A report released this morning shows that the world is falling short of the promises it made to developing nations.

Each year in early April, the independent nonprofit Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports on each donor nation’s contributions to the world’s poorest people. This year’s report shows that the world is not keeping pace with what’s needed to make good on their promises to help countries out of extreme poverty by 2015.

The United States has the ability to be the shining beacon of hope for the world’s poorest people. Right now, that beacon needs a voltage boost. Not counting debt relief (looking at the figures like this keeps everyone from overstating the cost to the donor or assistance provided to developing countries), United States foreign assistance to the world declined 3.55 percent last year, in big part because of a drop in aid to Iraq. For sub-Saharan Africa, American assistance last year increased by 8 percent. The United States spent $5.7 billion (2006 prices) on assistance to Africa last year.

The United States promised in 2005 to double foreign assistance to Africa by 2010. This would help end needless suffering across the continent and provide hope and opportunity for millions. While projections indicate that the U.S. is likely to meet its pledge to Africa by 2010, the pace has been slower than expected.

Looking ahead for the rest of this year, the United States is poised to increase aid through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). These relatively new initiatives are expected to scale up in the years to come.

The ONE Campaign applauds Congress and President Bush for boosting funding that targets diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Just this week, the House of Representatives voted by an overwhelming majority to reauthorize America’s HIV/AIDS program, PEPFAR, for another 5 years. This vote signals a commitment to build on the early successes of the program with the goal of saving millions more lives. Based on this Congressional action and what we already know about funding for initiatives already underway, future foreign assistance levels are promising. But there is a long way to go to meet America’s promise to double assistance to Africa by 2010.

Learn more about the OECD’s new statistics, or check out the stats for yourself. Many of ONE’s partners are talking about the OECD report as well. Our sister organization, DATA, offers its analysis of the numbers. Check them out here.

-Sara Rogge, ONE Senior Trade Advisor