Insights From Acting Administrator Alonzo Fulgham
FrontLines - August 2009
I was pleased to welcome Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton back to USAID on July 13th for a town hall meeting in which she announced the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR). Modeled in part on the Defense Department’s Quadrennial Defense Review, the QDDR will provide a strategic review of the nation’s approach to diplomacy and development at four-year intervals. It will serve as the blueprint that guides the combined efforts of diplomacy and development in achieving common goals. As a co-chair of the review, USAID will play an instrumental role in the outcome of the QDDR.
It is in that spirit that I am soliciting input from the Agency on how we can participate most effectively so that the QDDR provides us with the strategic guidance to help allocate our resources more efficiently and deploy people where they will have the most impact, while maintaining a focus on long-term development goals. Throughout this process, we will be reaching out to USAID staff in Washington and the field as well as to USAID alumni, implementing partners, think tanks, universities, and congressional colleagues for suggestions on key personnel to contribute to this important effort and also for innovative ideas, state-of-the-art approaches, and fresh thinking.
The QDDR is among a number of initiatives we are undertaking to raise the profile of development and assure that USAID’s voice is heard at the highest levels of the policymaking process.
In this regard, I recently announced the creation of a senior advisor for national security affairs within the Office of the Chief Operating Officer to increase the Agency’s capacity to address a broad range of national security priorities and improve the effectiveness of our participation in the interagency context. This position will provide support to the administrator as co-chair of the Interagency Policy Committee on Development and support all senior Agency officials representing USAID in National Security Council meetings.
I am also proud to report that USAID is bringing onboard this month a White House fellow to focus on public-private partnerships and coordination efforts with emerging donors. Thirty departments, agencies, and offices throughout the executive branch interviewed 15 extraordinarily talented fellows, making this a very competitive process.
In the meantime, we are moving forward with the important work of this Agency, providing development and humanitarian assistance in over 84 countries around the world, making a difference in the lives of millions of people. Agency staff are continuing to support and shape key initiatives of interest to the president and to the secretary of state, including food security, climate change, and our efforts to secure peace in Pakistan and Afghanistan. As I write this, I am preparing to depart for a visit to our Haiti mission to see first-hand the critical work we are doing in hurricane reconstruction, education, health, and job creation that improves the lives of the Haitian people.
In concluding, I am pleased to announce that the Mission Directors Conference will be held from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3. This conference will be an opportunity for us to discuss what is working well and what is not, and how we can better implement the administration’s development priorities. We will organize our sessions around critical priorities such as food security, global climate change, and global engagement, as well as devote time to critical management and operational issues. To help prepare, each bureau and independent office has assigned one senior member to serve on our conference planning committee. Once we finalize the draft agenda, we will distribute it widely for your review and input.
I appreciate your professionalism and continued input and suggestions as we move forward.
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