The United States Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) has released a publication titled the “Report on Reports” every year since 2008. These publications are designed to analyze reports issued by different groups that address development and diplomacy, and to then come to a consensus about the best way to address certain areas.
The USGLC was established in 1995 and works with over 400 businesses and non-governmental organizations to create viable solutions for global development and diplomacy. They also work with religious leaders, academics, and community leaders in an effort to reach out to people from many different perspectives.
Members of the USGLC Advisory Board include Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton, Henry Kissinger, and Condoleezza Rice.
The 2012 Report on Reports was issued in June of this year. The report, which analyzed more than 30 reports across the political spectrum, outlined six major areas of consensus that the USGLC wanted to focus on in order to improve the United States’ diplomatic relationships and development efforts across the globe.
The first area identified is to strengthen civilian power. The USGLC concluded that the civilian foreign service workforce must continue to grow in order to protect national security and promote our interests.
The second area of consensus is to ensure results-driven development, emphasizing transparency, accountability, and regular evaluations of all development efforts.
The third area is to leverage the private sector. Rather than focusing purely on public and governmental development efforts, the USGLC supports increased cooperation with private sector groups like academic institutions and foundations.
The fourth area identified is to maintain sufficient resources, particularly to support civilian contributions to national security.
The fifth area of consensus is to improve coordination among the players, especially streamlining government agencies to improve coordination, clarity of leadership, and consistency in our development and diplomacy.
The sixth and final area is simply to prioritize. The USGLC emphasizes that although the need for development will continue to increase, we must do our best to match that need with our efforts.
Clearly, the overall emphasis of the 2012 Report on Reports is increased civilian and private-sector participation in U.S. diplomacy and development efforts across the globe. The Center for Strategic and International Studies noted that this will require support for budget reallocation from both ends of the political spectrum to fund this increased participation in these efforts. Furthermore, the bipartisan emphasis of the Report on Reports indicates the need for policymakers to reach across political lines in order to pursue the best interests of both the United States and the developing world.
What does this mean for the United States and the way that it proceeds in its global development efforts? In simple terms, the 2012 USGLC Report on Reports seeks to expand the base of participants in global development by including the civilian and private sectors and also seeks to improve bipartisan cooperation about these efforts. As we move forward in the upcoming years, the USGLC’s recommendations will improve the efficiency, participation, and success of our diplomatic and developmental projects around the world.
– Sarah Russell Cansler
Sources: United Global Leadership Coalition, United States Global Leadership Coalition 2013 Reports on Reports, The Center For Strategic and International Studies
Photo: One
How to Prevent Poverty
Understanding how to prevent poverty has been an issue of great concern both in the United States and across the globe. Countries like the U.S., in a position to prevent poverty in less developed nations, are particularly interested in determining the causes of poverty in order to effectively alleviate poverty at home and abroad. By understanding what it is that leads to impoverishment in specific communities and countries, poverty reduction efforts are more likely to prevent poverty all over the world.
Though poverty and extreme poverty, as terms, have been defined as living under a certain dollar amount per day, what causes poverty is often much more complicated. The World Bank defines global poverty as a pronounced and multidimensional deprivation in wellbeing. That is, what it is to be considered poor or impoverished depends on a number of different conditions and factors that vary from community to community. For example, one family may have the dollar amount sufficient to feed itself but lack adequate access to education or water.
Because poverty represents such a wide variety of conditions, how to prevent poverty is an issue that requires a complex understanding of the circumstances in which one is working. Not only that, effective poverty prevention and reduction strategies will necessarily include either a multidimensional approach or take place in a network of projects that strive to prevent or reduce poverty on various levels. For instance, Plan Canada, a Canadian-based charity organization founded in 1937, takes a five-step approach in its strategy to prevent poverty worldwide.
Plan Canada’s Tools for How to Prevent Poverty
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reports that slower population growth and investments in reproductive health and HIV prevention, as well as women’s empowerment and gender equality are also important steps toward preventing poverty. In fact, the UNFPA considers universal access to reproductive health information and services to be an “essential” condition to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
How to end poverty is a complicated question, but significant research like that taken to synthesize the reports discussed above suggests that it is not an impossible question to answer. Quite the contrary, there are thousands of organizations across the globe working on just that question every day. Collaborative and coordinated efforts, in recognition of the diverse causes of poverty, will no doubt win the day. In the meantime, these strategies continue to develop in scope and sophistication.
– Herman Watson
Sources: The Borgen Project, Plan Canada, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Population Fund
Photo: Soda Head
The Alcoa Foundation: A Leader in Corporate Stewardship
However, while big businesses often do not do their share to improve the world we live in, companies like Alcoa who are doing extraordinary work. Alcoa, an enormous aluminum manufacturer based in Pittsburgh, and its charitable foundation gave $36.6 million to charitable causes in 2011. This represents roughly 6.7% of its pretax profits, making it the company that gave the greatest percentage of its pretax profits to charity in a 2012 analysis by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
In March 2013, as part of International Corporate Philanthropy Day, Alcoa announced that it had given over $40 million dollars in grants in 2012. Additionally, its employees provided 800,000 hours of volunteer work that year.
The Alcoa Foundation, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2012, dedicates half of its funding to individual Alcoa locations around the world. This money is used to fund local initiatives that improve the communities in which Alcoa operates. Meanwhile, the other half of the foundation’s funding goes to globally focused partnerships aimed at achieving long-term results. Most of these larger programs are run by local communities and employees, ensuring that the big picture is not overrunning small-scale needs.
The purpose of the foundation is two-pronged. First, the foundation aims to improve environmental sustainability by practicing good stewardship. Additionally, it supports education and training where Alcoa can offer expertise to improve manufacturing, the environment, and safety.
The Alcoa Foundation has many significant partnerships that multiply the efficacy of its work. Thanks to joint efforts with Greening Australia, The Nature Conservancy, and Global ReLeaf, the Alcoa Foundation is halfway to its goal of planting 10 million trees by 2020. By working with DoSomething.org, the largest U.S. organization for socially minded teens, the Alcoa Foundation launched the largest youth-led aluminum can recycling drive in America. Over 50,000 teens worked together over two months to collect more than one million cans, enough to power New York’s Times Square for roughly a year. A partnership with the American Association of University Women led to Tech Trek, a week-long camp for girls passionate about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). The camp encouraged 70 middle-school girls to pursue math and science in school and their careers.
The Alcoa Foundation’s work is innovative and exciting. It takes aim at enormous global issues, as well as local ones to benefit diverse groups of people and encourage Alcoa employees to improve their communities and the world. The Alcoa foundation is a trailblazer in corporate stewardship, and one can only hope that many more companies will follow their lead.
– Katie Fullerton
Sources: Alcoa, Philanthropy News Digest, Forbes
Photo: The Epoch Times
The UMCOR Organization Makes a Difference
The United Methodist Committee on Relief, also know as UMCOR, is a humanitarian relief and development organization which aims transform and strengthen individual’s lives and their communities by providing humanitarian relief in the United States and abroad.
UMCOR helps communities which have been effected by natural disasters, war, or conflict. Although UMCOR is not a first response organization, its volunteers are always on high alert to help those in need. The United Methodist Committee on Relief aims to establish a “new normal” for the communities they are helping, and help each individual return to their everyday lives.
The organization empowers local businesses, hospitals, schools, and churches in Third world countries. UMCOR travels to different areas of the world visiting communities and addressing health, sanitation, poverty, sustainable agriculture, and food security issues.
UMCOR has helped millions around the world and believes that each and every individual has God given worth and dignity, which is why the organization does not discriminate against race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.
The organization helps communities recover from disaster and sustain their improvement. Volunteers remain in the communities after recovery has occurred to provide individuals with an education, training, and support. UMCOR also works towards preventing the spread of malaria and other health issues such as HIV/AIDS, maternal and child survival, water and sanitation, congressional health, and hospital strengthening.
UMCOR also partners with other organizations to address issues, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.N. Foundation. A representative from the U.N. Foundation stated that UMCOR is making a big difference in numerous individual’s lives by not wishing for a difference, but instead is going out there and is making a difference.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief is an organization which is making great strides in global development and international aid. By working in over 80 countries, and providing individuals with an education, training, and support, UMCOR has become a leading organization in humanitarian relief.
– Grace Elizabeth Beal
Sources: UMCOR, Imagine No Malaria, UN Foundation
UNICEF Steps Up to Aid Namibia as Drought Worsens
Namibia is currently facing its worst drought in three decades. Located in southwest Africa, Namibia is one of the driest countries in the world. All 13 regions of Namibia have been affected by the drought with major shortages of food and water, but the north has been hit the worst. In order to compensate, many families are forced to sell livestock, reduce the number of meals per day, or migrate to the cities in search of work. Angola has also been affected by the drought. With migrants from both Angola and Namibia flooding into nearby countries in search of food, the crisis is beginning to take on a regional dimension.
In Namibia’s northwestern Kunene region, agriculture is limited by the area’s dry and sandy soil. Local populations are semi-nomadic and rely heavily on livestock. In search of fresh pasture, these local populations have been forced from their villages and their traditional way of life. The young men are visibly absent from the region, as many of them have left their villages to find the distant stretches of pasture for their livestock.
Typically, Namibia experiences only light and erratic seasonal rains. For the last thirty years, the country has experienced low seasonal rainfall. But after a second year of failed rains, the country is now in a state of emergency. Because of the prolonged dry season, the Government estimates that 2013 crop yields will be 42 percent lower than those of 2012. With only one harvest per year, the country will not see another harvest season until March 2014. Namibia’s cereal crop output is expected to be 50 percent below average. A third of the population, some 780,000 people, are at risk of malnutrition – this includes 110,000 children under the age of five.
When declaring a state of emergency, Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohama said, “It has now been established that climate change is here to stay and humanity must find ways and means of mitigating its effect.” The Namibian government has committed $20.7 million in assistance to affected people, but aid so far has been insufficient.The Namibian government has warned that there might not be enough water for its people, which puts livestock at risk, further prolonging the crisis. Many families have applied for food aid, but few have received anything.
In order to help the 110,000 children at risk of malnutrition in Namibia, UNICEF has pledged $7.4 million to the country. According to Micaela Marques De Sousa, UNICEF’s Namibia representative, “Shortages of food and water are increasing the immediate threat of disease and malnutrition…But anecdotal reports already indicate children are dropping out of school, a clear sign of stress and vulnerability in families.” In addition, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has issued an appeal for $1.45 million, in hopes of helping 55,000 people in Northern Namibia.
– Kelsey Ziomek
Sources: Reuters, The Guardian, OCHA, UN News Centre, The Washington Post, IOL News, IRIN Africa, ReliefWeb, UNICEF
Photo: Thomson Reuters Foundation
5 Powerful Advocates of Female Education
1. Malala Yousafzai works tirelessly as a young advocate for female education, despite being shot in the head last year by the Taliban for these very same efforts. She—in her bravery and brilliance– exemplifies the struggle for girls’ education everywhere.
2. Hillary Rodham Clinton, having served as the first lady and Secretary of State, is now a partner with her husband and daughter at the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. Within the organization, she has committed herself to improving access to female education and empowering women worldwide.
3. Richard Robbins directed Girl Rising, the extremely popular new documentary that tells the stories of nine struggling girls in the developing world. The film, which has met with great success, espouses the urgent global need for equal access to education.
4. Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn published “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” in 2010, a compelling journalistic account of the developing world, and more specifically, of its disadvantaged women. The book, which spans the entire globe and a diverse set of lifestyles, seems to somehow convey a singular edict: in order to progess—particularly in the developing world– we must provide all women access to an adequate education.
5. Lawrence Chickering has worked for more than thirty years in order to improve the conditions of girls in the developing world, particularly in India, a country where 40% of women are not educated beyond the fifth grade level. His NGO, Educate Girls Globally, has significantly improved female enrollment, retention, and performance in India’s government schools, giving girls access to a variety of transformative resources.
– Anna Purcell
Sources: CBS News, Huffington Post, The Guardian
2012 USGLC Report on Reports: What We Can Learn
The United States Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) has released a publication titled the “Report on Reports” every year since 2008. These publications are designed to analyze reports issued by different groups that address development and diplomacy, and to then come to a consensus about the best way to address certain areas.
The USGLC was established in 1995 and works with over 400 businesses and non-governmental organizations to create viable solutions for global development and diplomacy. They also work with religious leaders, academics, and community leaders in an effort to reach out to people from many different perspectives.
Members of the USGLC Advisory Board include Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright, Hillary Clinton, Henry Kissinger, and Condoleezza Rice.
The 2012 Report on Reports was issued in June of this year. The report, which analyzed more than 30 reports across the political spectrum, outlined six major areas of consensus that the USGLC wanted to focus on in order to improve the United States’ diplomatic relationships and development efforts across the globe.
The first area identified is to strengthen civilian power. The USGLC concluded that the civilian foreign service workforce must continue to grow in order to protect national security and promote our interests.
The second area of consensus is to ensure results-driven development, emphasizing transparency, accountability, and regular evaluations of all development efforts.
The third area is to leverage the private sector. Rather than focusing purely on public and governmental development efforts, the USGLC supports increased cooperation with private sector groups like academic institutions and foundations.
The fourth area identified is to maintain sufficient resources, particularly to support civilian contributions to national security.
The fifth area of consensus is to improve coordination among the players, especially streamlining government agencies to improve coordination, clarity of leadership, and consistency in our development and diplomacy.
The sixth and final area is simply to prioritize. The USGLC emphasizes that although the need for development will continue to increase, we must do our best to match that need with our efforts.
Clearly, the overall emphasis of the 2012 Report on Reports is increased civilian and private-sector participation in U.S. diplomacy and development efforts across the globe. The Center for Strategic and International Studies noted that this will require support for budget reallocation from both ends of the political spectrum to fund this increased participation in these efforts. Furthermore, the bipartisan emphasis of the Report on Reports indicates the need for policymakers to reach across political lines in order to pursue the best interests of both the United States and the developing world.
What does this mean for the United States and the way that it proceeds in its global development efforts? In simple terms, the 2012 USGLC Report on Reports seeks to expand the base of participants in global development by including the civilian and private sectors and also seeks to improve bipartisan cooperation about these efforts. As we move forward in the upcoming years, the USGLC’s recommendations will improve the efficiency, participation, and success of our diplomatic and developmental projects around the world.
– Sarah Russell Cansler
Sources: United Global Leadership Coalition, United States Global Leadership Coalition 2013 Reports on Reports, The Center For Strategic and International Studies
Photo: One
Double Fortified Salt – What is it?
Because salt is nearly universally used as a condiment, it represents an excellent avenue by which to affect the diet of almost any population. With this in mind, the addition of essential nutrients to salt is seen as an effective way to combat micronutrient deficiencies worldwide.
The concept of fortifying salt with both iodine and iron was first conceived in 1969, but it took years of research and technological advances to make the process possible. When both iron and iodine were first added to salt, multiple obstacles presented themselves. These included the instability of iodine compounds when combined with iron, the oxidation of iron, and the development of unappealing color in the salt. Decades later, after these issues had been carefully addressed, Double Fortified Salt was born.
The Micronutrient Initiative partnered with the University of Toronto to conduct groundbreaking research funded in part by the Canadian International Development Agency and the World Bank. This research produced a method by which salt can be effectively fortified with both iron and iodine without compromising the product. One of the most exciting details about this initiative is the price tag. At roughly 18 to 20 cents per person per year, double fortification of salt will inevitably save money by preventing many of the health complications that accompany iron and iodine deficiencies.
Of course, the final judge of the product is the consumer. If no one wants to use the amazing new salt, its effectiveness is irrelevant. Once tests had been done to ensure the stability and efficacy of double fortified salt, consumer surveys were conducted in Nigeria and Kenya. These tests confirmed that consumers found the product acceptable, giving the Micronutrient Initiative and its affiliates the green light to move forward with large-scale production. Commercial production in India was met with success, and other countries, such as Bangladesh, have since joined the initiative.
Salt is fortified with iodine fairly consistently, with roughly 70% of people worldwide consuming iodized salt. However, inadequate iodine consumption is still the leading preventable cause of brain damage in the world today, and universal salt iodization is the most effective way to ensure that those at risk are receiving enough of this essential nutrient.
Meanwhile, iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world today, and it has terrible consequences. Iron is instrumental in blood formation and a lack of it often causes blood hemoglobin levels to plummet, a condition known as anemia. An estimated 2 billion people worldwide suffer from anemia. Almost half of all women in developing nations experience iron deficiency that can cause complications in pregnancy, low birth weight, and infant and maternal deaths.
The capacity to fortify salt with both iron and iodine is an opportunity to fight poverty on many fronts. Decreased incidence of iodine deficiency will prevent 18 million children from being born mentally impaired each year and will improve the overall of health of many more. Iron supplementation will improve maternal and infant health, and protect multitudes of people from developing anemia. These enhancements in health will correspond with higher quality of life for billions of people around the world.
– Katie Fullerton
Sources: Micronutrient Initiative DFS, Micronutrient Initiative Iodine
Irrigation Could End Poverty
By now, it is a well known fact that clean water is necessary for drinking and hygiene. About 1.1 billion people go without clean water every day and must rely on polluted or infected supplies to survive. Even more than that go without basic sanitation. But, water is not just for human consumption and cleanliness. Access to good water can be the difference between eating and starving for rural farmers throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. In order to grow sufficient crops, farmers need water and frequently must rely on sparse rains and transporting water on their own to provide for the plants they are attempting to grow.
Only four percent of rural farmland is irrigated, even though up to 40 million hectares are proven to be appropriate for irrigation. Farming in Africa has proven to be a difficult endeavor at the best of times. Rainfall has become unpredictable and crop yield is often too low to feed a family, let alone to sell in a market. The frustrating part is that there is plenty of water available underground, but the farmers lack an affordable way to actually obtain it.
Large, centralized irrigation schemes are usually built around a major dam and were very successful, especially during the so-called Green Revolution. Millions of people were brought out of hunger as a result. But they often proved to be environmentally destructive and tend to be very expensive to build and use, especially for those living in Africa.
The answer to providing access to crop irrigation for poor rural farmers in Africa could be much smaller, like the treadle pump. The pump is used by stepping up and down with the long poles, or treadles, that activate the suction and pump water out of the ground. One family told Sandra Postel, who of the National Geographic Freshwater Initiative, that their $35 investment brought them $100 in revenue the first year they used it.
The downfall of a pump like this is that it requires a lot of physical work to use and ends up taking time away from other important activities like schooling and harvesting. Nonetheless, several companies such as KickStart have created variations of the treadle pump to help spread the use of irrigation. With their affordable irrigation pumps, KickStart has been able to help 750,000 Africans pull themselves out of poverty. Groups like FarmAfrica have gone in and taught the farmers how to use the pumps and what crops to grow to get the best yield. Until small motorized pumps are more universally available and affordable, the benefits of being able to grow enough food to eat and sell seriously outweigh the issue of having to operate to pump manually.
– Chelsea Evans
Sources: Global Issues, National Geographic, FarmAfrica, KickStart
Photo: Indiegogo
Tourism in the Philippines to Help the Poor
USAID and the Philippines Department of Tourism and Department of Social Welfare and Development recently announced a program to include pro-poor tourism activities in areas of high poverty in the country. The Departments and USAID signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) August 5th. Tourism in the Philippines has significant potential to boost the economy and alleviate poverty.
The program, dubbed “The One-Step Project,” will seek to incorporate pro-poor aspects in the tourism trade in five pilot areas characterized by high poverty and high tourism. These five areas are chosen from the 78 tourism development areas designated by the Department of Tourism. Regional and provincial officers in the five areas will be consulted by a central technical working group. While a project amount has not yet been set, The One-Step Project will take place over four years and will focus on infrastructure, job creation through community-based projects, and private sector engagement.
In 2010, the Philippines received 3.5 million visitors, generating US$2.4 billion from tourism. The Philippine government has focused on the tourism industry in recent years, but, despite its many natural attractions the Philippines, still trails other regional countries in tourism numbers.
A variety of factors contribute to this sluggishness: remote location, susceptibility to natural disasters, and unrest often resulting in kidnappings. However, tourism does hold the potential for new job creation. Including the poor in tourism strategies and job creation is an important development opportunity within this sector. While the Department of Tourism has included these strategies in the past, this will be their first partnership with USAID.
This will not be the first time the Philippine Department of Tourism has focused on pro-poor tourism actions. In 2000, the Department’s regional branch helped villagers in Sta. Juliana organize in order to take advantage of a new influx of tourism.
Residents of the village, suffering from a decade of neglect, struggle to make ends meet. They are hampered by lack of appropriate infrastructure to get their agriculture goods to market and a lack of telecommunications. The regional Tourism department helped the villagers form the Sta. Juliana Tourism Council, Inc. which has educated residents on the trade’s benefits. New jobs and livelihoods evolved to capitalize on this influx.
The One-Step Project falls under USAID’s Partnership for Growth program, running until 2016. Additional projects in the Philippines will be implemented by USAID focusing on tourism. Most of these projects will take the form of technical assistance and policy reform. The USAID Philippine budget reached $102 million for fiscal year 2011. This is distributed across USAID’s four focus areas: democracy and governance, economic growth, health and education, and energy and environment. The US government is the Philippines largest grant donor. The collaborative One-Step Project has great potential to continue tourism-focused aid to the poorest communities in the Philippines.
– Callie D. Coleman
Sources: Business Mirror, CNN, The Philippine Department of Tourism , USAID
Photo: AUSTRONESIA
Top Three Recipients of U.S. Foreign Aid in 2012
With global economic hegemony, many believe it is the inherent responsibility of the United States to project its wealth out unto those who are less fortunate. As the purported “City upon the Hill”, the United States has employed various forms of foreign aid aimed at bringing up less fortunate global actors. As we will see, foreign aid takes on many forms and is directed towards not only the poorer nations. More often than not, foreign aid is funneled to promote American interests, rather than humanitarian ones. The earliest incantation of foreign aid, the 1948 Marshall Plan, is largely responsible for bringing Europe out of the destruction of World War II, yet its inspiration was to stem the spread of communism throughout Europe. Today, foreign aid has proven to be a valuable arrow in our diplomatic quiver in both humanitarian and geopolitical senses. The following list represents the top three recipients of U.S. foreign aid in 2012, and, perhaps, provides some insight into the varying purposive goals of U.S. foreign aid.
1. Israel ($3.075 Billion)
If you pay any attention whatsoever to American politics, it is no secret that the subject of Israel is a weighty one when it comes to U.S. international and domestic political considerations. Moreover, Israel’s yearly position as the top recipient of U.S foreign aid sheds light on the nature of foreign aid. Israel is by no means a developing nation. In fact, the private Israeli sector is spearheading a new age of scientific and technological advancements. Without any doubt, the lion’s share of this aid goes towards beefing up defense and military resources. For example, Israel’s Iron Dome technology, aimed at intercepting incoming missiles, comes with an exceedingly high price tag. The position of Israel on this list sheds light on the subject and nature of USAID. It is clear that the abundance of aid towards Israel serves as a means of protecting US interests in the Middle East and against increasingly aggressive posturing from Russia and Iran.
2. Afghanistan ($2.327 Billion)
Not surprisingly, Afghanistan has come in second on this list. After years of war attempting to stem the tide of terrorism in the region, the U.S. has directed foreign aid to the region to fund both the Afghan military as well as for the purposes of General Chrystal’s Counterinsurgency (COIN) ideology. After funding the Afghan military and police, the remaining aid is funneled towards aspects of soft power. Through building schools and hospitals, the United States hopes to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, which in turn, is hoped to be effective in preventing further insurgency.
3. Pakistan ($2.102 Billion)
Aid channeled towards Pakistan represents a unique form of Foreign Aid. It is no secret that Pakistan is one of the most potentially volatile regions on the planet. With a seemingly never ending dispute with India and rising Islamic extremism, the prospect of instability is one that must be avoided at all costs. Unlike Afghanistan, Pakistan has nuclear weapons; the prospect of these falling into the hands of the wrong people is something the global community cannot allow. With this understanding the brunt of USAID to Pakistan has gone towards building up a governmental infrastructure suited to international cooperation. With the ever-present possibility of corruption, foreign aid is the proverbial “carrot”, as opposed to the “stick” levied against Afghanistan. After sustained efforts to battle extremism, it is entirely against US foreign interests for the Taliban to gain a political foothold in Pakistan. Through creating an infrastructure not suitable to their political ideology, foreign aid dollars can go much further than they would battling symptoms of terrorism and extremism.
– Thomas van der List
Sources: Washington Post, USAID, ABC News
Photo: The National