This weekly posting includes key news stories and opinion pieces related to foreign assistance reform and the larger development community.
What we’re reading:
- Troops, Taliban race to build up local governments (AP, December 21) The Marines and civilian development officials in Khan Neshin are trying to bypass the corruption and inefficiency at higher levels of government by working directly through the district governor, Massoud Balouch, a 27-year-old former pharmacist who sacrificed a comfortable life in the provincial capital to run one of Afghanistan’s impoverished areas. Without foreign aid to pay salaries, the governor said, his staff “would leave, and I wouldn’t want them to stay because they would fall into corruption.” Convincing educated and well-trained people to come work in Khan Neshin is only half the battle. Getting them to stay has proven just as difficult.
- Raj Shah and America’s Development Future (Roll Call-Bill Frist, December 17) Changes like these are never easy. But we can’t let inertia drag us down at this moment in time ‹ a moment when the future of the world’s so-called bottom billion, and our own American future, hangs in the balance. Dr. Shah has what is needed to carry on President Bush’s global health legacy and fulfill President Obama’s extraordinary development vision. The Senate should confirm him, and the Obama administration should give him the political support and resources he needs to succeed. Millions of lives will be affected by this choice.
- Climate talks: Clinton promises aid to poor nations – but China may resist (Christian Science Monitor, December 18) In an effort to clear a major hurdle toward a new climate agreement in Copenhagen, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced today that the United States would take part in efforts to pull together long-term financing for developing countries to the tune of $100 billion a year by 2020. The money would come from a combination of government-to-government aid, as well as from private-sector sources. The offer is missing details that would give it credibility, according to representatives for ActionAid International, a non-government organization based in Britain that works closely with developing countries on aid and development issues.
- Exclusive: New details on Obama’s $7.5 billion aid package to Pakistan (FP Blog-Josh Rogin, December 16) The biggest chunk of the funds, $3.5 billion spread over five years, will go to “high impact, high visibility infrastructure programs,” according to the report, focusing on the energy and agricultural sectors — “programs that Pakistani citizens can see.” Another $2 billion will be directed to “focused humanitarian and social services,” which includes extending the reach of the Pakistani government to areas where extremists now operate. Of that pot, $500 million will be earmarked for immediate post-crisis and humanitarian assistance, with the rest going to improving the quality and access to health and education. The remaining $2 billion will go to building up the Pakistani government both at the national and local levels. The money will be split between funding actual government entities and improving the security and legal infrastructure overall.
- Up to 56,000 more contractors likely for Afghanistan, congressional agency says (Washington Post, December 16) The tally “could increase further if the new [administration] strategy includes a more robust construction and nation building effort,” according to the report, which was released Monday and first disclosed on the Web site Talking Points Memo. As the Pentagon contracts out activities that previously were carried out by troops in wartime, it has been forced to struggle with new management challenges. “Prior to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, contracting was done on an ad-hoc basis and was not adequately incorporated into the doctrine — or culture — of the military,” according to the CRS report. Today, according to Defense Department officials, “doctrine and strategy are being updated to incorporate the role of contractors in contingency operations.”
Tags: Afghanistan, Clinton, developing world, Holbrooke, Pakistan, President Obama, Raj Shah, senate foreign relations committee, USAID
