On March 14, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs held a hearing on the FY2013 budget for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held similar hearings on March 6 (see The Source, 3/9/12).
Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) addressed USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah in outlining several of his concerns about USAID programs: “It has been a little over two years since you became USAID administrator and began to address the serious cultural, management, and programmatic problems you inherited that have plagued USAID for years. We appreciate your efforts. You are taking steps to improve efficiency and reduce costs, which are reflected in your budget request. USAID also has plenty to be proud of thanks to investments that have improved agricultural productivity, increased the enrollment of girls in school, and saved countless lives from malaria and other diseases – to name just a few examples.” Sen. Leahy continued, “We also recognize that, as much as we wish it were otherwise, as with any large government bureaucracy change does not come easily at USAID. In fact, I would say that after two years and lots of hard work, you are at first base.”
While Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R-SC) shared many of Sen. Leahy’s concerns about USAID’s “footprint” in Afghanistan and Iraq, he praised Dr. Shah for USAID’s overall work and mission: “I think you’ve done a great job. I think USAID is changing for the better, that you’ve thought outside the box.” With regard to USAID’s efforts in Africa, Sen. Graham said, “We have a lot of efforts going on in Africa to deal with AIDS, malaria, and other diseases…I want people to understand that the foreign aid budget is about one percent of the total budget. Under [Administrator] Shah’s guidance, and Secretary Clinton’s, we’re trying to find a way to transition. It’s not an endless, perpetual amount of money being spent to combat AIDS and malaria. We’re creating systems that can be sustained in Africa by local governments and national governments. I applaud your efforts to try and come up with a transition plan. Some places will be quicker than others, but there’s a desire to build people up so they can help themselves.”
Dr. Shah said, “This budget allows us to transform the way we do development. It helps countries feed, treat, and educate their people while strengthening their capacity to own those responsibilities for themselves. It helps our development partners increase stability and counter violent extremism. It supports those who struggle for self‐determination and democracy and empowers women and girls. And it helps channel development assistance in new directions – toward private sector engagement, scientific research, and innovative technologies.”
In describing one aspect of the USAID budget – the Feed the Future Program – Dr. Shah noted that “Last year, the worst drought in 60 years put more than 13.3 million people in the Horn of Africa at risk. Thanks to the humanitarian response led by the United States – and the investments we made in the past to build resilience against crises just like these – millions were spared from the worst effects of the drought. But as is well known, providing food aid in a time of crisis is seven to ten times more costly than investing in better seeds, irrigation, and fertilizers. If we can improve the productivity of poor farmers in partner countries, we can help them move beyond the need for food aid. And we can prevent the violence and insecurity that so often accompanies food shortages. That’s why we are requesting $1 billion to continue funding for Feed the Future, President Obama’s landmark food security initiative. These investments will help countries develop their own agricultural economies, helping them grow and trade their way out of hunger and poverty, rather than relying on food aid.”
Dr. Shah also described some of the efforts underway at USAID to improve education around the world: “Last year, we made some critical decisions about how we strengthen global education. Since 1995, USAID’s top recipients have increased primary school enrollment by 15 percent. But even as record numbers of children enter classrooms, we have seen their quality of learning sharply drop. In some countries, 80 percent of school children can’t read a single word at the end of second grade. That’s not education; it’s daycare. The strategy we released last year will make sure that our assistance is focused on concrete, tangible outcomes like literacy. By 2015, we will help improve the reading skills of 100 million children.”
