usaid
The United States has cut funding to a popular Pakistani version of the children’s program “Sesame Street” amid allegations of fraud and abuse, a US official said Tuesday. The program, run under the umbrella of the US-based Sesame Workshop by a local theater group, had been awarded some $20 million in funds from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
On April 16, CPD hosted a policy briefing on water and public diplomacy in Washington, D.C. as part of the CPD Water Diplomacy Initiative.
Water diplomacy could and should play a larger role in USAID and the U.S. State Department.
...The fourth priority is what I call economic statecraft; in particular, how we use diplomacy and development to create American jobs. We have more than 1,000 State Department economic officers working to help American businesses connect to new markets and consumers.
20 years ago when the Berlin Wall fell. Twenty years have gone by, several countries have graduated into market democracy, into the international institutions – the EU, NATO – and we felt it was time to sort of normalize the assistance for those countries in the regular budget so that we no longer have a separate carve-out.
The FY 2013 Budget elevates America’s global leadership through diplomacy and development. “Leading through civilian power saves lives and money. With the right tools, training, and leadership, our diplomats and development experts can defuse crises before they explode and create new opportunities for economic growth.”
The State Department and USAID are critical to maintaining and extending American leadership, and we will be, in the future, called upon to do more, in more places, more frequently, and most likely with fewer resources.