Watch: US aid under Biden

U.S. President Joe Biden has promised a major shift in America’s global engagement on health, development, and humanitarian assistance. In his first month in office, Biden has taken quick action to reverse some policies espoused by former President Donald Trump’s administration, including halting America’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization, rejoining the Paris Agreement on climate change, and revoking restrictions on family planning in U.S. global health assistance. Biden broke with recent precedent with a very early announcement of his nominee to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development — Samantha Power — even before his own inauguration as president. Power, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is a well-known human rights and humanitarian advocate who will also have a seat on Biden’s National Security Council. After some of those initial moves, attention is now shifting to longer-term questions about what the new administration might prioritize in its global development agenda, whether it will look to restructure or reorganize the agencies that carry out those programs, and how COVID-19 could transform the U.S. government’s approach to cooperating with partner countries around the world. To dig into some of these questions, Devex welcomed Erin Collinson, director of policy outreach at the Center for Global Development, for a Devex Pro Live conversation about Biden’s emerging development agenda. Highlights from the discussion include: • The state of play in budget negotiations, both for COVID-19 response and the next fiscal year. • What the future holds for global health initiatives such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in light of the pandemic. • How a shift toward multilateralism might shape U.S. development priorities. • The fate of Trump-era development policies, such as the “journey to self-reliance.” • The implications for USAID of Power’s influence with the White House. • What the new administration’s emphasis on climate change could mean for development programs. • What to make of that recent New York Times editorial on decolonizing foreign assistance. Speakers: Erin Collinson, director of policy outreach, Center for Global Development Michael Igoe, senior reporter, Devex Have follow-up questions? Send them to webinars@devex.com.