How can the international community improve its humanitarian and development aid engagement in Afghanistan, especially as it prepares to hand over security and economic control to the Asian country’s central government by 2014? The U.S.-based think tank International Crisis Group offers suggestions to the United States and its allies as well as to the Afghan central government in Kabul, even as it warns that Afghanistan is not likely to be self-sustainable in three years.  ...

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  The changing international aid architecture, particularly the rise of nontraditional donors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, presents implications and creates opportunities for Australia as it moves to expand its aid program, according to an economic and financial expert focused on maternal and child health.   “The Australian government’s aid program is scaling up, with the intention of reaching 0.5 percent [of the country’s gross national inco...

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  The United States needs to substantially revamp its development strategy in Pakistan, starting with shifting its focus from security to trade and investments in the Asian country, according to a new report from the U.S.-based think tank, the Center for Global Development.   “The United States is way off course in Pakistan,” CGD President Nancy Birdsall, also the main author of the report, says in a news release. “It’s heavily focused on security while ne...

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  Private foundations interested in investing in financial access initiatives targeting small and medium-sized enterprises should reconsider before putting money into entirely new projects or strategic approaches, given the breadth of existing public donor-funded SME development schemes, according to a research fellow at the U.S.-based think tank, Center for Global Development.   “Interested groups instead should strive to leverage existing best practices and program resour...

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