FY2011 International Affairs Budget Makes Progress

Three weeks ago, Global Washington posted a blog summarizing the Fiscal Year 2011 International Affairs Budget request. Today, we are pleased to report that the budget is moving forward as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before four Congressional Committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

In her testimony, Secretary Clinton highlighted the main priorities in this year’s budget, as we reported previously: increasing civilian capacity in the “frontline states,” and renewed investments in health, food security, and climate change. In focusing on these priorities, Secretary Clinton argued the aim of the United States “is not to create dependency, but to help our partners devise solutions they can sustain over the long term.”

Secretary Clinton also brought attention to three other aspects of the FY 2011 budget. First, “as the key drivers of economic and social progress in the developing world,” women and girls will be a focal point in American foreign policy in an effort to extend equality and opportunity to all.

An expansion of the Foreign Service of the State Department and USAID will also be a central goal of this budget. In an effort to curb the United States’ reliance on contractors in the implementation of foreign policy goals, the budget will increase the State Department’s Foreign Service by 410 and USAID’s by 200.

The FY 2011 International Affairs Budget would also seek to focus on results and efficiency in implementing United States foreign policy and national security goals. The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development review, which should be completed at the end of this summer, gives the United States the “opportunity to define the capabilities we need and to match resources with priorities.” In line with the goals of the QDDR, Secretary Clinton went on to say “this budget aligns our investments with the strategic imperatives of our time.”

The International Affairs Budget was also received well by congressional leaders during the four hearings. Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hailed the budget as “the backbone of our civilian efforts worldwide,” believing it “secures the tools we need for an effective foreign policy.” Congressman Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee committed himself and, with hopes, the rest of his committee to “do everything we can to maintain the overall funding level” of the International Affairs Budget.

To read Secretary Clinton’s transcripts, as well as the transcripts of the Members of Congress and video of the hearings, please refer to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on  State, Foreign Operations. For more information on the Fiscal Year 2011 International Affairs Budget, please visit USGLC’s budget center and Global Washington’s blog.

Global Education News – March 3, 2010

Ethiopian pharmacy trainees show off the textbooks that UW pharmacy professors delivered on behalf of UW pharmacy students, who raised the funds to donate the books. Refer to article below.

University of Washington:

Teams bring sustainable solutions to address poverty to UW in annual international competition
University of Washington students compete in the sixth annual Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) to pitch business plans for commercially sustainable solutions that address issues of poverty in the developing world. Student teams from around the world will be in Seattle to compete and their plans will be judged on three criteria: effect on the quality of life and poverty alleviation in the developing economies; financial sustainability; and, feasibility of implementation.

Pharmacist’s role in patient care advanced in Ethiopia
UW pharmacy professor Andy Stergachis, and UW pharmacy students conducted five days of training for almost 40 pharmacy and health care representatives — including faculty members, students and deans from the four Ethiopian schools of pharmacy, government officials from Ethiopia’s equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration, and the president of the Ethiopian Pharmacy Association. They also donated more than $1,100 worth of textbooks to the Ethiopian pharmacy students, thanks to a fundraiser that UW pharmacy students had organized back at home. Stergachis is collaborating with colleagues from the UW and other institutions to implement various programs — from drug safety initiatives to medication-access programs — in multiple developing nations, including Ethiopia, Namibia, Rwanda and Vietnam.

Seattle University:

Seattle University’s “Hoops for Haiti” benefit raises $3,600 for relief efforts
Coach Cameron Dollar called on the Seattle University community to help Haiti and they responded in a big way at Saturday’s men’s basketball game. Fans at the “Hoops for Haiti” benefit game donated more than $3,600 to support the work of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in Haiti.

Washington State University:

Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations for the Asia Society to lecture at WSU Pullman

Famous lecturer concerning US-China, Schell, a Fellow at the East Asian Institute at Columbia University and the director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations for the Asia Society, will present a public lecture titled “Is China’s New Development Model More Competitive than Our Own?”

Other Global Education News:

Symposium: Global awareness an increasingly important skill
Educators need to rethink how they look at the global community, said Francesc Pedró during the ninth annual Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) International Symposium: Do they view other countries as competition, or as an opportunity for collaboration?

A Chance to Reinvigorate the Global Community Around Education
2010 has all the makings of being “The Year of Global Education.”  Important events throughout the year include the G8 chairmanship by Canada, a country that historically has been a champion of global education; the FIFA partnership with the 1GOAL campaign, which endeavors to ensure that education for children in Africa and throughout the developing world will be the lasting legacy of this summer’s World Cup in South Africa; news that South African President Zuma will invite fellow heads of state to commit to coordinated action on education on the eve of the World Cup; the UN secretary-general’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Review Summit () prior to the UN General Assembly in September, which will assess the reality of achieving education for all; and South Korea deciding that core development issues including education must be part of the newly-empowered G20’s top-line agenda for November.

Study shows global education is key to reducing apathy
DEA, a coalition which promotes global learning, brings together development and environment NGOs, as well as education NGOs, conducted a study that suggests people who learn about global issues feel more empowered to tackle them, rather than being overwhelmed by the extent of the problems. DEA’s Chief Executive, Hetan Shah said, “learning about the wider world leads to people who are more open-minded towards each other in the UK, but also encourages care for the rest of the world.”  Their full report will be available online here.

Initiative for Global Development publishes new report on foreign aid reform
US-based business alliance Initiative for Global Development published a report that draws connections between the economic growth of developing country markets and the economic health of the U.S. The organization also observed how foreign-assisted programs on health, education and poverty eradication in developing countries helped uplift the quality of lives in the world’s poorer states, eventually creating markets for US’s export industry.

The Gap in the Secular Discourse

In Nicholas Kristof’s most recent column, “Learning from the Sin of Sodom,” he contends liberal secularists in the development community need to forsake their prejudice against evangelicals and understand the constructive role faith-based organizations play in foreign aid. By focusing on aid programs aimed at stemming the spread of infectious diseases, curbing human trafficking, and distributing food to the poor, Kristof argues that “evangelicals have become the new internationalists.”

To see a prime example of the positive impact evangelicals can have in development, one must look no further than Global Washington’s member organization World Vision. As the largest relief organization in the United States, World Vision fields 40,000 workers in almost 100 countries. Noting their Christian values as inspiration, World Vision works in the poorest communities to alleviate poverty and promote peace and justice regardless of race, religion, or gender.

The President of World Vision, Richard Stearns illustrates this sentiment of faith-driven aid in his book “The Hole in Our Gospel.” In the book, Mr. Stearns asserts that the values of Christianity are not inconsistent with giving aid, but some evangelicals have been too concerned with sexual morality and proselytizing to truly make an impact on poverty. Indeed, organizations such as World Vision forbid activities aimed at attracting converts to Christianity, exemplifying the constructive nature of some evangelicals’ aid work.

Ultimately, liberal secularists need to abandon their assault on faith-based development programs and accept the evangelicals’ valuable role in international development. That way, as Kristof argues, “we all might succeed together in making greater progress against common enemies of humanity.”

To learn more about the contributions of religion in development please visit the websites of World Vision and Global Washington’s other faith-based member organizations Habitat for Humanity of Seattle/South King County, Medical Teams International, Agros International, and Breakthrough Partners.