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USAID ■ BY FRANCISCO ZAMORA
Briefs • Continued from page 68
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As an agency that is unaccustomed to being in the limelight, USAID does not often show up on the av- erage citizen’s radar screen. In spite of some truly
significant successes worldwide, we do not toot our own
horn. Indeed, most people would be hard pressed to define
what USAID is.
This sad fact is invariably mentioned by the seven public members who serve on
our yearly Performance Evaluation Boards. Impressed by what they read in the
Annual Evaluation Forms, these private citizens spontaneously vow to talk to their
colleagues about the great work we perform for our country.
One reason for our invisibility is a regulatory prohibition on lobbying the general public and Congress. Another reason is that the media prefer to focus on problems, not accomplishments.
But perhaps the main reason is that no one seems to know just where USAID
fits in the federal picture.
In the past, with USAID or its predecessor in the lead, foreign assistance programs in health, agriculture, education, business, housing and democracy helped
rebuild wartorn Europe, kept the communist threat in check, reconciled ancient
enemies and provided emergency assistance to countries suffering natural disasters.
However, once the Cold War ended, we cashed in our peace dividend and slashed
our programs and staff.
While the 21st century saw a doubling of foreign assistance, this did not translate into a strengthening of the agency. Instead, a large part of this new funding
shifted to the State Department, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and even
the military. Ironically, the powers-that-be did not trust the agency and, in effect,
replaced it with new programs and agencies.
Of late, we finally have renewed support from both the executive and legislative
branches of government to expand our staff and in-house expertise. We are now
considered part of the national security trident: Defense, Diplomacy and Development. We should be happy, right?
Yes and no. Yes, because USAID is finally getting recognized for our essential
service to the country. No, because there is an internecine government struggle regarding our ultimate level of independence. On the one side, the State Department is pulling us closer by increasing control of the budget, policy and planning
functions; on the other, Congress is introducing legislation to strengthen these activities at USAID.
Senators John Kerry, D-Mass., Richard Lugar, R-Ind., Robert Menendez, D-N.J.,
Bob Corker, R-Tenn., James Risch, R-Idaho, and Benjamin Cardin, D-Md. — three
Democrats and three Republicans — introduced the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009 (S. 1524). And in the House, Rep. Howard
Berman, D-Calif., who is chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs,
drafted the Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of 2009 (H.R. 2139).
Both these bills have the aim of overhauling and reforming foreign assistance —
correcting the damage done by the constant earmarking and the fragmentation
and dispersal of aid programs to other agencies. The winner of this tug-of-war will
answer the question of where USAID fits. Will USAID simply be an appendage of
the State Department, or will we be entrusted to manage the whole set of development tools ourselves? Stay tuned… ❏
Where Does USAID Fit?
AFSA Joins Facebook
We are happy to report that AFSA
has joined the social networking world
by establishing its own Facebook page.
We encourage all of our members, and
other interested parties, to visit the page
and become “fans” of AFSA. To do so,
simply go to www.facebook.com, type
“American Foreign Service Association”
into the search box and then click the
“Become a Fan” button at the top of the
AFSA page. You can also go directly to
the AFSA page by visiting www.
facebook.com/afsapage.
We will use the Facebook page as an-
other way of getting information to our
members by posting links to news items
of interest, sending reminders about
upcoming deadlines, alerting you about
a new issue of
the Foreign
Service Journal,
notifying you
of upcoming
AFSA events
and posting
pictures
from AFSA-
related cer-
emonies
and events.
We also hope to have input from
members about how we use the page in
the future.
We encourage people to post comments and observations. (Please be
civil; otherwise we will have to call the
Facebook police.) The page is being administered by Marketing and Outreach
Manager Ásgeir Sigfússon; any comments or questions about the page may
be directed to him at sigfusson@
afsa.org.
Members may also want to become
fans of AFSA’s other pages on Facebook:
the Foreign Service Journal, our Inside a
U.S. Embassy book and the national
high school essay contest all have their
own Facebook pages. ❏
