Dear Friends of MFAN,
I returned last week from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, and conversations in this year’s side events about international assistance centered on three themes at the heart of MFAN’s work: using evidence to deliver more impact for every dollar, ensuring programs are country-driven and owned, and mobilizing more domestic public resources and private capital to finance development.
I heard these themes at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Build the Shared Initiative launch of a call to renew international cooperation. Similar themes emerged during the many panel discussions at Devex Impact House, where speakers kept returning to country financing and local leadership and partnership with the Global South.
The conversations in New York confirmed for me our conviction at MFAN that the future of international assistance is now.
Here in the U.S., it won't wait for a new Administration in 2029. Bilateral global health agreements are slated to start going into effect, and other new modalities are being used as the State Department struggles to implement and manage its expanded assistance portfolio inherited from USAID. At the DFC, needed development investments in low-income countries are now taking a back seat to projects in higher-income countries.
Congress (thankfully) continues to appropriate vital development and humanitarian assistance, and the decisions about how these resources will be implemented will shape U.S. assistance for years to come. This moment carries real opportunity and real risk. There is a genuine opening to design an international assistance architecture that is more agile, transformational, and strategic. At the same time, the erosion of U.S. government capacity, expertise, and transparency over the past year risks squandering resources and reversing years of progress.
Meeting the Moment
MFAN is laser-focused on these issues. We are putting forward sharp analysis on what is working and not working as well as actionable recommendations to shape the delivery of U.S. assistance for today and the months and years ahead.
Our recent policy commentaries and recommendations have taken on the same themes that I heard in New York. MFAN member Meghan Armistead of Catholic Relief Services argues in Centering the Moral Imperative and Local Leadership in the Next Chapter of U.S. Humanitarian Aid, that effectiveness requires that the State Department uphold Core Humanitarian Principles and put more resources and power in the hands of local responders. And in One Year After USAID, the State Department Should Invest in Expert Local Staff and Partners, MFAN member and former USAID Counselor Susan Reichle urges the State Department to utilize the former foreign service nationals and local partners, rather than rebuild expertise from scratch in Washington.
These commentaries build upon our major policy reports over the past year: The Future of U.S. Development and Humanitarian Assistance and our bipartisan Consensus Principles to our State Department Operational Readiness assessment and G2G roadmap. These reports and more are available on our Resources page.
Looking Ahead
The work ahead is substantial, and the stakes are high. But I am excited that MFAN is ready for the challenge. Our membership has grown by 40 percent over the past year with expertise from every segment of the international assistance continuum, including the recent addition of the ONE Campaign, led by Amb. Mark Green, and Malaria No More, led by Bill Steiger.
In the coming weeks, we will release a policy report on how money is moving through the three funding modalities the State Department now relies on: bilateral global health agreements, macro awards to UN OCHA and other partners, and open-call Annual Program Statements. And, early next year, we will publish a major report that delves deeper into the effectiveness of these funding modalities.
At the same time, we are working with allies on Capitol Hill on comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to strengthen domestic resource mobilization (DRM) and public financial management (PFM) programs – to expand and better coordinate USG assistance to strengthen the capacity of countries to finance their health and development programs.
I am grateful to you – our members, funders, and partners – for the passion and the commitment you bring to MFAN’s work. To keep up with the updates as they happen, I encourage you to follow MFAN on LinkedIn and welcome your feedback and partnership to make the most of this moment.
Tod Preston
Executive Director
Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network
