Part of our ongoing Obama Transition series, examining different sectors of US global development policy. Check out the document we delivered to President Obama’s transition team, and be sure to follow the ONE Blog for further updates on the new administration’s work on global development:

One of the key elements of poverty alleviation in poor countries is the ability to earn resources that can be channeled into basic needs. By exporting their products locally, regionally, and globally, African producers, farmers, and entrepreneurs can earn a living, provide for their families, and contribute to economic growth. Currently, Africa has the lowest share of global trade – at approximately two percent. Now is the time for the Obama administration take action to make trade work for Africa by prioritizing trade policy that encourages development and levels the playing field for African producers.

One example of U.S. trade policy for Africa is the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which lowers or eliminates tariffs on African products exported to the U.S. This special access to the U.S. market can help African businesses to take off. In order to better take advantage of AGOA benefits, programs like the four “trade hubs”, created by the African Global Competitiveness Initiative (AGCI), assist African producers in navigating the U.S. business arena including understanding U.S. customs laws, finding buyers, and getting assistance with pricing and marketing. Niche-market exports like flowers, shea butter, and specialized apparel, in particular have benefitted from both access to the U.S. market and technical assistance through the trade hubs. The trade-hubs cost little to operate and since 2005 have generated an additional $60 million in exports to the U.S.

In the short-term, the Obama administration can showcase their commitment to trade by initially providing a total of $65 million in fiscal year 2009 to these programs, an additional $20 million over the 2008 funding levels of $45 million. With an additional funding infusion of $30 million in fiscal year 2010, a total of $95 million will enable USAID to implement the trade hub program in Senegal, Ghana, Kenya, and Botswana, in addition to expanding the model to another three countries.

Trade policy must be well-integrated with development policy in order to fully utilize the power that trade has to unlock the economic potential in poor countries. Tariffs and subsidies hinder access to new markets, and poor countries need better infrastructure facilities, technology, and resources to meet the demands of the global market. We recommend that the Obama administration align trade policy with development goals, and fund a significant new trade and development initiative. More specifically, we are calling for the expansion of AGOA to cover all products and all African countries for another ten years, the creation of a $100 million small and medium enterprises (SME) fund that will ensure access to capital and technical assistance for entrepreneurs and small businesses in the developing world, and commit to a comprehensive aid for trade package that helps Africa meet the challenges of expanding to new markets.

A comprehensive approach to trade and development that will help Africans sell more products on the global market, address Africa’s supply-side challenges, and spur economic growth in the region, can make a significant impact on poverty in the developing world.

-Beth Adler

President Obama can provide leadership that creates a world where no one has to do die from a mosquito bite. Malaria is the number one killer of young children in Africa – but it doesn’t have to be. Rwanda and Ethiopia have cut deaths due to malaria by 50%, providing positive examples of the potential that exists in Africa and elsewhere to reverse the trajectory of the disease. Ending deaths from malaria in Africa and in other regions is achievable in the short-term and should be acted on now, but the United States should also lead the world in investments for what is needed to ensure the longer term improvement of health. ONE’s briefing to the presidential transition team makes recommendations for how President Obama can lead the United States in doing its fair share to realize both of these goals.

President Obama can start by fulfilling the commitment he made at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2008 to end all malaria deaths by 2015. The United States will not be alone in this effort, but in Obama’s own words: “The United States must lead.” ONE recommends that President Obama propose $825 million in total funding in FY09, and $1.55 billion in FY10 for malaria. These numbers were not drawn out of thin air; they are the US share of the total amount needed globally to fund the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP) – the roadmap to eliminate deaths from malaria.

The GMAP sets an interim goal of 2010 to reduce the burden of malaria by 50%. This would be achieved by providing “universal access” (reaching 80% of those in need) to prevention and treatment services. If these targets are reached, by 2015 the world will have eliminated deaths from malaria and nearly 100% of those in need of prevention methods and treatment will be covered. This ‘quick win’ will help to lay the groundwork for strengthening health systems in developing countries.

Weak health systems are constraining the potential impact of large amounts of funding for specific diseases – including that of the United States. ONE’s briefing to the transition team recommends that the Administration spur discussions at the Italian G8 Summit of a multilateral initiative that would coordinate health system strengthening efforts. To indicate its intent to support this initiative, ONE recommends that the United States should pledge an initial $250 million in FY11. In addition to funding national health system plans in at least 19 countries by 2010, such an initiative would have several positive spillover effects. It would reduce the reporting burden many countries face, would coordinate donor efforts to ensure they are aligned with country plans and priorities, and would use limited aid dollars more efficiently.

Making an initial investment in malaria would set the foundation for a longer-term health system strengthening effort. In turn, investing in health systems would help to ensure that reductions in malaria deaths and increased access to malaria prevention and treatment last through generations, in addition to maximizing the potential of investments in other key areas to significantly reduce morbidity and mortality in developing countries.

-Lisa Fleisher

After hours in the cold watching Barack Obama be sworn in and give his first address as president of the United States, I finally made it indoors and to a computer.

As a ONE member, I know I wasn’t the only one thankful and inspired by President Obama’s words on our issues:

“To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”

And while writing this, I’m discovering this statement on the new White House website under foreign policy:

“Fight Global Poverty: Obama and Biden will embrace the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty and hunger around the world in half by 2015, and they will double our foreign assistance to achieve that goal. This will help the world’s weakest states build healthy and educated communities, reduce poverty, develop markets, and generate wealth.”

Over the last 2 months, more than 101,000 people signed ONE’s petition calling on Mr. Obama to make clear in his speech the importance of fighting poverty and preventable disease worldwide. And he now has on the most prominent of global stages.

I look forward to working with ONE’s millions of members over the next days, months, and years, to keep up the pressure and make sure these powerful words turn into powerful action.

-Virginia Simmons

(photo credit Josh Peck)

The global food crisis that made headlines throughout 2008 has been eclipsed in recent months by news of the global financial crisis. Despite the lack of headlines, the food crisis is still in full swing. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently reported that additional 40 million people were pushed into hunger in 2008, increasing the number of hungry people around the world to 963 million, 907 million of whom live in the developing world. In Lesotho, for example, virtually 100% of families responding to a recent food security survey reported being effected by rising food prices, while fifty percent reported borrowing food to get by and more than forty percent have cut down on meals.

The precarious food situation in the developing world, coupled with the fact that approximately one half of people in the developing world rely on agriculture for their livelihood, make this an ideal time for the U.S. to increase support of agriculture in the developing world. We at ONE recently submitted a briefing to the presidential transition team advocating that the Obama administration increase funding levels for agriculture and development as it takes office.

We recommend a quick infusion of an additional $2 million in funding in fiscal year 2009 over the 2008 funding level of $413 million. This funding will provide developing countries that are facing food insecurity now with urgently needed inputs like seeds, fertilizer, food, and micronutrients that will help jumpstart their agricultural sectors and improve agricultural yields, in addition to providing necessary food aid. Secondly, we are calling for an initial investment of $850 million in fiscal year 2010, an increase of $437 million over fiscal year 2008 funding levels, to fund capacity building, access to improved seeds, tools, research, and improved agricultural methods and technology.

We at ONE also advocate that U.S. food aid and other inputs be flexible, allowing goods to be purchased locally rather than being shipped from the U.S., ensuring that local markets can benefit from the production and trade of these goods.

Often, funding for food security in the developing world translates into additional money for emergency food aid. While food aid is vital in emergency or conflict situations, it does not assist the developing world in strengthening their agricultural sectors and providing their own food. Agriculture is a tool that can both address the current food crisis, prevent future shortfalls, and can be the ticket out of poverty for many in the developing world. However, in order to successfully leverage agriculture as a tool for development, we need more than a short-term solution of food, seeds, and fertilizer – we need a global short-, medium-, and long-term plan.

In the long-term, we recommend that the administration develop a long-term funding approach to (more…)

Investments in schools like this one in Ghana are crucial to fighting poverty and insecurity around the world.

President-elect Barack Obama has announced his picks to lead nearly every cabinet agency, down to his announcement of four deputy or under-secretaries at the Department of Defense. And candidate for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s confirmation hearing – which has been expertly blogged here – began this morning. So what’s missing from this picture?

In an op-ed on foreignpolicy.com today, Oxfam America President Ray Offenheiser calls on Mr. Obama to start backing his words about fighting poverty and disease around the world with deeds.

First, the president-elect should quickly name one of the missing players on his foreign policy team – the administrator of USAID.

Next, Obama must work with national security advisor James L. Jones to give the responsibility for coordinating development policy across the U.S. government to a deputy national security advisor or a senior director at the National Security Council.

Check out foreignpolicy.com to read the full op-ed.

- Porter McConnell, Aid Effectiveness Team, Oxfam America

President-elect Obama’s campaign brought together some 1.5 million volunteers from across America. With so many Americans engaged in the recent election and excited about government, great development benefits could be garnered by channeling this energy towards U.S. development goals.

President-elect Obama’s goals include giving every child the chance to go to primary school (currently 75 million children do not get that chance), eliminating deaths from malaria, and helping those in the developing world to improve their own ability to grow food. Skilled workers are critical to implementing all of these goals. Americans with experience in teaching, agriculture, medicine, trade or a variety of other sectors can help to train practitioners in their fields in other countries.

In ONE’s briefing to President-elect Obama‘s transition team, ONE asks the incoming administration to fulfill two of their campaign commitments to increase human capacity by doubling the size of the Peace Corps by its 50th anniversary in 2011 and creating a Civilian Assistance Corps that would recruit highly skilled volunteers from the United States to work towards development goals including both direct service provision and training of local capacity.

There is more information on both of these proposals and our briefings to the incoming Administration here.

-Rena Pacheco-Theard and Josh Lozman

As part of ONE’s briefing to the presidential transition team, we recommended that President-Elect Obama follow through on his commitment to prioritize global education by scaling up U.S. funding for basic education to reach $3 billion annually. This recommendation is based on the President-Elect’s own commitments during the campaign: Obama pledged to capitalize a $2 billion “Global Education Fund” and to leverage U.S. commitments through the Fast Track Initiative, a financing mechanism that coordinates increased resources for countries whose education plans have been technically vetted and endorsed. Obama reiterated this commitment at the Clinton Global Initiative in September, and also said he looked forward to signing the Education for All Act, bipartisan legislation which would provide $10 billion in funding for education over five years.

Following through on these commitments could go a long way towards erasing the global education gap. Currently, 75 million children (more than half of whom are girls) are not enrolled in primary school. Nearly half of these children live in Africa and one-third live in fragile states. These out-of-school children represent a serious lost opportunity in the fight against extreme poverty and disease. With its widespread impacts on health, education, democratic development and economic growth, education is one of the most critical tools available to help poor countries forge a pathway out of poverty. The case for expanding access to education is even stronger amidst the current economic climate- investments in education are long-term and will reap benefits for communities and nations for generations to come.

In FY08, the U.S. appropriated $694 million for global education (primarily through the Development Assistance account and the Economic Support Fund), a large portion of which was directed to Pakistan and also programs such as the African Education Initiative, which provides learning materials like (more…)

On December 17th, we delivered our petition with more than 86,000 signatures to President-elect Barack Obama’s foreign policy transition team.

The petition asked Obama to make a clear statement, through his upcoming inaugural address and budget priorities, that he intends to fulfill his campaign commitments to fighting poverty and preventable disease worldwide. View the petition here.

Senior members of the Obama-Biden Transition’s foreign policy team gladly accepted this petition, and were impressed by the 86,113 members –- at the time of delivery –- whom we mobilized on behalf of the world’s poorest people.

Although the initial delivery is complete, you can still sign the petition here. As the number of signers grows — hopefully hitting our new goal of 100,000 before the inauguration on January 20th — your signature will keep on working in our fight to alleviate global poverty and prevent diseases, including HIV/AIDS and malaria. We will continue using this petition in our advocacy efforts, taking every opportunity to encourage the President-elect to get us on track to meeting his pledges.

After the inaugural address on January 20th, we’ll be looking at Obama’s first Presidential budget request, for Fiscal Year 2010, and working hard to make sure it provides sufficient support for the proven, effective and affordable programs that give hope and opportunities to millions of people now living in desperate need.

Learn more about our transition strategy here.

Sign the inauguration petition here.

-Emily Stivers

ONE recently prepared a set of transition documents for President-elect Obama’s transition team. These documents essentially represented ONE’s best effort to put in writing a set of recommendations for how the Obama team could put its vision for development into action after taking office. The booklet included issue specific recommendations that could be implemented both in the short and longer term.

All of these recommendations are meant to fit into Obama’s broader vision for fighting poverty and making the Millennium Development Goals America’s own goals for development. In order to do so, President-elect Obama also committed to double U.S. spending on development assistance by $25 billion. In an effort to tie the two together, ONE’s transition document includes a section outlining the annual expenditures necessary to reach this goal over five years. It lists each of Obama’s existing commitments to development and added those priorities that ONE recommended to fulfill the overall vision. All of these things can be accomplished with an increase of $23.96 billion by fiscal year 2013.

While this increase sounds large, it still only represents less than 1% of the U.S. federal budget and can provide significant assistance to countries struggling to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Some of the priorities and commitments we include are:

• Fully funding PEPFAR, tuberculosis and malaria as authorized in the Lantos-Hyde act passed this year
• Create an initiative to build long-term agricultural capacity
• Work toward universal primary education by signing and funding the Education for All Bill
• Create and small and medium enterprise fund to support economic growth in Africa

These are just a few of the ideas mentioned in the briefing.

The scale up acknowledges that the United States is currently facing a difficult economic crisis and that therefore the new Administration will have to strategically choose which priorities to invest in immediately and which will have to be initiated a year or two down the line. Ultimately however, despite the difficult budget environment facing the U.S. in this upcoming year, ONE hopes that the Obama administration will begin the scale up with a total increase of $4 billion over the spending level in fiscal year 2008 so that those most critical initiatives can begin their scale up. Delaying the effort will only make annual increases required in future years more difficult to achieve. You can view the chart showing scale-up here.

-Erin Thornton, Policy Director, ONE

Last week, ONE released its transition briefing to President-elect Obama’s transition team. Our transition briefing builds on the already robust agenda laid out by the President-elect with a series of short- and long-term policy pitches to the transition team along with a detailed sketch of how the Obama Administration can meet its commitment to double foreign assistance.

A transition briefing like this is meant to provide our thoughts on new priorities that could be taken up early on in the Administration and that also fit well with President-elect Obama’s vision. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all the things that ONE will support during the next four years whether they be existing priorities or new ideas that may emerge.

President-elect Obama’s campaign commitment to double foreign assistance provides us a framework for our requests and while it may sound ambitious, it is a critical necessity to the overarching goals. We are not naïve to the financial realities our country is facing, but for far too long development has played a supportive role in our overall foreign policy. It is our hope that President Obama will act on the vision he described as a candidate and raise the profile of development. We believe this briefing provides a roadmap to do that.

We hope that you find this briefing helpful and look forward to working with President Obama, his Administration, Congress, and all of our members to make this vision a reality.

-Erin Thornton, ONE’s Policy Director