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Policy News Roundup – March 30, 2010

A makeshift camp for earthquake survivors in Port-au-Prince

Haiti:

United States Will Take a New Approach to Aid in Haiti
Secretary Clinton is expected to outline plans for an additional $1 billion in aid to Haiti at the upcoming UN donor conference.  U.S. assistance to Haiti will have one dramatic difference over past aid: this time, U.S. officials plan to work through the Haitian government, rather than around it.  They have plans to implement major aid projects through the government while building its capacity, instead of working mainly through local NGOs and other groups.  This new approach may increase local ownership and government accountability in Haiti.

Donor Countries Will Meet at the UN in New York to discuss decentralization as a Key to Haiti’s Recovery
World leaders at Wednesday’s UN conference on Haiti will be looking at a new focus on decentralizing Port-au-Prince in hopes of fulfilling long-terms needs after immediate needs are met.  They plan to look beyond basic relief and discuss not just how to rebuild, but how to build a better functioning Haiti.  The idea of decentralizating power in Port-au-Prince is a strategy that will be considered for a more stable Haiti.

Foreign Aid Reform:

Where is the QDDR?
The State Department was supposed to release the initial findings from its strategic review on development, known as the quadrennial diplomacy and development review (QDDR), sometime in March.  But now the release is set for “early April,” though there won’t be a public release until after a round of congressional briefings.  This is not the first time the QDDR’s release of initial findings has been set back, and there is no guarantee that we will see anything from the State Department in the month of April.  Unfortunately, this slows down the whole foreign aid reform process, as other reform efforts underway, such as the White House review (the PSD-7) and legislation in Congress (the Kerry/Lugar bill) are on hold until the QDDR findings are out.

New Online Tool Aims to Comprehensively Track Global Aid
A new online information portal on aid aims to improve transparency and prevent misuse of billions of dollars in international aid.  The tool, AidData, pulls together facts and figures from existing databases, donors’ documents, and other online resources.  About 837,000 projects are currently listed on the database, which reports official development aid as well as loans.  The tool gives more details about each project and provides information on new sectors such as funds provided by 36 under-reported bilateral and multilateral donors.  The goal for the project is to give donor and recipient governments, civil society organizations, beneficiaries, aid experts and the general public a fuller picture on who is funding what globally.  Founders of AidData include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

New Study on the Costs and Benefits of Duty-Free, Quota-Free Market Access for Poor Countries
The Center for Global Development released a new study on the costs and benefits of providing full market access for least-developed countries.  The study finds that Malawi and Cambodia would benefit the most under most scenarios, and most African LDCs would make small gains.  The only African country to suffer from preference erosion would be Madagascar- surprisingly, Mauritius, South Africa, and Central America show small gains even though they would not directly benefit from this market access.

USAID Announces New Global TB Strategy
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah declares a new strategy to fight tuberculosis on a worldwide scale. In accordance with the President’s Global Health Initiative, USAID is accelerating their programs to control TB. Their goal is to halve the number of TB cases and deaths by 2015.  In support of these global targets, USAID released the U.S. Government’s Global TB Strategy that describes their blueprint for expanded treatment and control over the next five years.

The International Monetary Fund Has Traded its Dogmatism for Pragmatism
After six decades of zealously promoting free market economic policies, the International Monetary Fund has changed its view on international trade and development.  For years, governments that dared to challenge the IMF model found themselves out of favor in Washington and other Western capitals. But the financial crisis that swept the planet in 2008 prompted a new debate over free market policies and IMF ideology.  Now, in a notable turnaround, the IMF has acknowledged that in some instances, developing countries might benefit from controlling how much foreign capital enters their economies — and how it’s used. The new IMF view is summarized in an official paper published last month, “Capital Inflows: The Role of Controls.”

Africa:

A New Strategy to Stimulate Africa’s Development
Many investors are afraid of doing business in Africa because of high political risks. This is where the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) comes into play with a unique strategy to stimulate development through trade and investment by reducing political and credit risk..  The ATI is Africa’s only multilateral political risk and credit risk insurance agency.  To join, African countries must sign a participation agreement and subscribe for at least 75 shares, each valued at $100,000. Member states are on the hook for any action or inaction that results in ATI paying claims.  Since 2004, ATIhas managed to secure $1.9 billion in investments across its member states, which includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, and others. For more details on ATI please click here.

Tunisian Authorities Try to Gag Human Rights Watch’s Report
Human Rights Watch accused Tunisian authorities of using police to prevent journalists from attending the organization’s launch event for a report that criticizes the government’s human rights record.  A HRW employee said police had surrounded the lawyer’s office where the group was trying to brief reporters about its new report, which accuses Tunisia of adopting repressive measures toward former prisoners.  Tunisia, which attracts large sums in investment from EU countries, wants the European Union to grant it “advanced status,” which could give it preferential trade terms. However, diplomats say concerns about Tunisian’s human rights record risk complicating the application.

Policy News Roundup – March 23, 2010

Foreign Aid Reform:

Bill Clinton and Bill Gates come together in foreign aid request
Former president Bill Clinton and Bill Gates called on US lawmakers to boost foreign aid to fight diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria in the world’s poorest nations. They went to Capitol Hill to boost support for the so-called Global Health Initiative (GHI) and promote a crucial health aid budget bill proposed in 2009 by President Barack Obama’s administration. Taking into account the current economic situation, Clinton said the proposed US contribution was carefully developed for maximum impact and followed logically from existing US contributions to the PEPFAR program — the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS relief.

IGD proposal recommends integrating trade and aid to promote African development
IGD joined with a number of business associations, development organizations, think tanks and companies to endorse a recent white paper on trade and development in Africa. This paper is being broadly distributed to policymakers and was submitted as written testimony for a recent Senate Finance Committee hearing to review U.S. trade preference programs.
The white paper outlines four proposals: make critical improvements to trade policies to encourage trade with and within sub-Saharan Africa, establish a mechanism for coordinating trade and development policies, use targeted capacity building and development assistance to increase Africa’s capacity to trade, and use a “Whole of Government” approach that integrates trade, foreign aid and investment policies.

World Water Day:

Yesterday was World Water Day.  Quick facts:  “World Water Day is celebrated each year on March 22. The annual commemoration of international activities dedicated to addressing global water challenges builds on a series of recommendations made by delegates to the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, held in Brazil. Following the conference, the UN General Assembly declared March 22 to be the World Day for Water. In 1993, the United Nations began inviting countries to organize annual activities to raise the profile of work focused on the implementation of UN recommendations and the achievement of internationally agreed goals regarding water.” 10 percent of the global burden of disease can be credited to water.

Senate Committee to Vote on Clean Drinking Water Bill
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was scheduled to vote on the Paul Simon Water for the World Act today, March 23rd. However, according to the committee’s website today’s business meeting has been postponed.  Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell are both cosponsors of this bill, which would bring safe drinking water to 100 million people. You can find links to more information about this bill on the Global Washington legislative index, Global Health section.   Other Senate Foreign Relations Committee business of interest on today’s schedule included the Peace Corps Improvement and Expansion Act, and the nominations of Elizabeth Littlefield for Overseas Private Investment Corporation President and Carolyn Radelet for Peace Corps Deputy Director.

New charity to aid Haiti recovery efforts by providing drinking water
“Unshaken” is a NY-based fundraising campaign to help Haiti recover from the earthquake by providing people with access to clean, safe drinking water. Their goal is to raise at least $1.3 million, funding 11 large-scale water projects which will serve more than 40,000 people in need. 100% of all donations will directly fund water projects in Haiti.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: “More people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war”
Since 2005, the United Nations and other multilateral groups have prioritized water as an important focus for development assistance.  In keeping with this priority, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other internationally-agreed upon goals include water-related issues.   A United Nations Water Program 2010 report, “Clearing the Waters: A focus on Water Quality Solutions” calls attention to the importance of clean water as an international development goal. The Secretary-General reiterated the importance of water conservation and sanitization when he said, “day after day, we pour millions of tons of untreated sewage and industrial and agricultural waste into the world’s water systems. Clean water has become scarce and will become even scarcer with the onset of climate change…”

The Story of Bottled Water
The US advocacy group Corporate Accountability International used World Water day to tell people to stop buying bottled water. They stress: bottled water isn’t better than tap water, and the plastic bottles often aren’t recycled.

Ship made From Reclaimed Plastic Bottles Sets Sail
On March 20th the Plastiki, a unique 60ft catamaran engineered from approximately 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles and srPET, set sail on a journey of more than 11,000 nautical miles. The Plastiki crew want to draw attention to the health of our oceans, in particular the colossal amounts of plastic debris, by showcasing waste as a resource and demonstrating real world solutions through the design and construction of the Plastiki.

Other Development News:

“Quiet Corruption” – African Development Indicators 2010
This year’s Africa Development Indicators essay sheds light on a different type of corruption—what the authors call “quiet corruption”—when public servants fail to deliver services or inputs that have been paid for by the government. The most prominent examples are absentee teachers in public schools and absentee doctors in primary clinics. Others include drugs being stolen from public clinics and sold in the private market as well as subsidized fertilizer being diluted before it reaches farmers.

A leaked UN report says that up to half of Somalia food aid is stolen
The UN report says that up to half of food aid – valued at approximately $485 million in 2009 – is being diverted through a corrupt web of partners, contractors, World Food Program (WFP) staff and local armed groups. The coverage expresses outrage at government and charity monies being wasted, or even worse, the use of food aid to fuel conflict and terrorism. The recent information from the report has has sparked heated debate on how aid reaches people in Somalia.

Argentina coin shortage leaving less change for panhandlers
Argentina has had a coin shortage for more than three years. The crisis has turned normally mundane tasks – like buying a newspaper or a snack – into a big hassle. The situation is also leaving the homeless short-changed. Alita Casal, a postgraduate student, says, “People sometimes hesitate handing coins to street musicians and beggars because they are afraid to run out.”

North Korea on the verge of a new famine
Many North Koreans are braving the fences and armed guards in search of food and medical care. The flow of refugees from North Korea has slowed in recent years as Pyongyang has issued shoot-to-kill orders to guards, and China is losing patience with the influx of refugees. Nevertheless, China, nervous about instability across its border, continues to heavily aid North Korea with food and oil. The few who have made it across live in constant fear of discovery. They risked the crossing to survive the famine they believe is now imminent. The crisis they face now is the barren period around April which is believed as the most dangerous period when the risk of starvation becomes high.

Haiti Civilians Picking Up Where Official Efforts are Failing

Even with the massive humanitarian response to the January earthquake in Haiti organized by the developed world, the New York Times’ Lawrence Downes reports that the reconstruction effort is failing to meet the needs of all citizens. Security concerns have not been met in some of the sprawling re-settlement camps. Debris and rubble left over from the earthquake has yet to be cleared in order to allow for new construction. Sufficient clean water is not being delivered, and as a result sanitation is suffering. But there is still hope, as Downes contends in his article “Haiti’s Do-It-Yourself Recovery.”

To make up for the lapses in the organized reconstruction effort, the Haitians have taken it upon themselves to rebuild. In most cases, these efforts are exemplary of one of Global Washington’s principles of aid of effectiveness: local ownership of aid projects.

Haitians have organized volunteer patrols to provide safety in areas of refugee settlements not overseen by any United Nations security presence. With the help of a retired engineer, Frantz Liautad, a group of Haitians have begun their own campaign to deliver clean water and food to the refugee settlements, as well as clear debris still left over from the earthquake.

Also, in an effort to increase transparency, coordination and local ownership of aid projects, three of our principles of aid effectiveness, Haitians have created the Civil Society Watchdog Group. The Civil Society Watchdog Group has charged itself with monitoring and evaluating the humanitarian efforts in Haiti to ensure the aid groups are accountable to the Haitian population. In order to strengthen coordination, this group is working to facilitate communication between the organizations and projects responsible for Haitian reconstruction. To promote local ownership, the Civil Society Watchdog Group encourages Haitian citizens to take a more active role in the reconstruction process.

It is encouraging to see that where the top-level efforts have come up short, local citizens are taking it upon themselves to ensure Haiti’s reconstruction. Such a show of commitment and ingenuity is a positive sign that sustainable development can be achieved if the right steps are taken. Using our principles of aid effectiveness as a framework, we can reform the aid process and take the right steps in order to ensure everyone the opportunity to achieve a happy and healthy life.

To learn more about Global Washington’s principles of aid effectiveness, please download and read our white paper.