 |
The United States Record
I. Increasing Resources for Development
- At a March 2002 UN Conference held in Monterrey, Mexico, the United States pledged to increase its foreign assistance by 50 percent over 2000 levels by 2006. The U.S. met that pledge three years early. U.S. ODA for 2003 was $16.3 billion, more than 60 percent higher than it was in 2000.
- An Increasing Amount of US ODA is going to Africa, as pledged. Further increases in ODA to Africa are expected from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), from HIV/AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), from the Malaria Initiative (PMI), and from the Initiative to End Hunger in Africa (IEHA).
- In 2007, U.S. contributions for development to multilateral organizations, including the UN, World Bank, and other MDBs, totaled $2.9 billion, an increase of nearly $500 million.
- For many developing countries, U.S. private resource flows are far more productive than aid in creating opportunities and helping countries integrate into the global economy. These flows substantially exceed all ODA provided by ALL donors. In 2007, U.S. private resource flows to developing countries included a 58 % increase in capital investments and credits to $99 billion from $62 billion in 2006, remittances of $48 billion, and private grants of $12 billion. These resources, totaling $159 billion, are more than 1% of U.S. GDP.
- In addition, by providing a relatively low-tariff import market for manufactured goods from developing countries, the United States greatly contributes to export-led growth and development in these countries. U.S. merchandise imports in 2007 from developing countries, not including China, were $641 billion. The United States also continues to be the developing world's largest net importer of goods ($573 billion in 2007-- $981 billion in imports minus $409 billion in exports).
- The U.S. is also a leader in "trade capacity building" assistance programs aimed at helping developing nations to better integrate into and benefit from the global trading system, contributing $1.4 billion in 2007 and roughly $7.6 billion total since 2000.
- The United States played a major role in the creation of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) agreed upon at the 2005 G8 Summit in Gleneagles, and in the related agreement at the Inter-American Development Bank.
- These programs are projected to provide up to $60 billion in debt relief over time. As of the end of June 2008, 25 countries had received over $42 billion in multilateral debt relief through these initiatives. This debt reduction comes in addition to the more than $68 billion in debt relief committed to 33 countries - 27 of which are in Africa - once they have completed targeted poverty reduction strategies under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC).
II. Making Aid More Effective
The U.S. has maintained a consistent emphasis on the importance of the quality of assistance to broaden the discussion beyond simply the quantity of aid. This position is based on a substantial body of research which has shown that countries that have well-performing policies and institutions that produce positive development outcomes with their own resources will also use aid resources well.
- In March 2005, the U.S. along with over 100 developing countries and donor institutions endorsed the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, and the USG strongly supports its implementation. The Paris Declaration encourages actions to improve aid effectiveness and achieving better development results. In September 2008, the U.S. reaffirmed its commitment to the Paris Declaration principles and to accelerate their implementation by endorsing the Accra Agenda for Action with over 150 adherents to the Paris Declaration.
- The Paris Declaration comprises 54 commitments in five areas for improved aid effectiveness (1) host-country ownership of the development process, (2) alignment of donor assistance with host-country priorities, (3) harmonization of donor processes, (4) emphasis on defining and achieving measurable results, and (5) establishing a framework of mutual accountability between donors and host-countries. It was endorsed in March 2005 by over 100 partner country and donor institutions, and additional countries and institutions have signaled their endorsement since then.
- The Accra Agenda for Action spells out in greater detail the ways to achieve some of the commitments in the Paris Declaration where progress has been slow. The details are grouped under three themes of Strengthening Country Ownership, Building More Effective and Inclusive Partnerships and Delivering and Accounting for Development Results. The AAA is a realistically ambitious agenda with actions asked of both developing countries and donor institutions.
- To realize the objectives of the Paris Declaration, the U.S. has taken steps to improve the internal coordination across the agencies that manage U.S. bilateral Official Development Assistance.
- In support of country ownership, the U.S. launched the Millennium Challenge Account that relies on country leadership in program identification and implementation. Established in January 2004, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) provides grants to reduce poverty through sustainable economic growth in developing countries with relatively good policies. MCC also operates on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom and investments in people. To date, MCC has signed compacts with 18 countries totaling $6.3 billion; eight additional countries are developing compact proposals. MCC also has threshold programs in 19 countries totaling over $425 million.
- The President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief has adopted the "Three Ones" approach that supports country ownership of its HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment programs. Across the U.S. Government, capacity development and strengthening toward enhanced host country ownership and leadership of its own development is a strong component of assistance.
- Some agency policies and procedures have been created, reviewed or revised to enable alignment with country-led development strategies, and harmonization with other development partners. The U.S. continues to exercise a leadership role on managing for development results and supporting partner countries in results-based management.
- Consistent with stated principles, the U.S. is making a significant effort to use its development resources to bring additional partners and resources - non-traditional sovereign donors, private and non-governmental actors. We view this leveraging as an effective use of ODA resources.
- We are also working both in our own programs and in the international arena to forge consensus on the necessity of addressing state fragility and conflict mitigation a precursor to achieving development progress in many of the lagging states. In November 2007 the U.S., along with over 125 participants in the Communities of Democracies process, agreed to encourage and provide incentives both bilaterally and through multilateral institutions to those developing countries that are effectively investing in democratic reforms.
Back to Top ^
|
