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Dear White House: All I Want for Christmas Is a Global Development Strategy
December 9, 2009
Thirty thousand Americans (and counting!) have written to the White House this week asking for one thing: a global development strategy. President Obama is expecting recommendations from the Presidential Study Directive on U.S. Global Development Policy in January, and a growing chorus of constituents is clamoring for the recommendations to be taken seriously and to be turned into a national strategy for global development.
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The Presidential Study Directive on U.S. Global Development Policy was initiated by the president in August and is being co-chaired by National Security Council Chairman General James Jones and National Economic Council Chairman Dr. Lawrence Summers. As my colleague Sheila Herrling has reported, the study aims to bring together all U.S. government agencies that work on development in some way—not just on foreign assistance, but trade, migration, security issues and more—to craft recommendations for a whole-of-government approach to global development. When I asked Sheila recently what she thought of the PSD process so far, she commented:
I think the PSD is in the incredibly good hands of Gayle Smith, Jeremy Weinstein and Chris Broughton. The very fact that for the first time ever, the White House is gathering all the agencies to one table to even attempt to lay out a whole-of-government strategy and focus for global development is stunning in itself. And I respect very much the way in which they have organized tackling the issues: start with ‘the what’ — what is the substance, objectives, priorities and trade-offs of U.S. development policy? Once you have achieved consensus on that, move to the ‘the means and tools’ – what do we need to make U.S. development policy more effective? And then, and only then, tackle the very thorny (and too often frontloaded) question of ‘the how’ — how to organize the U.S. government to achieve the stated objectives.
While the study is in itself a huge step in the right direction, we know that it is one of many issues on the White House agenda. As the White House strives to craft a whole-of-government approach to global development, our friends at Bread for the World, CARE, ONE, Women Thrive Worldwide and elsewhere are circulating a whole-of-development-community petition asking the White House to send a strong signal about America’s commitment to development. The petition reads:
TO THE WHITE HOUSE:
I strongly support U.S. foreign assistance efforts that alleviate poverty, fight disease, and create opportunity in developing countries.
As General James Jones and Dr. Lawrence Summers prepare recommendations on how to deliver on President Obama’s promise to ensure that development is “established and endures as a key pillar of U.S. foreign policy,” I ask for action on one key issue:
Create a U.S. global development strategy that gives development a strong voice in foreign policy decisions and coordinates our efforts to alleviate global poverty, fight disease, and create economic opportunity.
Addressing this issue quickly will strengthen ongoing efforts across the U.S. government to make foreign assistance more effective and accountable.
You can find (and sign) the petition on the websites of the sponsoring organizations or at the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network site that keeps a running total of petition signers.
5 Responses to “Dear White House: All I Want for Christmas Is a Global Development Strategy”
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December 9th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
The US is unquestionably in need of a global development strategy that coordinates the areas mentioned above: trade, immigration, hunger alleviation, etc. It sounds like the formation of such a policy is in good hands, but two concerns come to mind, which may or may not be warranted. First is the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and, by most measures, failed coordination efforts. Second, is the role of the US as a major power in the international arenas of the UN, IMF, and World Bank. Unless harmful practices in these arenas are addressed, I worry that any effort to reform US strategy may just be lip service .
December 15th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
tails very seldom wag dogs… and relocating the tail to a different place on the dog ain’t likely to make much difference.
December 16th, 2009 at 3:45 am
This article prompted me to look for a statement of US Strategic Objectives as this would be a natural framework into which a development strategy should fit. I have not found it yet – can you point me to it?
Thanks
January 8th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
The need, the demand, the request in the new USA strategy is felt anywhere and everywhere. the current economical crisis is that tectonic shift in the society that would not be overcome without the USA participation.
Now the whole World requiere – and just like it was in the Europe after the Second Wold WaR, so like it was after the Second World War, the world requires the Global Marshall Plan
But no attetion is paid to any mails form aside unknown person with no sound name. That means that this center is still far from real search for a solution.
January 12th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
U.S. Foreign Assistance update for Africa should incorporate Popular Participation through Civil Societies Social Entrepreneurship Agency network for Cooperative Development, concentrating at Local village Communities spreading out. The Immediate Agricultural Partnership arrangement is the most possible short-term success strategy for Development in Africa, to be embraced by educational forum for sensitization which is able to boost other challenging Trading opportunities for long-term at competitive edge and also to match those of Global Development challenging Agenda for prosperity and growth. This is another way of economic development feeder and expansion for job creation. The arrangement for balancing Democracy with Development is the most suitable way to harmonize legitimacy for Democracy in Africa, without which, Democratic Agenda alone becomes weak, ineffective and elusive, a situation which have expounded corruption and impunity within the Leadership of Africa for decades. This will be the answer to Global Peace and Unity. People will be too busy and active one way or the other doing some form of business with less idleness. In addition, this arrangement will cut and reduce crime and war drastically.