A New Model for Foreign Aid?
As may or may not know, George Rupp, President of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) was rumored to be a candidate for AID administrator. With the appointment of acting administrator Fulgham, there's speculation that larger change is in the air. I wonder if Rupp's research trip to the UK to review DFID is an indicator of these changes and his candidacy....
See A New Model for Foreign Aid By Anne C. Richard;
"The "DFID Model": Lessons for the U.S.;
A Reliance on Smart Power: Reforming the Foreign Assistance Bureaucracy; and
Defining the Military’s Role towards Foreign Policy
Testimony of George Rupp
President and CEO, International Rescue Committee
Before the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Thursday, July 31, 2008
The opening paragraph of the conclusion of this last piece is worth quoting, I think:
Quote:
As Secretary of Defense Gates stated earlier this month, “We cannot kill or capture our way to victory.” We are learning that the fight against extremism will not be won in the battlefield. The enemy is not terrorism; the enemy is ignorance and poverty. The remedy is health, education, and economic development, carried out in a cost effective way by experts.
Mildly off thread question
First, on thread: I agree that USAID needs major revitalization and effort. I agree that our foreign affairs effort and our foreign aid efforts need a great deal of work. I'm neutral at this time on Rupp and the proposal linked.
However, I have a question of the resident Academics:
I note the linked "The 'DFID Model': Lessons for the U.S." was published by John Hopkins. So was the precursor to the infamous and terribly flawed "Lancet" study on Iraqi deaths. Are both those not issue efforts and thus my question; is Johns Hopkins supporting issue efforts or academic inquiry?
Obviously, I've led a sheltered life...
I guess on one level, I knew all that but on another it hit the 'Reject button.'
Perhaps I had an unconscious delusion that Johns Hopkins was above the fray, so to speak. :wry:
Thank you both.
To return to the thread; having read all the links it does seem the British approach has much to recommend it but I'm unsure that congress will cede that much authority -- or money -- to anyone without micromanaging.