Results 1 to 2 of 2
Like Tree3Likes

Thread: After Obama, Foreign Aid Programs Face Uncertainty VOA Thursday 19th January, 2017

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Senior Member lorrie's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Redondo Beach, California
    Posts
    6,765

    After Obama, Foreign Aid Programs Face Uncertainty VOA Thursday 19th January, 2017

    After Obama, Foreign Aid Programs Face Uncertainty

    Thursday 19th January, 2017



    'If we're going to deliver aid into a country where we know this is a risk, what can we do in the execution of the delivery of that aid?' said Tillerson, who spent his entire career at ExxonMobil.

    'Too much of the foreign aid given by the Western countries - U.S., OECD countries - has ended up only securing in power corrupt regimes,' said Heritage Foundation research fellow James Roberts, a former State Department foreign service officer.

    Roberts noted that in some African countries, the same leaders have been in power for decades and are sustained by international aid programs.
    Africa is among the areas that the State Department transition team of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is scrutinizing.

    A four-page list of Africa-related questions from the transition staff is "alarming longtime Africa specialists who say the framing and the tone of the questions suggest an American retreat from development and humanitarian goals, while at the same time trying to push forward business opportunities across the continent,' according to a report in The New York Times.

    "How does U.S. business compete with other nations in Africa? Are we losing out to the Chinese?" asks one of the first questions in the unclassified document provided to the newspaper.

    The new administration, Roberts said, will emphasize fighting corruption and enhancing property rights and the rule of law for dispensing foreign aid. In addition, it will look to reward countries that are going to be better allies and trade partners of the United States.

    'Helping someone to help themselves. That's really the idea,' Roberts told VOA.

    Libertarians and many conservatives argue that foreign aid can do more harm than good, making underdeveloped countries perpetually dependent on such largesse.

    But many of those involved in humanitarian work say it remains up to the United States - the world's largest aid donor - and other generous nations to avert famines, pandemics and the breakdown of social order.

    Such critical donations include vaccines, antibiotics and emergency responses to epidemics and disasters.

    'The market is not going to provide it if government doesn't take action,' said Amanda Glassman, chief operating officer at the Center for Global Development.

    For outgoing Secretary of State John Kerry, the United States needs to do even more, especially to ensure education for those at risk of being brainwashed by Muslim fundamentalists.

    'I believe we need urgently a new Marshall Plan, which is focused on the most critical states in the world, in certain locations - particularly Middle East, North Africa, South Central Asia - where we have got to push back against a huge youth bulge,' Kerry said in remarks January 10 at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

    'There are about a billion and a half children in the world under the age of 15. Somewhere upwards of 400 million of them will not go to school, and that is a problem for all of us.'

    Just where his presumptive successor - and Trump himself - stand on this remains largely unclear.

    Trump's public comments have included 'stop sending foreign aid to countries that hate us.' But he has also vowed that the United States 'must save humanity' and advocated the need to continue aid to such countries as Pakistan because 'we don't want to see total instability.'

    With the White House and both houses of the Congress under Republican control, certain types of programs that are the ire of religious conservatives - a key constituency of the party - are nearly certain to face review.

    'Certainly there are worries, especially in areas of family planning and reproductive health, especially in the areas of HIV-AIDS prevention and treatment,' Glassman told VOA.

    Tillerson's testimony before the Senate, however, 'made me somewhat less worried,' Glassman said, noting 'he put a lot of emphasis on women's economic empowerment.'

    The charitable foundation of ExxonMobil, the oil company where Tillerson was chairman and chief executive officer, has made it a priority to help women become catalysts for economic development.

    Team approach


    With 20 U.S. government agencies involved in global humanitarian aid, the result can be quite fragmented and the agencies can, at times, overlap. That has critics looking to incorporate the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, into the State Department.

    'The prioritization of development assistance - foreign aid - programs could be done more efficiently with a one-diplomatic-team approach,' said Roberts, of the Heritage Foundation. 'Many USAID, traditional foreign aid programs have not worked. They have not been big enough to work. They don't achieve sustainable results because the way you improve people's lives is through private sector-led trade and investment.'

    Glassman, at the Center for Global Development, acknowledged that USAID and other government agencies need to improve their cost efficiency.

    'We have a system of contractors and grantees, mainly U.S.-based," she told VOA. "They have very high overhead costs. We need to look at how we provide assistance and make sure that the money is going as far as possible since there is so little money."

    The $34 billion the U.S. has budgeted for foreign aid in fiscal year 2017 may sound like a lot, but officials say it is a fraction of a percent of the national income.

    Scandinavian countries, in terms of their share of national budgets, are the most generous. The percentage given by the United Kingdom, Germany and France also surpass that of the United States.

    http://www.mexicostar.com/index.php/sid/251028565


    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty
    by joining our E-mail Alerts athttp://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  2. #2
    Moderator Beezer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Posts
    30,909
    No aid, no money, no oatmeal. Send birth control.
    ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE "BROKEN" OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM

    DO NOT REWARD THEM - DEPORT THEM ALL

Similar Threads

  1. Green Card Denial Shows Same-Sex Couples Face Uncertainty
    By HAPPY2BME in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 08-16-2011, 08:20 AM
  2. Israel's Illegal Immigrants Face Deportation Uncertainty
    By JohnDoe2 in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 10-24-2009, 07:34 PM
  3. TX: Undocumented immigrants face uncertainty during hurrican
    By Jean in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 08-08-2009, 02:36 AM
  4. Lou Dobbs Tonight Thursday, January 2, 2008
    By jimpasz in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 01-03-2008, 04:19 PM
  5. Many face uncertainty on residency status
    By Brian503a in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 01-31-2006, 12:07 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •