The United States Global Leadership Coalition Report on Reports: Principal Ideas

The United States Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) has produced a very interesting “Report on Reports.” Many of the reports cited include a number that CSIS has produced to over the last three years, such as The Ecosystem of U.S. International Development Assistance and Strategic Foreign Assistance Transitions.

The areas of consensus are: (i) strengthen civilian power, (ii) ensure results-driven development, (iii) leverage the private sector, (iv) maintain sufficient resources, (v) improve coordination among the players, and (vi) prioritize (and plus up what works).

The big takeaways from the Report on Reports are: we are going to be relying more on civilian power and we are going to have to adequately fund it. In order to accomplish this, we are going to have to reweight budget allocations to fund what works and is in both the national interest and the interests of good development.

Another major take away is that the consensus in Washington has shifted over the last four years, reflecting the new age of austerity. This was discussed in detail in the CSIS report Foreign Assistance in a Time of Austerity, cited in the Report on Reports. The discussions around results and prioritization are a result of the new focus on having to make hard choices in a time when growth in the 150 Account has slowed, leveled off, and risks reductions. In this environment, resource allocation will not be just about who has the best story but also about who has the best metrics. The challenges will include proving how we want to reallocate resources or plus up resources and how that will lead to certain outcomes. That has always been the case, but making the outcomes case has an even greater salience in a period of austerity.

Also notable is the increased consensus around the role of the private sector, and the Report on Reports acknowledged the CSIS contribution to this discussion by referencing the reports Seizing the Opportunity in Public-Private Partnerships as well as U.S. Government Engagement with the Private Sector on International Development. President Obama and Secretary Clinton gave a number of important speeches (such as his Cairo speech, among others) that talked about the role of the private sector and entrepreneurship. The 2010 conference convened by President Obama had a focus on entrepreneurship. President Obama’s Presidential Policy Directive speaks to broad-based economic growth. Elizabeth Littlefield at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) deserves credit as well for being a great ambassador for the role of the private sector. Finally, the U.S. Treasury Department team, ably led by Under Secretary Lael Brainard, has led a major effort to save the Doing Business metrics within the World Bank. Doing Business was “invented” by USAID and has changed the world.

In line with the consensus USGLC sees, CSIS has recently released a new report that did not make the USGLC review because it came out too late to be included, called “Our Shared Prosperity” which makes the case for building on leveraging the private sector. This bipartisan development council recommended three major actions for the U.S. government: first, make broad-based growth the central organizing principle of U.S. development policy; second, align U.S. development instruments with the private sector; and finally, promote trade and investment using existing but underutilized tools.

Finally, we need to lift our sights about what we can achieve with what USGLC calls “smart power resources.” The Report on Reports cites that there has been less analysis about the strategic outcomes of these resources and far more reports reacting to administration initiatives. If we are relying more on civilian power, we are not organized in a way to optimize that power and we do not have the legal and regulatory authorities to ensure that this civilian power is used appropriately. Let’s hope the next Report on Reports reflects increased strategic imagination, and major reforms in how we run these critical programs.

Daniel F. Runde is the Schreyer Chair and director of the Project on Prosperity and Development at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.

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