Global Development & U.S. Foreign Policy

Outdated legislation, political divisiveness and uncomfortable coalitions: in today's political climate, foreign assistance faces many hurdles. At InterAction’s final Forum 2013 plenary, moderated by Cokie Roberts of NPR, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) and Carol Lancaster, Dean of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, connected the political and budgetary realities to NGOs' increasingly difficult task of advocating for the world’s poor.

Last week Connolly introduced a foreign aid reform bill, the Global Partnerships Act, which would overhaul the outdated, Cold War-era Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. “I think it’s very important that we regroup and redefine what development assistance means for the United States, and reestablish our parameters as a leader in partnership with other countries,” he told Forum attendees. Lancaster suggested one argument in addition to the moral case: “You can call it terrorism or all it national security, or failed states … we know it’s important.” Connolly recommended arguing for the mutual economic benefits of aid for both recipients and donors, brought into the conversation during the previous Forum session by World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

As the bill moves forward in this political climate of tight budgets and hostility toward aid, Lancaster brought up how political coalitions supported aid during the Cold War. To effectively advocate in today’s environment, Lancaster said “There needs to be an interest as well as an ethical drive in the support for foreign assistance.”

Connolly said that NGOs needed to exercise "political shrewdness" with their advocacy. “The more we can educate ourselves about the political process – that’s the process, that’s the arena,” he said.

Closing the session, Roberts warned that coalitions can be difficult, while pointing to the need for NGOs make inroads and partnerships with evangelical communities with wide-reaching support and military agencies using defense funds for aid work. “Understanding that members of the military are going to be involved in nation building, even if it’s uncomfortable, it’s something to wrap our arms around because that’s where the money is,” she said.

 Contributed by Zoe Plaugher