Toward a New Paradigm of Sustainable Development

The Partnership for Growth (PfG) is one of the first experiments to operationalize the Obama administration’s strategy to bring greater programmatic coherence to U.S. trade and development initiatives in four countries—The Philippines, El Salvador, Ghana, and Tanzania. A key goal was to reinforce a country-led approach, but to also bring to the development table the considerably deeper pockets of non-aid actors, as well as what they are best at bringing—the jobs, training, new businesses, domestic supply chain, and market linkages that are the fundamental ingredients of any sustainable development strategy. This report argues that PfG began the paradigm shift toward a more coordinated and sustainable development strategy by highlighting the benefits of strategic coordination across agencies at the front end of an initiative. It also brought to light the difficulty of using development resources and tools to attract non-aid actors with what is still basically a government-to-government approach to development.

Jeri Jensen is a senior associate with the CSIS Project on U.S. Leadership in Development and the founder of Business Driven Development, LLC, a strategic advisory firm. Her 30 years of development experience include service as vice president at the Initiative for Global Development, managing director for private-sector initiatives at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and deputy assistant U.S. trade representative.