Blog Contributor:
Porter.McConnell_Oxfam
Sep 16th, 2009 11:35 AM UTC
By Porter.McConnell_Oxfam
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 There’s been a lot of great momentum lately about providing clean water for the nearly one billion people in the world without it. In 2005, Congress passed the Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act, and from 2007 to 2008, US funding for water, sanitation, and hygiene programs went up 45%.
So what’s missing from this picture, you ask? The system to implement it. If we want to make a difference in helping poor families around the world access clean water, we need a modern and efficient aid agency to deliver on our promises. USAID needs an overall plan for fighting poverty in order to get the most out of this amazing infusion of resources for providing clean water. The best way to make a long-term difference in water and sanitation is to integrate water – and all other the other life-saving assistance that ONE members fight for – into a single strategy for fighting global poverty.
The current system is broken. There’s not even a single place in the US government to find out what the US is currently spending on water & sanitation and in what countries. In the Water for the Poor Act of 2005, Congress mandated an annual report on the government’s progress. But because there are fifteen different US agencies implementing water or sanitation programs overseas, the report does not capture all our efforts. The Millennium Challenge Corporation provided $429 million to help countries upgrade their water delivery systems and connect more households to clean water last year. But that investment is not even reflected in the Water for the Poor Act Report country data, which only reports USAID and State Department activities.
A scattered bureaucracy may not sound like such an urgent problem, but lives hang in the balance: without a clear direction, our water and sanitation assistance simply isn’t going where it’s needed the most. In 2008,
- Jordan received over $41 million from USAID for water and sanitation programs in FY 2008, even though 98% of its population already has access to improved drinking water.
- Niger, where only 42% of the population has access to improved drinking water, received only one-fiftieth that amount.
Learn more about why lending your voice to the fight for foreign assistance reform can also mean improving access to clean drinking water and improved sanitation for the world’s poorest.
-Porter McConnell, Aid Reform Campaign, Oxfam America
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Jan 13th, 2009 4:56 PM UTC
By Porter.McConnell_Oxfam
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Investments in schools like this one in Ghana are crucial to fighting poverty and insecurity around the world.
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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
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Jun 10th, 2008 12:36 PM UTC
By Porter.McConnell_Oxfam
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The L.A. Times ran an op-ed yesterday suggesting the U.S. use the world food crisis as an opportunity to reshape U.S. agricultural policy, foreign aid programs and image abroad.
Some excerpts:
“In 1948, a first lieutenant in the Air Force named Gail Halvorsen began dropping candy bars attached to tiny handkerchief parachutes to the hungry children of Berlin. Many had never tasted chocolate before. The kindness of the “Candy Bomber” came to symbolize the spirit of American humanitarianism…
The global food crisis offers the United States a fresh opportunity to show the world its humanitarian mettle. In 2007, with prices soaring, the volume of food donated by rich countries to hungry ones actually shrank 15% to the lowest levels in nearly five decades, according to the United Nations….
So the U.S. will be asked to do more — and it should. The question is whether it can turn this crisis into an opportunity to remake the agricultural and aid policies that have racked up a 50-year record of expensive failure…
The big thinkers in both presidential campaigns should be mapping out more thoughtful responses to the global food challenge. That means crafting plans both to help the hungry and to improve perceptions of the United States in strategic and suffering areas.”
Read the full piece here.
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Apr 24th, 2008 3:59 PM UTC
By Porter.McConnell_Oxfam
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 Yesterday, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing to discuss reforming foreign assistance.
The hearing comes just in time. US foreign aid has saved millions of lives and helped millions more overcome poverty. But foreign aid is still underperforming and often fails to reach the people who need it most. At the hearing, Oxfam president Raymond Offenheiser illustrated the problem with a story:
During the Asian tsunami in 2004, the U.S. government responded rapidly and effectively with humanitarian relief. But when it came time to rebuild, villagers in Thailand were delivered unsolicited boats from the U.S. government and other aid agencies. Villagers who were day laborers, not fishermen, before the tsunami, felt obliged to become fishermen in order to put the boats to use. One villager told researchers, “We got too many boats and there are not enough people or fishing spots to go to.†A fisherman in the village quipped, “I think there are more boats than fish.â€
During the hearing, Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA) remarked: “It is painfully obvious to Congress, the Administration, foreign aid experts, and NGOs alike, that our foreign assistance program is fragmented and broken and in critical need of overhaul.†Republican Ranking Member Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) likened the disorder of the current foreign aid structure to a “spaghetti bowl.â€
When the bi-partisan HELP Commission convened to study the issue reported their findings to Congress last fall, they marvelled that “not one person appeared before this Commission to defend the status quo.â€
Much of this mess is enshrined in the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Over the years, the Act has become a maze of red tape that’s 1500 pages long. It has 33 stated goals and 247 directives – many in conflict with each other. It’s a testament to the commitment and talent of our foreign aid professionals that they have managed to work around the system to continue producing results for the poor. However, even their best efforts are stumbling under the bureaucratic crush.
Oxfam America is seeking reform of US foreign aid to make it more focused on ending global poverty. Also testifying at the hearing were Lael Brainard from Brookings, Steve Radelet from the Center for Global Development (CGD), and former Congressman Jim Kolbe from the German Marshall Fund. Oxfam America is part of a group of nonprofits and thought leaders calling for a new Foreign Assistance Act to create a cabinet-level agency out of the hodge podge of agencies and initiatives working on foreign aid today. The movement gains traction every day. Learn more about Oxfam’s aid reform campaign , and stay tuned for how you can help.
-Porter McConnell, Aid Reform Campaign, Oxfam America
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