Tomorrow is an exciting day for global agriculture and food security. First off, ONE is co-sponsoring an event hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The symposium on global agriculture and food security will bring together NGOs, academics, policymakers, dignitaries, and others to discuss the current status of and progress moving forward in U.S. food security and agricultural development policy.
The event will feature a morning keynote address by USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah. Administrator Shah is expected to announce and explain the much-anticipated Feed the Future initiative—the Administration’s comprehensive plan that will guide U.S. food security investments. You can watch the livestream of the morning session beginning at 9:00 AM tomorrow on the State Department’s website, including Administrator Shah’s keynote. You can also check out an agenda of the conference, if you’re curious.
To find out more about the Feed the Future initiative, you can visit the dedicated website which will house important information following Administrator Shah’s speech.
Also be sure to come back to the blog tomorrow and Friday where those of us attending the conference will provide a recap and reactions.
Bad news. We’ve just learned that the Cardin-Lugar Transparency Amendment will not get a vote. The Senate parliamentarian ruled the amendment was not germane to the banking reform bill, which put huge procedural obstacles in the way.
This is obviously a big disappointment, but the 1,000+ ONE members who took the time to call their senators in support of the amendment should feel proud for standing up for such good policy. We’ll keep you posted in coming days and weeks about any developments on this front.
Global development advocates have been waiting and waiting for President Obama to signal how he intends to act on his bold and ambitious commitments to fight poverty and to promote growth and stability around the globe. The wait appears to have been worth it. Last week, a preliminary draft of Presidential Study Directive (PSD) – A New Way Forward on Global Development – found its way into the media, perhaps not the preferred means of disclosure, but one that offers enormous promise for a new vision of development as an elevated and core element of US foreign policy.
The draft PSD threads together multiple goals to be pursued by American investments in global development, bringing stability to nations emerging from conflict, attacking poverty, enhancing economic growth and supporting universal values. It brings a refreshing coherence to a policy agenda that has often times been marked by fragmentation, neglect, and contradiction. It recognizes successes from the past – like the provision of life-saving medicines and delivery of humanitarian aid – and proposes to integrate those into new priorities that address the challenges faced today. And it establishes a permanent means to routinely review and adjust policy priorities through a US Global Development Strategy, signed by the President every four years.
This new approach calls for a “deliberate development policy,” moving away from a process of making trade-offs through implicit decision-making, to an explicit identification of policy objectives, an order of prioritization, and resource alignment that will achieve them. The PSD draft envisions a system that maximizes the potential of innovation, differentiates between widely divergent development landscapes — from Afghanistan to Ghana — and holds partner governments and societies accountable for results. Under a new business model, there will be greater emphasis on prioritizing sectors in which the US invests, including health, food security, and governance, and establishes and better defines divisions of labor with other donors. US policy will align with partner country national strategies, will leverage non-public development actors that have become such critical elements in fighting poverty and promoting growth, and will strengthen multilateral approaches to global challenges. All of this will be done utilizing rigorous evaluation procedures, measuring impact, and adjusting strategies when necessary.
Importantly, the New Way Forward commits to a bipartisan approach in partnership with Congress. It implies establishing the “grand bargain” with lawmakers, seeking greater executive flexibility in program and policy management in exchange for a commitment of heightened accountability for results to elected officials and the American people.
This is an impressive and encouraging statement of White House policy. But now for the hard part. First, the President needs to sign the PSD, something we hope will take place this week. And now that we’ve seen a draft, we will be watching closely that the final document fully endorses, or better yet, further strengthens the policy principles set out in the leaked version. As with any policy statement, the test will be in the implementation. The plan is bold but will be meaningless without strong and continuous leadership and monitoring from the White House. The wait is over – we hope – and now the real work begins.
Did you miss last night’s conference call with David Lane and Christy Turlington Burns? We’ve got you covered! Here’s the video from last night’s live stream (with audio). It was a great conversation with some great questions. Check it out for yourself:
It’s been a whirlwind few days in Toronto with ONE’s Bono and Bob Geldof editing today’s Globe and Mail, Canada’s paper of record, and turning the paper’s focus to Africa just as Canada prepares to host world leaders at the upcoming G8 and G20 summits. Late last night Bob wrapped the last headlines and stories and we made some final adjustments to the cover before it was sent to print. We think the final product is fantastic and hope you do too. The issue examines the question — will the 21st century be the African century? There are op-eds and news stories by and about a wide range of Africans from Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to Somali rapper K’naan. President Barack Obama responds to questions from Bono about US strategy in Africa. If you’re in Canada get the hard copy too –the red graphic cover is a keeper.
Having Bono and Bob edit the Globe has been a great opportunity for ONE heading into the G8 and G20 meetings in June. The leadership and staff at the Globe, from editor-in-chief John Stackhouse and foreign editor Stephen Northfield to the other editors, reporters, photographers and graphic designers were incredible partners and we’re so grateful that they were willing to take the risk to do something they had never done before.
The Globe and Mail has asked celebrated Kenyan blogger Ory Okolloh to guest edit the globeandmail.com today and over the next month and she will be featuring a great deal of Africa content exclusively through the website including this video of a question submitted by reader Sarah Kibaalya of Toronto in which she asks Bono and Bob if Africans need others to speak on their behalf. Their answers might surprise you. Check it out:
Also check out this live webchat between Bob Geldof and Ory Okolloh which just wrapped up.
We’ll be spotlighting more content throughout the day, so be sure to check back on the ONE Blog for more updates!
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