance programs are making in key parts of the world. I hope that our leaders keep these thoughts in mind as the budget season—and political season—moves forward.”
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.
Tags: Africa, developing world, development, disease, economic growth, Food Security Initiative, foreign aid reform, foreign assistance, foreign assistance reform, modernizing foreign aid, modernizing foreign assistance, President Obama, Presidential Study Directive on Global Development Policy, QDDR, senate foreign relations committee
Posted in MFAN News | No Comments »
