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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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The Next Administration Should Close Africa’s Energy Poverty Gap

9/24/12
Todd Moss

What’s going to be President Obama’s legacy on Africa?  President Clinton championed AGOA, still the core of US-Africa trade relations. President Bush built PEPFAR and the MCC.  There’s an outside chance that Feed the Future could be Obama’s lasting contribution, but I think the jury’s still out.  So what kind of big impact-big splash effort could we hope for in the next four years, from either a second Obama term or a new Romney administration?

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Mangoes vs. Peanuts and More: What We Saw and Didn’t See in Hillary Clinton’s Trip to Pakistan

7/22/10
Wren Elhai

This is a joint post with Molly Kinder.

This week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Pakistan was front-page news in every Pakistani newspaper (and most here in the United States as well). Clinton brought with her two main things: a long list of new aid projects worth half a billion dollars—see the box below for what was on the list—and a strong message to Pakistanis that the United States intends to stick it out for the long haul.

Before the trip, we thought this was the best chance Clinton would have to signal to the Pakistanis that the U.S. development program wasn’t the sort of fickle short-sighted engagement they’ve come to expect from the United States. (And we outlined an idea for how she should do that). The result: while Clinton’s visit fell short of being a real game-changer, it was a clear, though incremental, step forward.

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Pakistan’s Energy Sector: Groundhog Day for USA?

6/4/10
Molly Kinder

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.

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