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Policy News Roundup

Image from the new IFPRI book Millions Fed: see below

THE FY2011 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS BUDGET AND US DEVELOPMENT POLICY:

Secretary Clinton will appear before the full House Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a hearing on the FY2011 International Affairs Budget and “Promoting Security through Diplomacy and Development,” on February 25.

Aid advocates seem happy with the international affairs budget request, which proposes an increase of 2.8 percent over fiscal 2010, including supplemental funding. See a summary of the international affairs budget request in the Global Washington blog.

The Initiative for Global Development has a new Policy Update on its website, which includes a paper written by IGD on the Business Case for Foreign Aid Reform.  It also includes a letter written to Jim Jones and Larry Summers (co-chairs of the Presidential Study Directive on US Global Development Policy) recommending greater coherence between trade and aid policy.  

The US is a strong player back on the map, according to the Ethiopian Review.

The United States is missing its opportunity to get in on the clean energy gold rush, while other countries seize the opportunity.

HAITI:

Why Not Do for Haiti Now What We’ve Already Done for Africa? Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) recently introduced legislation to improve opportunities for Haiti to export to the United States. However, the proposals being floated so far do not address the fundamental problem and still lack long-term recovery ambitions.

Most experts say Haiti’s history as an aid recipient has made it a poster child for how not to administer development assistance. So it is not surprising that ordinary Haitians would be cynical about the prospects of post-earthquake aid being substantially different from the past. Despite an estimated nine billion dollars in aid over the years, Haiti remains near the bottom of global poverty and development indexes.

NGOs Ask USAID: What About Non-Haiti Programs? The UN has expressed concern that the donor community–particularly the US– has forgotten about other crises and is only focused on Haiti.

AFRICA:

Kenya has lost out on more than $270 million in funding for HIV and malaria treatment from the Global Fund on Aids, TB and Malaria.

Sudanese officials met with representatives of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to discuss $36 billion of debt relief and the possible cancellation of sanctions against Sudan.

OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT NEWS:

Global Washington member Agros International was featured in CATALYST Design Magazine.  This article features a case study of Agros’ work in Central America, and it shows how Agros’ development model embodies the principles of a sustainable, holistic, and strategic solution to poverty.

Developing country debt loads are becoming unsustainable due to IMF and World Bank lending, and this looks like déjà vu all over again.

Millions Fed is a new book recently released by IFPRI (the International Food Policy Research Institute), which examines successes in agricultural development over the past 50 years.  This book offers a counterpoint to criticisms of green revolution-type development programs, such as the Gates Foundation’s agricultural development program.

Lessons in Foreign Aid Reform from Haiti

In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, an enormous international effort was launched to rebuild and relieve the many humanitarian demands resulting from the earthquake. So far, “the international aid effort is failing to meet the earliest goals pronounced by the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon” according to the New York Times’ Neil MacFarquhar.

In his article “Haiti Is Again a Canvas for Approaches to Aid,” MacFarquhar examines the different methods of effective foreign aid and solutions to some of the problems in effecting sustainable development. This article raises some questions as to how to develop and implement an effective aid system: Who should oversee development efforts, foreign governments and NGOs or the local government? To what extent should foreign governments be involved in directing the flow of foreign aid? What areas of development should receive priority over the rest?

Along these lines, Global Washington has drawn on the international development expertise of our supporters from the academic, non-profit, philanthropic and business communities to develop four principles of aid effectiveness that would address the problems of the current foreign aid system:

1. Transparency and Accountability: to make information on strategy, goals and spending easily available to U.S. taxpayers and international beneficiaries, thereby increasing accountability.

2. Consolidation and Coordination: to make sure efforts are not duplicative and are able to meet articulated goals as well as ensure non-aid policies, such as diplomacy, defense and trade, complement aid goals.

3. Local Ownership: to ensure that aid aligns with local priorities, builds local capacity and promotes local economies.

4. Targeting: to direct aid at reducing poverty, especially in the world’s poorest countries

These four principles, if implemented as part of a framework for reform, would combine to strengthen the foreign aid system, making it both more effective and more efficient. To learn more these principles and our recommendations for foreign aid reform, please visit our website to read our white paper here.

FY 2011 International Affairs Budget Request

This month, President Obama submitted his $3.8 trillion Fiscal Year 2011 Budget request to Congress. Representing just 1.4% of the total FY 2011 Budget, the International Affairs Budget request stands at $58.5 billion. This request would be a $6.1 billion increase over the enacted International Affairs Budget of FY 2010.  While this budget request reflects an overall increase, not all programs and accounts would receive more funding.

Some of the programs and accounts that would receive increased funding from FY 2010 levels include Global Health and Child Survival ($680 million), Climate Investment Funds ($260 million), the Millennium Challenge Corporation ($170 million), the Economic Support Fund ($1.47 billion), and the Peace Corps ($46 million). Most notable among these is the $1.47 billion increase for the Economic Support Fund, all of which going to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Several programs have been slated for cuts from FY 2010 funding levels, including the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria ($50 million); Migration and Refugee Assistance ($80 million); and non-UN Peacekeeping Operations ($46 million). The U.S. contributions to International Organizations and Programs would also receive a cut, specifically reducing contributions to the UNDP ($26 million), UNICEF ($4 million), and UNFPA ($5 million).

The FY 2011 International Affairs Budget request also represents a shift in the U.S. Government’s funding priorities for foreign aid. In an attempt to shift focus from a military endeavor to a civilian-led, humanitarian mission, this budget request calls for a $3.6 billion increase for the three Frontline States, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Apart from these Frontline States, three other areas of foreign aid receive priority in the FY 2011 Budget: food security, health, and climate change. The Budget would devote $1.4 billion to fight climate change, which is divided into the three pillars of Adaptation ($334 million), Clean Energy ($710 million), and Sustainable Landscapes ($347 million).  The U.S. has also committed to provide a share of a $30 billion global financing operation for adaptation and mitigation over the next three years, which is a major part of the Copenhagen Accord agreed to in December.  It is not clear what budget resources will be used to meet this commitment.

Over the next three years, the U.S. has committed to providing $3.5 billion to food security programs as part of an attempt to drastically reduce hunger worldwide. This budget would also mark the introduction of the Global Health Initiative, focused on fighting the spread of infectious diseases, increased nutrition and family planning services, as well as decreasing child and maternal mortality rates. To this end, the U.S. would invest $63 billion over the next six years.

For a more complete and in depth analysis of the Fiscal Year 2011 International Affairs Budget request, please visit the US Global Leadership Coalition, and Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network.