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CGD President Nancy Birdsall and Homi Kharas of the Brookings Institution recently released the new QuODA assessments measuring the quality of donor assistance. The second edition is based on 2009 data and now provides two years of data by which to judge assistance across four dimensions: maximizing efficiency, fostering institutions, reducing burden, and transparency and learning.
This is a joint post with John Norris of the Center for American Progress.
Last week, my colleague John Norris from the Center for American Progress, or CAP, and I kicked off a new Working Group, ‘Aid Priorities amid Declining Resources.’ This effort is meant to address a concern close to all of us working in foreign policy and international development – how best to address anticipated cuts to the international affairs budget which will take place under almost any scenario imaginable at this point.
Several years ago, the aid reform and effectiveness movement took shape in an environment ripe with hope for change. Calls for reform were finally gaining momentum and getting results, and the administration seemed keen on revamping both our foreign policy architecture and how we deliver U.S. assistance around the globe. The administration not only conducted the first ever Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, it also undertook a presidential review of its global development policy.
There is a birthday card that says: Congratulations. At 50, you are a national treasure. Unfortunately, Congress has appropriated no funds for your maintenance. It’s funny in a card. For a government agency, not so much.
The President’s Policy Directive on Global Development (PPD) called for two important concepts to guide U.S. foreign assistance. Recognizing that aid has become scattershot in where and what the United States does, the PPD asserted that the U.S.
One outcome of the President’s Policy Directive on Global Development, which was released a little over one year ago, is the Partnership for Growth model. It has been described as a framework for engagement designed to promote economic growth through a number of mechanisms, rather than an exclusive reliance on assistance.
This is a joint post with Will McKitterick.
In this season of budget battles and extreme partisanship, seeing eye to eye on the Hill is a rare commodity. Nevertheless, in an unusual moment of bipartisan agreement, Members of Congress introduced a bill that takes two big steps towards making U.S. foreign assistance more transparent, accountable, and effective.
Introduced by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) and Howard Berman (D-CA), the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2012 (H.R. 3159) achieved strong bipartisan backing from 30 cosponsors in the House. The bill follows in the footsteps of reform recommendations offered by the administration in the PPD and QDDR, and legislation introduced the 111th Congress.[1] Simply put, H.R. 3159 seeks to eliminate ineffective aid programs and bolster those that work by strengthening the government’s foreign assistance monitoring and evaluation regime. In doing so, it may also save the tax payer a pretty penny.
Last month, I released a new analysis on the Future of Aid Reform. In it, I sought to judge to what extent the administration’s 2012 budget request reflected a strong commitment to the principles outlined in the PPD and QDDR, and to prognosticate on the congressional response.
As I perused USAID’s new Policy Framework, I was struck by the number of references to other policy statements and strategies that are still in the works. These are all good signs that the agency’s Policy, Planning and Learning Bureau is thinking hard about how to effectively implement principles in the PPD and QDDR. And they are good tools for those of us on the outside to judge and nudge the administration to follow through with its stated objectives and strategies.
Under the Budget Control Act, a Joint Deficit Reduction Committee is tasked with finding up to $1.5 trillion in savings over ten years. The Committee is free to look at revenues, entitlements, and discretionary spending.
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