About $1 in every $10 of Canadian aid money was reportedly unspent last fiscal year, hinting at the difficult road ahead for the government to streamline, simplify and speed up operations in the merged Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. Preliminary figures recently released by the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer show that the former Canadian International Development Agency reportedly spent only $2.76 billion out of the $3.14 billion set aside for grants and contributions for fiscal year 2011-2012.

The contrast between LA and another great city, Seoul, is remarkable. I have been going to Seoul for about 20 years now, and I just brought a group of USC students there for a comparative international development class. Back in 1992, when I first visited Seoul, it was an emerging city of considerable promise, but also with considerable poverty. It has since become one of the world’s rich cities.

It is estimated that more than 100,000 people are living with HIV in South Sudan, but only about 4,678 people access anti-retroviral therapy (ARTs). For people living with HIV, contracting TB adds to their challenges, as health services and treatment are limited. Moreover, with both HIV and TB heavily stigmatized, those affected are often reluctant to seek treatment, even where it is available.

Colombia’s Minister of Commerce Sergio Diaz-Granados welcomed a Singaporean mission of entrepreneurs to explore potential in innovation, sustainable development, IT, agribusiness and the hydrocarbon sectors. Yet most of Singapore’s business interest, according to the Ministry, falls within the services sector, like tech and BPOs.

This is a stark contrast to the stories of India's economic rise that have dominated headlines for the past decade. Many in India have been lifted from poverty, and the middle class has greatly expanded, as have the ranks of millionaires and billionaires. Yet extreme poverty is still a problem, and India has not been as successful as some other developing countries when it comes to reducing childhood illnesses and mortality.

Citizen-led development is key for empowering individuals and creating transparency and accountability. In the case of U.S. foreign assistance, Oxfam America advocates for it to be led and designed by the people who need it most. For too long, U.S. government development efforts have worked at cross-purposes with the very people who are trying to lead lasting change in poor countries.

Donors have been ramping up aid to fragile states, raising fears about funds falling into corrupt hands. A global corruption survey released this week by Transparency International measures how the public perceive corruption in their own countries. The nongovernmental organization asked 114,000 people in 107 countries which institutions do they think are most corrupt. In Afghanistan, where corruption is a huge concern among donors, 60 percent of respondents think the judiciary is the most corrupt.

The African Development Bank last week became the first multilateral lender to publish its data through the International Aid Transparency Initiative. After disclosing on July 1 data on both its public and private sector activities as well as providing precise geocoded information, AfDB joined the ranks of over 160 development organizations that seek to improve transparency on aid spending to make more effective in fighting poverty with IATI.