Reforming US Foreign Aid

Henrietta Fore, Director of Foreign Assistance and USAID Administrator, has announced her plan for reforming the US Foreign Aid system. The Center For Global Development gives a solid analysis of what she had to say. The CGD tracks this issue closely, and just started a new project on modernizing foreign assistance. The four main points they drew out were:

• Increasing the foreign assistance budget to meet the challenges of the 21st century to ensure “that development is an equal and essential element of our national security strategy and budget”

• Rebuilding the capacity of USAID — the FY09 budget released today requests the largest personnel increase ever, a doubling of the USAID training budget and a “surge capacity” to respond rapidly in crisis situations

• Streamlining budget and planning processes, with a shifting of emphasis to the field

• Reestablishing U.S. intellectual leadership on foreign assistance

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Rj8QgoHG_Tw" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]