Each year, MFAN speaks with the Congressional Hunger Center‘s Leland International Hunger Fellows about the pillars of aid effectiveness, and how accountability and country ownership can be incorporated into their two-year program of field and policy work.
The Congressional Hunger Center interviewed this year’s cohort, asking them how they have seen accountability and country ownership playing a role in their work and where there are opportunities for improved effectiveness. See what the fellows had to say about aid effectiveness in the field and in DC below.
Amelia Foley , Leland Fellow at CARE
“I’m a huge believer in evidence; I want rigorous evidence. I obviously advocate for making sure that the dollars go to interventions that are increasing wellbeing for people in meaningful ways, but I think that the donors can re-examine their control around what measurements are done and how they are measured.” – See Amelia’s full interview here.
Tanner Roark, Leland Fellow at Project Concern International
“In the broad scheme of thin
gs I think a lot of it has to come from the bottom up. Most of what I have seen and discussed is very top-down. How do we align U.S. government with other donors and everything? That’s my own personal interest, these bottom-up movements. Maybe it’s a convergence of policy people that are working on a high level supplying the needs of what people at the smaller levels of that community—smaller levels, not lower—what they’re demanding, a push and pull.” – See Tanner’s full interview here.
Sarah King, Leland Fellow at Action Against Hunger in South Sudan
“[We spend a lot of time] building consensus, and ensuring that the decisions always involve all the different stakeholders. I think the project has seen a lot of support from the country because of this, and that the potential results from this are exciting for the government. We’ve seen support from the county level all the way up to the national level, and really owning this project as if it is their own—which it is, in a sense. I think this would be really unlikely to have occurred if the government had had minimal involvement.” – See Sarah’s full interview here.
Brandon Hugueley, Leland Fellow at Project Concern International
“I think there really is a push to help countries be more self-reliant and sustainable…. There are real efforts being made, and a couple things that are interesting on that front. I’ve heard a lot about domestic resource mobilization, helping countries generate revenue.” – See Brandon’s full interview here.
Stay tuned for more interviews from the Leland Hunger Fellows!
