Foreign Aid Reform: US Style

Fire of Liberty

Though USAID has been a good organization in providing many nations in need with foreign aid, the White House has decided to put some greater umph into the organization by introducing some much needed reforms. As a former business man and as a chief admirer of the small faith-based charities and other privately run charities, President Bush knows full well that if you allow the folks who run the show and provide the much needed aid or help you'll get things done in a much quicker and efficient way than by having too many cooks in the kitchen at one time like USAID seems to be experiencing at the moment. According to a recent interview in the Financial Times, Adrew Natsios, the outgoing USAID administrator, notes that the reforms being drawn up in the White House range from structural reforms like collecting up the varying foreign aid programs that are scattered throughout the US government and placing them under USAID's roof thus creating a more streamlined organization, allowing greater discretion in their budget, as well as allowing USAID to play a greater role in the promotion of democracy thus allowing them to get more involved in the various nation building areas like Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon as well as places like Pakistan who have been devastated by devastating earthquakes. If we can improve USAID by pushing through such reforms, we'll see a vast improvement in our image throughout the world. You only have to look at the happy faces of the people in Afghanistan and Iraq who are able to drink clean water and receive electricity due to the hard work of USAID and its platoon of foreign aid workers who braved these rough and tumbled lands to discover that USAID could be an even greater tool in delivering foreign aid if the much needed reforms being drawn up by the White House go into effect. Let's just hope that President Bush gets his wish and can add yet another sharpened sword to his armory to fight back the forces of evil in the world.