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Strengthening USAID: a Timeline of Recent Events

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Strengthening USAID: a Timeline of Recent Events Strengthening USAID: A Timeline of Recent Events May 31, 2011 - Agricultural development has historically been a significant component of U.S. foreign aid. While in the 1980s 25 percent of U.S. foreign aid went to agriculture, that number dropped to six percent by 1990 and was a meager one percent by 2008.1 As U.S. support for agricultural development has declined, so has the capacity of USAID to deliver agricultural assistance. In 1997, USAID ceased to be an independent agency with the Administrator reporting to the President and was folded into the State Department.2 In 2006, the Secretary of State created a Foreign Assistance Bureau within the State Department (State/F) to more closely align the USAID budget and activities with the State Department’s diplomacy objectives, ending USAID’s budget autonomy. While President G.W. Bush increased the foreign aid budget significantly, the aims of USAID’s development work were anchored in the President’s National Security Strategy. Furthermore, President Bush’s signature development initiatives, such as President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), were placed outside of USAID. Yet the events of the past two years show that the tide may be turning. On the agricultural assistance front, President Obama’s inaugural promise - “To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish…” - launched a renewal of the global agricultural development agenda. This assurance has translated into a series of policy actions: at the G-8 meeting in L’Aquila, Italy, in July 2009, the United States pledged to invest $3.5 billion in food security and agricultural development over three years; the initiative to fulfill this pledge, Feed the Future, was formally launched by the Secretary of State in May 2010 and was highlighted as a signature program when President Obama issued the first-ever Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) for Global Development in September 2010. Simultaneously, the resurgence of attention to agriculture has been echoed with calls to strengthen USAID’s capacity to serve as an innovative development enterprise. In the aforementioned PPD, the President reaffirmed the nation’s “moral obligation and national security interest in providing assistance” to the hungry and designated USAID as the lead development agency.3 The first Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) reiterated this designation. Since these announcements, USAID has launched significant internal shifts and changes, including the USAID FORWARD reform effort and the formation of two new Bureaus, one for Policy, Planning and Learning (PPL) and another for Food Security (BFS). The breadth and depth of these changes have been impressive. Likewise, the pace of change has been remarkable. When The Chicago Council released its Renewing American Leadership in the Fight Against Global Hunger and Poverty report in 2009, the picture was dismal. As an agency, USAID was still grappling with its new State Department mandated priorities to promote “peace and security” – with the goal of “reducing widespread poverty” added in as a result of complaints from the development community.4 This coincided with a decline in staffing for USAID in general, as illustrated by the decline in total U.S. personnel direct hires from about 7,000 in 1965-1970 to The Strengthening USAID: A Timeline of Recent Events Occasional Paper is a product of the Global Agricultural Development Initiative (GADI). It was authored by Amy Saltzman, with contributions from Maggie Klousia. just above 2,000 in 2000-2005. To reverse this negative trend and improve USAID’s ability to deliver agricultural development assistance, The Chicago Council made two specific recommendations: restore the leadership role of USAID and rebuild USAID’s in-house capacity to develop and administer agricultural development assistance programs. The study’s Leaders Group warned that if USAID’s leadership role in agricultural development was not restored, other initiatives and efforts were likely to falter. Now, since 2009, it appears that many of the report’s recommendations—including the prioritization of agricultural development funds, improved leadership and staff capacity at USAID, and improved interagency coordination—have been incorporated into the Administration’s international development plans and policies. This Occasional Paper provides readers with a consolidated yet detailed timeline of significant events that evidence the “turning-tide” for USAID and broader agricultural development assistance. The “timeline” approach demonstrates the scope of the reforms and the swiftness with which they have occurred. Although these developments deserve acknowledgement and praise, the government should not “rest on its laurels.” The accomplishments of the past two years are part of a long-term plan that has only just begun: many pieces have fallen into place, however the hardest work lies ahead. Commitments and Announcements: The Beginnings of Reform September 2008: Congressional Action to Support Global Food Security On September 22, 2008, Senator Richard Lugar, with sponsorship from Senators Robert Casey and Richard Durbin introduced the Global Food Security Act, which would authorize appropriations for Fiscal Years 2010 through 2014 to provide assistance to foreign countries to promote agricultural development, food security, and improve emergency responses to food crises. The bill was re- introduced into the 111th Congress, and passed through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 31, 2009. Representative Betty McCollum introduced companion legislation into the House in June 2009. The Senate and House bills were combined in spring 2010 to form the Lugar-Casey- McCollum Global Food Security Act. The revised legislation also took into account the principles put forth in the Roadmap to End Global Hunger and Promote Food Security Act, which had been introduced into the House in June 2009 by Representatives JoAnn Emerson and Jim McGovern. The Lugar-Casey-McCollum Global Food Security Act was hotlined for passage in the Senate in summer 2010. Although it had significant support, it was not passed. April 2009: U.S. Presidential Commitment to Agricultural Development and Congressional Action to Reform Foreign Assistance Following the conclusion of the G20 London Summit, on April 2, 2009, President Obama called on Congress to double U.S. financial support for agricultural development in developing countries to more than $1 billion in 2010. On April 28, 2009, Congressman Howard Berman introduced H.R. 2139, the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009, which directed the President to develop a national strategy for global development and improve monitoring and evaluation of aid effectiveness. This legislation was later complemented in the Senate by the Kerry-Lugar Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009, S. 1524. Both enjoyed significant bipartisan co-sponsorship and called for a reform and rebuilding process to redefine America’s foreign assistance architecture and 2 Global Agricultural Development Initiative Occasional Paper is published by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. May 2011. strengthen the capacity of USAID. The House version never passed out of committee, and the Senate version, which passed out of committee in November 2009, was never considered on the floor. The Administration has, however, prioritized many of the issues raised, such as staffing, coordination, transparency and accountability. June 2009: Secretary Clinton Announces U.S. Food Security Strategy Principles At the 2009 World Food Prize Laureate Announcement ceremony, Secretary Clinton announced seven principles around which the U.S. would form its food security strategy. Principles included supporting sustainable solutions to hunger, investing in country-led plans, strengthening coordination, adopting a comprehensive approach to agricultural investments, working together thorough multilateral development partnerships, and committing to supporting agricultural investments over the long-term. July 2009: G8 Commitments to Global Hunger and Food Security and the Announcement of the First QDDR At the G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy, President Obama joined global leaders in refocusing development funding on global hunger and food security and committed $3.5 billion over three years (FY 2010 to FY 2012) to address hunger and poverty worldwide. The United States is only part of the Global Partnership for Agriculture and Food Security; others collectively pledged more than $20 billion. The L’Aquila Joint Statement on Global Food Security committed the G8 and other participants to five principles: (1) Supporting comprehensive strategies; (2) Investment through country-owned plans; (3) Improving coordination among donors; (4) Leveraging effective multilateral institutions; and (5) Delivering on sustained and accountable commitments. These principles would shape the development of the United States’ own initiative over the next few months. On July 10, 2009, the State Department launched the first QDDR. Carried out under the direction of the Secretary, led by the Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources, and co-chaired by the Administrator of USAID and the State Department’s Director of Policy Planning, the primary objective of the QDDR was to develop a whole-of-government approach to U.S. development policy. In a two-phase process of soliciting input from federal personnel in Washington
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