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Rural Development Institute Receives $9 Million Grant!

The Rural Development Institute, a prolific organization committed to securing land rights for the rural poor around the world for the past forty years, received a $9 million dollar grant last week—the largest in the institute’s history. The Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment group started by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife, Pam, awarded RDI the impressive grant for their groundbreaking work in land reform policy.

According to Tim Hanstad, RDI’s president and CEO, “With this grant, RDI will begin implementing an ambitious three-year plan to bring secure land rights to 9 million families living in poverty,” he said. “These rights can bring about transformative economic and social benefits that improve well-being and restore dignity.”

It has been a landmark year for the land reformists. In addition to receiving the grant, RDI launched its Global Center for Women’s Land Rights, an initiative dedicated to procuring land ownership for women. Though much global development research speaks to women’s pivotal role in advancing economic growth, empowering women as key players in development continues to be met with resistance. The Global Center for Land Rights promotes women’s land ownership as a strategy for legally and socially legitimizing women’s participation in economic development.

Renée Giovarelli, Director of the Global Center for Women’s Land Rights, will participate in a panel on addressing poverty through women at Global Washington’s Annual Conference on December 7th. Global Washington’s Annual Conference will bring together the best and the brightest in the global development sector in an effort to solidify Washington State’s commitment to eradicating poverty, improving health outcomes, and increasing global access to quality education. For a full list of speakers in attendance and to register for the conference, click here.

Kristi Heim’s article for the Seattle Times on November 5th chronicles the Omidyar Network’s active participation in RDI’s mission to democratically secure property ownership for rural families worldwide.

Find out more about the Rural Development Institute’s innovative work by visiting their website.

Halloween Has Come and Gone but USAID Remains Headless

by Global Washington Policy Coordinator, Danielle Ellingston

This is beginning to sound like a whiny broken record, but WHEN OH WHEN is the Obama administration going to nominate a USAID administrator?

Last January, the development community was full of hope.  It seemed that all the pieces were in place for meaningful foreign aid reform.  We knew we were going to get a USAID administrator who would represent the agency well in planning for reform.  Obama made all the right noises about development being one of the 3 D’s along with defense and diplomacy.  The major players in Congress were on board, and the NGO community was clamoring for change.  For once, development would matter!  Armchair development policy analysts sat around water coolers from coast to coast, guessing who the nominee would be.  We wondered if U.S. development assistance would be elevated above its recent State Department step-sister status, and maybe it would be given (gasp!) cabinet level status.  Not that we would insist on that, no, that would be asking too much, but maybe development could at least get a little more clout in making the big policy decisions?  Maybe we could have a voice of our own, and not rely on a benevolent State Department?  You could feel the excitement in the halls all year long, from the Ronald Reagan building all the way to our little office on Lake Union.

Then there was silence.  Dead silence from the White House.  Bills on aid reform were introduced in Congress, but without a USAID administrator nominee, they seemed ahead of the game.  How can we ask for a major commitment of time and energy toward reform when we can’t even get a USAID administrator?

Now we are starting to get a little nervous.  Why has the White House still not nominated someone to lead USAID?  Why do we feel like we’re being avoided?  Even President Bush managed to appoint Andrew Natsios by May of his first year in office.  Chairman John Kerry and Ranking Member Richard Lugar of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have written to President Obama expressing their concern.  The answer from the White House is “soon,” but we don’t know what “soon” means, since “soon” has already passed.  We have some clues.  Secretary Clinton vented some frustration last summer about the arduous vetting process for nominees.  Some folks are speculating that none of the top contenders want the job, because of the “ridiculous” vetting process combined with the ambiguous level of authority given to the USAID administrator.  So much for the three D’s.

At this point, many people feel that in order to get an appointment confirmed as soon as possible Obama should nominate someone who has already passed the vetting process for another position.  The downside of this approach is that we are limiting our options at a time when we need more than a warm body at the heart of the foremost U.S. development agency.  Still, it may be our best bet for getting an appointment before we break for the New Year.

Do We Hold Our Adversaries More Accountable?

A provocative debate over Bill Easterly’s critique of The Gates Foundation’s questionable data reporting continues to incite controversy. Easterly’s assertion that the Gates Foundation cherry-picked data to validate the success of their malaria treatment and prevention programs has been met with mixed criticism. David Roodman’s post for the Center of Global Development challenges Easterly’s own vigilance in subjecting those who share his views with the same scrutiny as his adversaries. How does an organization’s need to show programmatic success in order to gather donor support compromise standards and best practices in data collection and analysis? Furthermore, are we biased toward judging those who agree with us less harshly, even in the name of scientific research? Let us know what you think!