In Syria, 11 million people have been displaced. In Yemen, 21 million are in need of humanitarian aid. With crises like these escalating around the globe, effective and efficient allocation of U.S. foreign assistance is necessary to ensuring our limited resources are having maximum impact.
To spend aid resources effectively, the importance of knowing where they’re going and regularly monitoring and evaluating what they’re doing cannot be overstated. Being more transparent and requiring rigorous evaluation of foreign aid are commonsense ways to increase the accountability and impact of our resources.
Recently, Sens. Marco Rubio and Ben Cardin and Reps. Ted Poe and Gerry Connolly came together to introduce a bill to strengthen U.S. foreign assistance so that we can better track aid spending and results. The bipartisan, bicameral Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act would require that the president establish uniform evaluation guidelines, and the secretary of state ensure foreign aid spending information be made publicly available and regularly updated on the existing ForeignAssistance.gov website.
About the authors
George Ingram
George Ingram is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; a board member of MFAN and USGLC and chair of Friends of Publish What You Fund; with a career in development spanning U.S. Congress, USAID, and civil society.
Carolyn Miles
Carolyn Miles is president and CEO of Save the Children and co-chair of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network. After starting out as an entrepreneur and working in Hong Kong for American Express, Miles joined Save the Children in 1998 and was also COO from 2004-2011.
Connie Veillette
Connie Veillette is a senior fellow for global food security and aid effectiveness at The Lugar Center and co-chair of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network.
