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Rethinking US Foreign Assistance Blog

The Rethinking US Foreign Assistance Blog complements CGD's Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance initiative. Both are for professionals interested in tracking US Foreign Assistance and its impact on developing countries.

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Rethinking US Foreign Assistance Blog

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Confirmation Hearing Questions for SECDEF Nominee Hagel

1/8/13
Beth Schwanke

Following President Obama’s nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) for Secretary of Defense, preparations for what is sure to be a nasty (but from both sides of the aisle!) confirmation hearing are in full swing.

In addition to budget woes, a pivot to Asia, continued crises in the Middle East, and the unknowns the next few years will bring, the new secretary is also likely to play a role in shaping US development policies and efforts.

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Africa Doesn't Need the Pentagon's Charity - Why I'm Grumpy About DOD's Development Programs in Africa

8/28/12
Kate Almquist Knopf

This blog was originally featured at AllAfrica.com.

In her recent Foreign Policy column, "The Pivot to Africa," Rosa Brooks made a plea for letting go of comfortable old assumptions about roles and missions between the civilian and non-civilian sides of the US government, particularly when it comes to US civil-military cooperation in Africa. My plea is for an evidence-based discussion of US development policy and its intersection with US national security.

US interests will be ill-served if we merely move from comfortable old (and false) assumptions about poverty and terrorism in Africa to comfortable new (and equally false) assumptions about "whole-of-government responses" to complex challenges. While the United States should of course think and work creatively, skepticism and, dare I say, opposition, from civilian agencies to AFRICOM taking on non-traditional military roles is not rooted in turf battles but in legitimate concerns about efficiency and results.

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Georgia On My Mind: A Slippery Slope Toward Politicizing the MCC

9/14/08
Sheila Herrling

On September 3, Secretary Rice announced a $1 billion economic and humanitarian support program for Georgia. Included in that program is a $100 million top-up to the existing MCC $295 million compact with Georgia . The top-up will be funded through existing MCC FY08 funds that would likely have been used to fund a couple of threshold programs. On September 17, the MCC Board will be asked to approve this action.

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