WASHINGTON, D.C….A new report out today urges the U.S. government to elevate the importance of development as a pillar of foreign policy and modernize the system in place to achieve development objectives. The ONE Campaign welcomes this report and hopes that Congress follows up with legislative action.

“We have the chance to eliminate extreme poverty and preventable disease in this century.  To maximize this moment of opportunity, we need to have a modernized, innovative aid system,” ONE President and CEO David Lane explained. “Development should be an integral part of our national security strategy and foreign policy but, instead, it is too often an after-thought. The challenges of poverty and preventable disease have changed dramatically in recent years, but our approach to development assistance has not.”

The Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) released its recommendations on Tuesday which include prioritizing and modernizing U.S. foreign assistance. MFAN’s report — “New Day, New Way: U.S. Foreign Assistance for the 21st Century” — suggests a new approach to meet today’s challenges in fighting extreme poverty and preventable disease.

“Through innovative approaches like the Millennium Challenge Accounts and the results-oriented PEPFAR, America has proved that partnering with developing nations to fight poverty can work. This is the moment to take the lessons learned and apply them to create a more efficient, more comprehensive approach to U.S. development policy,” Lane explained. “We must smartly and effectively bring our foreign assistance program into the 21st century to better meet the challenges that we face in the world today.”

“We look forward to working with our MFAN partners and the next Congress and administration to modernize and optimize U.S. foreign assistance,” said Lane.