The United States needs a set of goals that are similar in ambition to the Millennium Development Goals but make sense given our starting conditions.
Key Points
Global Development: Charting a New Course analyzes the inefficiencies in the current structure of U.S. foreign assistance and maps out a series of reforms needed to elevate development as a foreign policy priority.
The challenges of the 21st century argue for a fresh approach to U.S. foreign assistance. Comprehensive U.S. foreign assistance reform should embody the following principles:
- Global development and global poverty reduction must be elevated as specific goals in U.S. foreign policy, distinguished from political, military, and security goals, with distinct and secure funding.
- Poverty reduction should be a primary focus of U.S. foreign assistance, with substantially more povertyfocused funding provided to meet commitments related to the MDGs.
- Development assistance should be provided in partnership with recipient countries to meet their long-term development goals and focus on outcomes with measurable goals and objectives.
- Civilian leadership in development assistance must be maintained and strengthened, with the Department of Defense limited to its operational strengths in logistics and stabilization.
- An effective, streamlined agency is required to direct all development assistance, consolidating the plethora of U.S. development assistance programs currently spread across 12 cabinet departments and numerous agencies.
- Other U.S. policies (e.g. trade, investment, migration) need to be aligned with development assistance goals and objectives to maximize the impact of U.S. development programs.
- U.S. development assistance should be more closely coordinated with other international donors to reduce the burdens on recipient governments as well as costly duplication of programs.
Reforming Aid: Key Points
Global development and global poverty reduction must be elevated as specific goals in U.S. foreign policy, distinguished from political, military and security goals, with distinct and secure funding.
Development: Key Points
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) represent the consensus of the global community on the basic conditions needed to improve the lives and prospects of the world’s poorest people.
Hunger and Poverty: Key Points
A spike in global food prices has increased hunger and poverty. Rising prices are higher due to a number of factors, such as increased prospertity in the developing world, energy prices, demand for biofuels, drought and trade policies. As a result, more than a hundred million additional people have been added to the ranks of the world’s poor and 115 million more are hungry.
