RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Lex Rieffel, May 07, 2008, The Brookings Institution
With more than a million people killed, missing, or uprooted by the cyclone that struck Myanmar/Burma on May 3, international aid groups and foreign governments are mobilizing food, water and other assistance for the country. Lex Rieffel, who is currently studying the Asian perspective on Myanmar/Burma, addresses some of the key policy challenges. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Noam Unger, May 02, 2008, The Brookings Institution
President Bush recently called on Congress to increase U.S. food aid and development programs by $770 million. In a recent op-ed, Noam Unger, senior manager of Brookings’ Foreign Aid Reform Project, discusses how U.S. assistance programs should be strengthened in order to improve the effectiveness of America’s aid during the global food crisis and beyond. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Elizabeth Ferris, April 29, 2008, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Global Communications Forum
There are unprecedented challenges for humanitarian actors today, demonstrated by the fine line between promoting humanitarian principles and advocacy. In this statement to the Global Communications Forum of the International Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent, Brookings expert Elizabeth Ferris examines these challenges and discusses ways to address them while maintaining key humanitarian principles. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Raj M. Desai and Homi Kharas, April 24, 2008, The Brookings Institution
While the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings made recent headlines, the Global Philanthropy Forum, gathering top private aid donors, fell in the shadows. These private aid donors will likely give more aid to the world’s poor this year than the institutions that convened the Spring Meetings. Raj Desai and Homi Kharas compare these two events and discuss how private aid can help to relieve global poverty. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Homi Kharas, April 23, 2008, Newshour with Jim Lehrer
Rising food prices partly reflect the spillover from high energy costs, and are causing major problems for poor people. Homi Kharas argues for more development assistance for agriculture production to increase food supplies in the long run as well as for more assistance for sustainable development projects to create jobs and higher wages so that poor people can afford the rising costs of food. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Lael Brainard, April 23, 2008, House Committee on Foreign Affairs
As the world faces security threats from impoverished states, the global community searches for solutions to poverty. Lael Brainard offers Congress recommendations for modernizing the U.S. aid infrastructure.
Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Joshua Hermias and Homi Kharas, February 2008, Development & Cooperation, No. 02 2008, Volume 49, February 2008
The effectiveness of foreign aid is reduced by the low share of aid going into country programmes, donors’ fragmentation into small and often disconnected projects, and by significant volatility over time. Joshua Hermias and Homi Kharas discuss the key role that competition can have in spurring efficiency in aid agencies, which would asist aid harmonization. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Susan E. Rice and Stewart Patrick, 2008, The Brookings Institution
The Index of State Weakness in the Developing World provides policy-makers and researchers with a credible tool for analyzing and understanding the world's most vulnerable countries. Co-directed by Brookings Senior Fellow Susan Rice and Center for Global Development Research Fellow Stewart Patrick, the Index ranks and assesses 141 developing nations according to their relative performance in four critical spheres: economic, political, security and social welfare. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Homi Kharas, February 20, 2008, The Brookings Institution
President Bush recently concluded a trip to Africa, where he was received warmly throughout the five-nations he visited. During his administration, U.S. economic assistance to African nations has more than doubled and has been targeted, with some success, toward HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention—diseases that take a terrible toll on Africa's people. Homi Kharas analyzes U.S. prioritization and allocation of the pledged aid to put these accomplishments into perspective. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Lael Brainard, January 23, 2008, House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
In a world facing 21st century threats from global poverty, pandemics, and terrorism, foreign aid has assumed renewed importance as a critical instrument for advancing American values, interests, and national security. Lael Brainard offers Congress recommendations for urgent reform since U.S. foreign aid policy has become incoherent and its implementation fragmented. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Homi Kharas, December 20, 2007, The Brookings Institution
From climate change to international aid, better rules of engagement are mandatory to resolve global issues and sustain the current cycle of prosperity and wealth, Homi Kharas argues. Managing globalization well is being held hostage to the absence of productive engagement between rich and poor countries. Read More
PAST EVENT
Monday, December 10, 2007
Washington, DC
On December 10, the Global Economy and Development program hosted the HELP Commission for the official release of its report on foreign aid reform, Beyond Assistance. Mary Bush, chair of the HELP Commission, announced the commission’s recommendations during remarks. Additional commissioners discussed their views on reform priorities and next steps. The second panel of independent experts led by Lael Brainard, vice president and director of Global Economy and Development, offered analysis of the HELP Commission’s report and discuss steps to move reform forward. Read More
VIDEO
Lael Brainard, December 10, 2007
Congress established the Helping to Enhance the Livelihood of People around the Globe (HELP) Commission to study U.S. development and humanitarian assistance programs and to propose bold reform recommendations for relevant structures, mechanisms and incentives. The Global Economy and Development program hosted the HELP Commission for the official release of its report on foreign aid reform, Beyond Assistance, which provides recommendations designed to harness the full potential of U.S. foreign assistance efforts.
VIDEO
Lael Brainard, December 10, 2007
On December 10, Brookings hosted the Helping to Enhance the Livelihood of People around the Globe (HELP) Commission for their release of “Beyond Assistance,” the commission’s recommendations for foreign aid reform. Brookings Vice President Lael Brainard examines critical points in the report and discusses next steps for the reform effort.