Insights from Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah
FrontLines - April 2010
In the four months since a 7.0 magnitude
earthquake hit Haiti, and the president
tasked USAID with directing America’s
assistance, we have had some
notable successes.
Consider one: Because we asked Haitian
truck drivers—whom we hired to dispense drinking water—to
distribute chlorine purification tablets at each stop, more Haitians are
drinking treated water today than were before the quake. And as a
result, diarrheal illness in Port-au-Prince has dropped by 12 percent.
This small success demonstrates USAID at our best. We turned a
need into an opportunity. We applied the latest learning in behavioral
economics to the most pressing problem, found the resources we
needed to get the job done, and worked around any red tape that stood
in the way. We acted like entrepreneurs—development entrepreneurs.
My job as Administrator is to make sure USAID employees can
operate that entrepreneurially every day.
I’d like to see us start approaching development in a new way—to
provide what I think of as a “distinctly American” contribution to
development.
Throughout our history, Americans have embraced a culture of
entrepreneurship. We believe that dedication and innovation are all
that is needed to bridge the gap between the inconceivable and the
achievable. And we have backed up that belief with breakthroughs
such as erasing smallpox from the face of the earth.
USAID has been the force behind many of those breakthroughs.
For example, the oral rehydration therapy that USAID developed
and distributed saved millions of children around the world.
To make similar progress in this new century, I am determined to
give USAID staff members with bold ideas a chance to see what they
can do, and to seek out local actors with the courage to transform their
own communities.
We must also harness the power of private enterprise. The
resources at our command are a blessing, but they are dwarfed by the
enormous power of markets to extend products, services, and opportunities
to people around the world.
And we must demand accountability, performance, and good governance
from the public institutions in countries we serve.
Most importantly, it is critical that we transform the way we work.
Ineffective and burdensome processes are holding USAID employees
back.
I know each member of this Agency is here to save lives and improve
livelihoods. I know that you need reforms to do your best day to day. I
am committed to constructing an operational model that unleashes your
creativity and encourages all of us to become development entrepreneurs.
Acting entrepreneurially entails taking risks, making course corrections
along the way, and learning as much from failure as from success.
Entrepreneurs are relentlessly focused on results—impact not outputs.
I am determined to cut back on the red tape so that Agency professionals
have the freedom to do their best. To encourage Agency
employees to act entrepreneurially, we will be instituting human
resources reforms. To help our development professionals become
more nimble problem-solvers, we will reform the way we procure
goods and services. And to ensure our tax dollars are getting the
most value for the money, we will put into place a significant package
of monitoring, evaluation, and transparency improvements.
These reforms will be rolled out over the next six months, beginning
with the launch of a new policy bureau and budget office.
Restoring policy and resource planning capacity to our Agency is
essential to our effectiveness and to rebuilding our reputation as
development innovators.
I am moving quickly to reform the way we work because it is up to
each of us to renew faith in this Agency and our time to do so is short.
One of our biggest champions, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
recently told me at a budget hearing: “USAID needs to change its culture,
and change the way it does business.”
That is what I am determined to do. And I need help from you.
★
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