An MCC energy project in Tanzania. Photo credit: Morgana Wingard/ONE.

Last week, I attended a conference hosted by the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) titled, “On the Cutting Edge of Aid Effectiveness: Best Practices and Lessons Learned from the Millennium Challenge Corporation.” The panel ofspeakers included Gayle Smith, the special assistant to the president and senior director of the National Security Council (you may have seen her tweets from our recent ONE-White House Twitter event), and Sheila Herrling, vice president for policy and evaluation at the MCC. This discussion was led by Jim Kolbe, who is now the co-chair of MFAN.

The MCC uses President Obama’s new Global Development Policy, which means they focus on “good-governance among country partners, a commitment to country-led plans, and high standards of managing results and transparency.” Using these principles as their guidelines, MCC has created very specific criteria for the countries and initiatives they select.

There is living proof that MCC’s development programs both reduce poverty abroad and create opportunities for American companies. In 2008, the MCC signed a $698 million compact with Tanzania that granted two American companies, Symbion Power and Pike Electric with the ability to build more than 20 power substations and install 1,000 miles of power lines in Tanzania. These roads have stimulated economic growth by improving transportation networks that connect communities with markets, schools and health care.

As the three speakers made clear, the MCC has had setbacks and challenges on their journey to discovering the most effective sustainable development methods. They have shared this lessons in a new report, “Ten Lessons: What MCC has learned putting its ‘focus on results’ principle into practice.”

Using these 10 lessons as a guideline, many are confident that the MCC will continue to have successful compacts in the future. Programs like the one in Tanzania prove the MCC’s ongoing dedication to accountability and aid effectiveness. We look forward to watching the MCC as they continue to create effective poverty-fighting programs and prove all of the “naysayers” of international development wrong. Keep tracking the work of the MCC by reading about their programs and the ongoing reports that measure the success of many of their US-sponsored development initiatives around the globe.

Sounds good! George Ingram kicks off the series with a post entitled “Time for Hard Questions for the QDDR”. A bit wonky, but worth the read.

The Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) is asking people to use the opportunity to raise awareness around foreign assistance reform and the Presidential Study Directive on Global Development Policy.

Below are 3 important questions worth asking during today’s video chat with Ben Rhodes. Please participate if you can here. We’ll have more on the ONE Blog should anything of interest come out of today’s discussion.

• How will the Presidential Study Directive on U.S. Global Development Policy fulfill two of President Obama’s key promises from the 2008 campaign: ensuring that “development is established and endures as a key pillar of U.S. foreign policy” and working to “elevate, streamline and empower a 21st Century U.S. development agency?”
• Will the White House give new USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah a seat at the National Security Council, in order to empower development with a distinct voice in foreign policy debates and fulfill President Obama’s campaign pledge to ensure that “development is established and endures as a key pillar of U.S. foreign policy?”
• Will President Obama support a rewrite of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman has said he will undertake this year in order to streamline the inefficient aid bureaucracy, cut down on foreign aid earmarking, and help U.S. development professionals get better results in the field?

Ritu Sharma, President/Founder of Women Thrive Worldwide and leading voice on international women’s issues and U.S. foreign policy, opened the event. Next to speak was the Honorable Jim Kolbe, Senior Transatlantic Fellow for GMF. Kolbe has served in the United States House of Representatives and has made significant contributions to the world of international development and trade. Kolbe touched on the importance of trade in promoting development before introducing featured speaker Ambassador Demetrios Marantis. Mr. Marantis serves as Deputy USTR (United States Trade Representative) and is responsible for US trade negotiations and enforcement in Asia and Africa.

Mr. Marantis explained that many people don’t realize that trade is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to economic growth and poverty reduction. While access to new markets for poor countries is a significant part of accelerating and achieving development, trade is an essential component, too.

“We must explore ways to use trade to fuel future development,” Mr. Marantis remarked.

Similarly, Ms. Sharma said that “Foreign assistance is not enough to lift people out of poverty.” In order to achieve development goals, economic growth is needed through private sector investments, foreign direct investment, and trade.

The take-away message? The US can (and should) use trade to further the US Global Development Goals, and even reduce conflict throughout the world. We as ONE members have the power to influence the government to maximize the role the United States plays in achieving development. But in order to do this, we should recognize the significant role that trade policy plays in this process.

Learn more about the ways in which trade creates economic growth and opportunities for the world’s poor here.

-Jen Fraser

The panel will be moderated by former Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and feature Ambassador Demetrios J. Marantis, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative. It will also include introductory remarks by Ritu Sharma, Co-founder and President, Women Thrive Worldwide.

More info about the event below. You can RSVP by emailing rsvp@gloverparkgroup.com with subject line “MFAN-GMF Marantis Event RSVP”.

Trade can be a powerful engine for economic growth and poverty reduction. Access to new markets for poor country products is a crucial piece of the development puzzle. But there is a growing recognition that for many developing countries – particularly the poorest – gaining market access, even preferential market access, is only half the battle. Market access is necessary but not always sufficient. Together, trade and aid can accelerate efforts to spur economic growth, alleviate poverty and enhance security.

During his recent trip to Africa, United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk affirmed that “the United States is committed to working with our African partners to ensure that trade and development work hand-in-hand” and to “supporting trade capacity building assistance, also known as ‘Aid for Trade.’” How can U.S. trade policies more effectively align with U.S. development goals? Are there opportunities for greater transatlantic and global cooperation on trade and development in light of recent commitments at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh?