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Increasing the Effectiveness of US Aid Programs: The Report and Recommendations of the OECD Expert Review Panel Presentation: Richard Manning Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee Discussants: James Kunder Acting Deputy Administrator, Assistant Administrator for Asia and the Near East, USAID Carol Lancaster Director of the Mortara Center for International Studies, Georgetown University

This event took place on Friday, April 13, 2007
Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-340
Independence Ave and South Capitol Street SW, Washington DC
9:00-10:00 AM Presentation, 8:30 AM Registration

Event Description:

With contributions in excess of $22.7 billion in 2006, the United States continues to be the world leader in providing financial aid and assistance to the developing world. Since the events of 9/11, the U.S. National Security Strategy has raised development to the status of one of the three pillars of national foreign policy (the “3D Strategy”), along with defense and diplomacy. However, questions have been raised about the effectiveness of U.S. aid programs:

• Are US foreign aid reforms helping to improve coordination among the multiple US agencies dispensing US aid?
• What lessons can be learned from the establishment of the Millennium Challenge Corporation?
• Is Congress limiting the efficiency and flexibility of American aid because of the cumulative impact of annual budgets, extensive earmarking of funding allocations and other directives?
• Is the balance between bilateral and multilateral aid effective in achieving the objectives of the U.S. aid programs?

The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) is a high level policy forum for almost all of the world’s bilateral donors. All 23 countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee submit themselves to regular review by two of their peers on a four-to-five year cycle, and the United States was reviewed at the end of 2006. Richard Manning, Chair of the Development Assistance Committee, who presided over the review session, will discuss the report and its recommendations on Friday 13 April together with a senior USG representative.

Biographies:

Richard Manning is Chair of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC). He took up his duties on 16 June 2003. Mr. Manning was former Director General for Policy at the UK Department for International Development (DFID). He worked for DFID and its predecessor agencies from 1965 to 2003, including periods spent serving in West Africa and South East Asia, and as Alternate Executive Director at the World Bank. Before becoming Chair, Mr Manning worked with the DAC over many years, and was from 2001 to early 2003 Chair of the DAC Task Force on Aid Practices which produced a report on "Harmonising Donor Practices for Effective Aid Delivery" ahead of the High Level Forum in Rome in February 2003. In March 2005 he was Co-Chair at the Paris High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.

James Kunder is Acting Deputy Administrator, Assistant Administrator for Asia and the Near East at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He provides leadership on the Agency's Middle East and Asia programs. Mr. Kunder has extensive government and private sector experience in international development. From July 2002 to July 2004, he served as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia and the Near East. Previously, from January to May 2002, he was Director for Relief and Reconstruction in Afghanistan. From 1987 to 1991, Mr. Kunder was Deputy Assistant Administrator for USAID's Bureau for External Affairs. He then served as Director of the Agency's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance from 1991 to 1993. From 1993 to 1996, Mr. Kunder was Vice President for Program Development at Save the Children Federation, an international non-governmental organization dedicated to improving the lives of children in the United States and around the world. He has also served as a legislative director in the U.S. House of Representatives, Senior Transportation Analyst for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Deputy Director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He was an infantry platoon commander in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1970 to 1973.

Carol Lancaster is Director of the Mortara Center for International Studies and a professor at Georgetown University. She is the author of a number of articles and books on foreign aid, the most recent of which is Foreign Aid: Diplomacy, Development, Domestic Politics (University of Chicago Press, 2006). She has served as Deputy Administrator of USAID (1993-96), as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa (1980-81) and in a number of other government posts. She was also a Congressional Fellow in the office of Congressman David Obey. She is a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development and is currently working on a book on aid reform in the United States.