Britain's National Audit Office (NAO), akin to the US Government Accountability Office or GAO, is applauding the Department for International Development's Multilateral Aid Review.
The Obama administration’s FY2013 budget request may be a mixed bag for the overall international affairs budget, but its message on U.S. engagement in the multilateral development banks (MDBs) is clear: stay the course.
This is a joint post with Wren Elhai.
As the United States tries to contribute to a solution to Pakistan’s energy crisis, it’s worth looking at what others have done. Not one of the hurdles to a sustainable energy policy is new—and in fact other donors have spent years engaging in this arena. What is new is a sense of urgency within Pakistan, as street protests erupt over rolling blackouts and Prime Minister Gilani calls resolving the energy shortage his top priority. As Nancy Birdsall wrote in her third open letter to Ambassador Holbrooke, now is an opportune moment to put Pakistan’s energy sector on a solid foundation. As the administration pours in U.S. aid dollars and engages in dialogue with Pakistani policymakers, there is much that the team can learn from the failures of past attempts to reform Pakistan’s energy sector.