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President Obama’s administration raised the profile of development issues and took unprecedented steps towards addressing climate change, global health, and food insecurity. While his initiatives were largely successful in what they set out to do, sustainable development cannot be accomplished in one administration. To sustain progress on these crucial global issues, the next president must continue the work President Obama began, especially with regards to climate change and global health, and address aspects of development that were not central to Obama’s agenda, such as universal education and gender equality.
In 2010, President Obama signed the first Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development. The policy directive emphasized that U.S. development efforts should focus on economic growth, democratic governance, innovation, building sustainable capacity of partner countries, stabilizing post-crisis situations, and holding U.S. aid recipients accountable for achieving development results. The directive also announced the Global Climate Change Initiative (GCCI), Global Health Initiative (GHI), and Feed the Future (FTF) initiative. These three core development sectors remained the focus of the Obama administration throughout his presidency.
The Global Climate Change Initiative (GCCI) integrates climate change considerations into foreign assistance with a focus on investing in clean energy, promoting sustainable landscapes, and upholding policy and monetary commitments made in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord.
In 2014, President Obama signed an executive order on Climate-Resilient International Development, requiring climate-resilience considerations to be integrated into all U.S. international development work and creating a Working Group on Climate-Resilient International Development. This is the first initiative of its kind that links climate change and foreign aid, rather than treating them as separate issues.
The GCCI and subsequent executive order were important first steps in merging climate change and international development initiatives to manage and mitigate the impacts of climate change in vulnerable countries.
USAID is working with 50 countries to provide them with the knowledge and tools to address climate change, reduce emissions, and support clean energy. The next president must build upon this work to ensure that foreign aid and development programs are actively mitigating climate change.
The Obama administration focused on addressing global health concerns primarily through the $63 billion Global Health Initiative (GHI). The GHI articulates a strategy for providing comprehensive support for health systems and outcomes in all countries receiving health assistance from the United States, with an important focus on the health of women and girls.
During Obama’s presidency the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, moved from the emergency response phase established under President George W. Bush, through the sustainability phase, and into phase 3, which now focuses on accelerating interventions for epidemic control. This shift in strategy and focus marks substantial progress in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS since the inception of PEPFAR in 2003.
In line with the GHI, the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), which was launched in 2005, expanded under Obama’s administration to include four new countries and one regional program in 2011. The PMI focuses on sustainably decreasing malaria mortality, with the end goal of eliminating the disease entirely.
In fiscal year 2015, PMI procured 42 million insecticide treated nets, provided 57 million anti-malarial treatments, sprayed 4 million houses with insecticides, and procured 21 million preventative treatments for pregnant women. As a result, the risk of malaria is declining and mortality in children under five has fallen dramaticallyin sub-Saharan Africa. The World Health Organization estimates that over 6.2 million malaria deaths were averted between 2000 and 2015 thanks to global malaria programs, including the PMI.
As the final component of the Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development, in 2010 the administration established Feed the Future (FTF), the United States’ global hunger and food security initiative. In countries where FTF is active, the child stunting rate decreased at a rate of more than 4% per year, compared to an annual reduction of 2% in those same countries prior to the start of FTF. FTF has also realized reductions in poverty in its focus countries. In 2012, FTF was fully funded at $3.5 billion and President Obama announced the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition to improve agriculture and reduce poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.
Since 2012, the New Alliance has expanded from three to ten countries and African governments have advanced or completed 92 percent of policy commitments scheduled for completion by June 2015. More than 200 companies have committed to invest $10 billion in African agriculture, $1.8 billion of which has already been realized. The next administration will need to ensure that companies and governments continue to follow through on these commitments.
President Obama tackled issues of economic development, governance, and rule of law abroad by continuing successful initiatives created by his predecessor, President Bush. Throughout his presidency, Obama requested funding for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an agency established in 2004 that focuses on providing foreign aid to countries with good governance and economic freedom. The MCC’s focus on results fosters learning and accountability and the MCC served as a model for development results at the 2011 High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.
In June 2015, President Obama signed into law an extension of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) of 2000, renewing it for ten more years. AGOA enhances market access to the United States. for countries in sub-Saharan Africa that qualify, by working to improve rule of law, human rights, and labor standards. Combined imports and exports under AGOA in 2014 totaled $50 billion, although trade has been steadily declining from a peak of $100 billion in 2008 due to the global financial crisis.
If continual progress is to be made with regards to global climate change, health, food security, governance, and economic development, the next president of the United States must vehemently support the continuation of the initiatives created and sustained by President Obama, while ensuring the United States increases its political and economic commitment to all of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. He or she should consider addressing aspects of sustainable development that were not central to the Obama administration’s development agenda but are still integral to global progress, such as education, clean water, and gender equality.
About the author: Margo Berends is an expert in sustainable development with a research background in sub-Saharan Africa and program management experience in the Middle East, India, and Brazil. She is currently a Program Associate at Global Communities and a 2016 Sustainable Development Fellow at YPFP.
Photo: President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the 2016 Chief of Missions Conference in Washington, DC on March 14, 2016. [State Department Photo/Public Domain]
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
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Continuing Obama’s Legacy: The U.S. International Development Agenda
June 29, 2016
President Obama’s administration raised the profile of development issues and took unprecedented steps towards addressing climate change, global health, and food insecurity. While his initiatives were largely successful in what they set out to do, sustainable development cannot be accomplished in one administration. To sustain progress on these crucial global issues, the next president must continue the work President Obama began, especially with regards to climate change and global health, and address aspects of development that were not central to Obama’s agenda, such as universal education and gender equality.
In 2010, President Obama signed the first Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development. The policy directive emphasized that U.S. development efforts should focus on economic growth, democratic governance, innovation, building sustainable capacity of partner countries, stabilizing post-crisis situations, and holding U.S. aid recipients accountable for achieving development results. The directive also announced the Global Climate Change Initiative (GCCI), Global Health Initiative (GHI), and Feed the Future (FTF) initiative. These three core development sectors remained the focus of the Obama administration throughout his presidency.
The Global Climate Change Initiative (GCCI) integrates climate change considerations into foreign assistance with a focus on investing in clean energy, promoting sustainable landscapes, and upholding policy and monetary commitments made in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord.
In 2014, President Obama signed an executive order on Climate-Resilient International Development, requiring climate-resilience considerations to be integrated into all U.S. international development work and creating a Working Group on Climate-Resilient International Development. This is the first initiative of its kind that links climate change and foreign aid, rather than treating them as separate issues.
The GCCI and subsequent executive order were important first steps in merging climate change and international development initiatives to manage and mitigate the impacts of climate change in vulnerable countries.
USAID is working with 50 countries to provide them with the knowledge and tools to address climate change, reduce emissions, and support clean energy. The next president must build upon this work to ensure that foreign aid and development programs are actively mitigating climate change.
The Obama administration focused on addressing global health concerns primarily through the $63 billion Global Health Initiative (GHI). The GHI articulates a strategy for providing comprehensive support for health systems and outcomes in all countries receiving health assistance from the United States, with an important focus on the health of women and girls.
During Obama’s presidency the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, moved from the emergency response phase established under President George W. Bush, through the sustainability phase, and into phase 3, which now focuses on accelerating interventions for epidemic control. This shift in strategy and focus marks substantial progress in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS since the inception of PEPFAR in 2003.
In line with the GHI, the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), which was launched in 2005, expanded under Obama’s administration to include four new countries and one regional program in 2011. The PMI focuses on sustainably decreasing malaria mortality, with the end goal of eliminating the disease entirely.
In fiscal year 2015, PMI procured 42 million insecticide treated nets, provided 57 million anti-malarial treatments, sprayed 4 million houses with insecticides, and procured 21 million preventative treatments for pregnant women. As a result, the risk of malaria is declining and mortality in children under five has fallen dramaticallyin sub-Saharan Africa. The World Health Organization estimates that over 6.2 million malaria deaths were averted between 2000 and 2015 thanks to global malaria programs, including the PMI.
As the final component of the Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development, in 2010 the administration established Feed the Future (FTF), the United States’ global hunger and food security initiative. In countries where FTF is active, the child stunting rate decreased at a rate of more than 4% per year, compared to an annual reduction of 2% in those same countries prior to the start of FTF. FTF has also realized reductions in poverty in its focus countries. In 2012, FTF was fully funded at $3.5 billion and President Obama announced the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition to improve agriculture and reduce poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.
Since 2012, the New Alliance has expanded from three to ten countries and African governments have advanced or completed 92 percent of policy commitments scheduled for completion by June 2015. More than 200 companies have committed to invest $10 billion in African agriculture, $1.8 billion of which has already been realized. The next administration will need to ensure that companies and governments continue to follow through on these commitments.
President Obama tackled issues of economic development, governance, and rule of law abroad by continuing successful initiatives created by his predecessor, President Bush. Throughout his presidency, Obama requested funding for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an agency established in 2004 that focuses on providing foreign aid to countries with good governance and economic freedom. The MCC’s focus on results fosters learning and accountability and the MCC served as a model for development results at the 2011 High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.
In June 2015, President Obama signed into law an extension of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) of 2000, renewing it for ten more years. AGOA enhances market access to the United States. for countries in sub-Saharan Africa that qualify, by working to improve rule of law, human rights, and labor standards. Combined imports and exports under AGOA in 2014 totaled $50 billion, although trade has been steadily declining from a peak of $100 billion in 2008 due to the global financial crisis.
If continual progress is to be made with regards to global climate change, health, food security, governance, and economic development, the next president of the United States must vehemently support the continuation of the initiatives created and sustained by President Obama, while ensuring the United States increases its political and economic commitment to all of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. He or she should consider addressing aspects of sustainable development that were not central to the Obama administration’s development agenda but are still integral to global progress, such as education, clean water, and gender equality.
About the author: Margo Berends is an expert in sustainable development with a research background in sub-Saharan Africa and program management experience in the Middle East, India, and Brazil. She is currently a Program Associate at Global Communities and a 2016 Sustainable Development Fellow at YPFP.
Photo: President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the 2016 Chief of Missions Conference in Washington, DC on March 14, 2016. [State Department Photo/Public Domain]
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
