Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) joined Ranking Member Dick Lugar (R-IN) and Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) in introducing legislation that will reform U.S. foreign aid. The Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009 (S. 1524) is a bipartisan effort to strengthen the focus and capacity of USAID, which is suffering from “institutional atrophy,” “loss of expertise” and a “proliferation of aid programs across the government with little coordination or common framework to evaluate what works and what doesn’t,” according to Lugar. Delays in appointing a permanent USAID director are only likely to exacerbate these problems. Corker, however, remains hopeful that this bill will help turn things around:
I share the frustration of many Americans that our foreign assistance efforts have often lacked transparency, coordination, monitoring and evaluation. This bill begins to reinvigorate USAID to improve the coordination, execution and efficiency of U.S. assistance so we can make each dollar go further. The bill also establishes a body capable of evaluating the impact of our investments to make sure we are truly meeting our foreign policy objectives.
With so many anthropologists studying the impact and efficacy of foreign aid programs and Dr. Paul Farmer being considered as the next USAID director, will officials begin to heed the advice of anthropologists? What anthropological insights should legislators keep in mind when discussing this legislation?
Readers with access to AnthroSource can view some related articles on foreign aid here:
- Sex, Lies and International Aid: A Tale of Two Scandals (Anthropology News, Oct. 2008)
- In the Wake of Cyclone Nargis: Food Security, Information Flows and Foreign Aid (Anthropology News, Oct. 2008)
- Through the Looking Glass: US Aid to El Salvador and the Politics of National Identity (American Ethnologist, 2005)
- Ideologies of Aid, Practices of Power: Lessons for Medicaid Managed Care (Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 2005)
Filed under: Public Affairs
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