Devex: Making U.S. foreign assistance count
Ben Leo, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and director of the Rethinking U.S. Development Policy initiative, and Tom Hart, North America executive director of ONE

“…With a new set of development goals looming on the horizon that will shape development efforts for the next 15 years, there are several concrete steps that the U.S. government can take this year to ensure that its own development efforts are fully transparent, effective, and well-managed. First, Congress should reintroduce and pass the Foreign Assistance Transparency and Accountability Act … Second, U.S. agencies … need to harness the necessary political will and technical expertise to overcome internal bottlenecks and report to IATI standards. Lastly, both Congress and the administration ought to encourage agencies like USAID and the State Department to redouble monitoring and evaluations efforts and allow them the space to admit and learn from failure…” (4/16).