Congressional
Briefing on The Millennium Challenge Account:
Challenges and Opportunities
February 13, 2003
InterAction
gathered congressional staff, humanitarian and development professionals,
an expert scholars to address the newly proposed Millennium Challenge
Account (MCA). Representative Tom Lantos (D-CA) kicked off the event,
noting his personal interest and support for the foreign aid program
and raising several key issues on the MCA and its relationship with
USAID. Lantos, the Ranking Members of the House International Relations
Committee will be a critical force, along with the Chairman Henry Hyde
and his Senate counterparts, in shaping the MCA legislation. Jessica
Mathews, President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
moderated a lively discussion with panelists Brian Atwood, former Administrator
of USAID, Steve Radelet of the Center for Global Development, and Charlie
MacCormack, President of Save the Children. The presentations and the
discussion focused on the important opportunity presented by the MCA
to reexamine the larger framework for U.S. foreign assistance and redefine
the role and mandate for USAID in the context of the MCA.
Learn more about
the Millennium Challenge Account.
SPEAKERS'
BIOS
Mary
E. McClymont
President and CEO, InterAction
Mary McClymont
is the President and Chief Executive Officer of InterAction, the largest
alliance of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian non-governmental
organizations. Previously, she served at the Ford Foundation, as Senior
Director of the Peace and Social Justice Program, and as Acting Director,
Deputy Director, and Program Officer in the Rights and Social Justice
Program.
She also was
the National Director for Legalization of the Migration and Refugee
Services, U.S. Catholic Conference; Senior Staff Counsel, the National
Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union; Trial Attorney,
Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice; and Assistant Director
for Corrections, National Street Law Institute, Georgetown University
Law Center.
She has an LL.M.
in International Legal Studies from the American University Washington
College of Law; and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
J.
Brian Atwood
Dean, Humphrey Institute for Public Policy
Former USAID Administrator (1993-1999)
Brian Atwood
is the Dean of the Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs at the University
of Minnesota, one of the nation’s leading schools of public affairs
in the country. Atwood is former President of Citizens International
and the Citizens International Development Fund. He served for six years
as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development during
the Administration of President William Clinton. In the Clinton Administration,
Atwood led the transition team at the State Department and was under
secretary of state for management prior to his appointment as head of
USAID. In December 1998, President Clinton nominated Atwood as Ambassador
to Brazil. He withdrew prior to Senate confirmation to accept his position
with Citizen's International.
Atwood has been
an adjunct lecturer at Harvard's JFK School, where he taught development
assistance, and was the Sol M. Linowitz Professor for International
Affairs at Hamilton College. In 2001, Atwood served on UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan's Panel on Peace Operations. He was the only American
on the ten-member "Brahimi" panel that recommended major changes
in the UN's peacekeeping and peace-building operations. He also served
on the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board during this period. He was
a member of the panel to review the Department of Energy's programs
in Russia.
As the Administrator
of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from May 1993
to July 1999, Atwood introduced comprehensive management reforms and
a more focused development strategy. Atwood helped promote a number
of highly successful initiatives in the areas of global climate change,
democratization, conflict prevention, and health. He led presidential
delegations to Haiti, El Salvador, and East Africa, was a special presidential
envoy to Eastern Zaire during the exodus of refugees caused by the Rwanda
genocide. He also was the first American official to meet with Israeli
Prime Minister Rabin, Foreign Minister Peres, and Chairman of the Palestinian
Authority, Yasir Arafat, after Arafat's return to Gaza and the West
Bank in 1994. He served as President Clinton's humanitarian relief coordinator
during the Kosovo crisis and as the chairman of the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation (OPIC).
Atwood's career
in foreign policy dates back to 1966 when he joined the Foreign Service
and served in the American Embassies in Cote d'Ivoire and Spain. He
served as legislative advisor for foreign and defense policy to Senator
Thomas F. Eagleton (D-Mo.) from 1972-1977. During the Carter Administration,
he served as assistant secretary of state for congressional relations.
He was dean of Professional Studies and Academic Affairs at the Foreign
Service Institute in 1981-82. He was the first President of the National
Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) from 1986-1993
and built this democratic development institution into a major international
force for the promotion of democracy. He received an honorary doctorate
from American University in 1995 for his work in promoting human rights
and democratic values. He has received numerous other awards for public
service, including the Secretary of State's Distinguished Service Award.
Charles
MacCormack
President, Save the Children
Charles MacCormack
is president and chief executive officer of Save the Children. He also
serves as president of the Non-Governmental Committee on UNICEF; is
on the board of Landmark College; and serves as a member of the Council
on Foreign Relations. Mr. MacCormack also is on the executive committee
of InterAction, the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid and
the Food Security Advisory Committee.
He was selected
by the United Nations Secretary General to participate in the founding
of the United Nations University and served as a member of the U.S.
delegation to the World Food Summit. He was awarded an honorary Doctor
of Education by Middlebury College, an honorary Doctor of Laws by Clark
University and was made a member of the Grand Cordon of the Order of
Al-Istiolal by King Hussein of Jordan.
He formerly
was president of World Learning (previously known as The Experiment
in International Living) in Brattleboro, Vermont, which works to foster
world peace through international education.
Prior to joining
World Learning in 1977, Mr. MacCormack served for three years as vice
president for programs at Save the Children Federation, and for four
years as the director of the Masters Program in International Administration
at the School for International Training. Before that, he was a research
fellow in foreign policy studies at The Brookings Institution.
He had earlier served as Assistant to the Dean of the International
Fellows Program at Columbia University. Mr. MacCormack was an instructor
of Latin American Politics at the University of New Hampshire and was
a staff associate for the First National City Bank International Division
in Caracas, Venezuela.
He received
his doctorate and master's degree from Columbia University; was a National
Science Foundation Fellow at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
in Mexico City; was a Fulbright Fellow at the Universidad Central de
Venezuela in Caracas; and is a graduate of Middlebury College.
Steven
Radelet
Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
Steven Radelet
is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development, where he works
on issues related to foreign aid, developing country debt, economic
growth, and trade between rich and poor countries. He was Deputy Assistant
Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for Africa, the Middle East, and Asia
from January 2000 through June 2002.
From 1990-2000
he was on the faculty of Harvard University, where he was a Fellow at
the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID), Director
of the Institute's Macroeconomics Program, and a Lecturer on Economics
and Public Policy. From 1991-95, he lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, where
he was HIID's resident advisor on macroeconomic policy to the Indonesian
Ministry of Finance. He served in a similar capacity with the Ministry
of Finance and Trade in The Gambia from 1986-88. He was also a Peace
Corps Volunteer in Western Samoa from 1981-83.
His research
and publications have focused on economic growth, financial crises,
and trade policy in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan
Africa and East Asia. He has written numerous articles in economics
journals and other publications, and is co-author of a leading undergraduate
economics textbook, Economics of Development (W.W. Norton, 5th edition).
Dr. Radelet holds a Ph.D. and MPP from Harvard University and a BA from
Central Michigan University.
Jessica
Mathews
President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Jessica Tuchman
Mathews was appointed president of the Endowment in 1997. Her career
includes posts in the executive and legislative branches of government,
in management and research in the nonprofit arena, and in journalism.
She was a senior
fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations from 1993 to 1997 and served
as director of the Council’s Washington program. While there,
she published her seminal 1997 Foreign Affairs article, “Power
Shift,” chosen by the editors as one of the most influential in
the journal’s 75 years.
From 1982 to
1993, she was founding vice president and director of research of the
World Resources Institute, an internationally known center for policy
research on environmental and natural-resource management issues.
She served on
the editorial board of the Washington Post from 1980 to 1982, covering
energy, environment, science, technology, arms control, health, and
other issues. Later, she became a weekly columnist for the Washington
Post, writing a column that appeared nationwide and in the International
Herald Tribune.
From 1977 to
1979, she was director of the Office of Global Issues of the National
Security Council, covering nuclear proliferation, conventional arms
sales policy, chemical and biological warfare, and human rights. In
1993, she returned to government as deputy to the Undersecretary of
State for Global Affairs. Mathews is a director of Somalogic Inc. and
a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation, The Century Foundation, the
Nuclear Threat Initiative, and the Surface Transportation Policy Project
(which she cofounded), a national coalition working on domestic transportation
issues.
Education: B.S.,
magna cum laude, Radcliffe College; Ph.D., California Institute of Technology
Selected Publications:
“Estranged Partners,” Foreign Policy (November-December
2001); “Power Shift,” Foreign Affairs (January-February
1997); The Earth as Transformed by Human Action, with W.C. Clark, B.L.
Turner, R.W. Kates, J. Richards, and W. Meyer (Cambridge University
Press, 1990); Preserving the Global Environment: The Challenge of Shared
Leadership, editor (W.W. Norton, 1990).
Recent Publications: “Arming the Arms Inspectors,” The New
York Times, (September 19, 2002); “Iraq: A New Approach,”
Carnegie Endowment Report (September 2002); “September 11, One
Year Later: A World of Change,” Special Edition Policy Brief #
18, (August 2002); “Wrong Target,” The Washington Post,
(March 4, 2002); “U.S.-Europe: Estranged Partners,” Foreign
Policy, (November/December 2001).
