USAID is taking a “bright spots approach” in its aid of democracy that focuses more on positive developments around the world after years of rising authoritarianism in many countries, administrator Samantha Power said on Thursday at the Global Inclusive Growth Summit in Washington, D.C.
The former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations said in the past problems tended to inspire more high-level engagement than when things were going well.
“Often as a government, you know, if it bleeds, it leads. If it's a problem case, we'll have 16 meetings in the Situation Room. But if something's going well, it often doesn't get sufficient high-level attention,” Power said. By giving more attention to the places where things are improving, she said, the United States hopes to be able to rally behind pro-democracy reformers in countries such as Ukraine and buck the backsliding of the past years.
About the author
Omar Mohammed
Omar Mohammed is a Foreign Aid Business Reporter based in New York. Prior to joining Devex, he was a Knight-Bagehot fellow in business and economics reporting at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has nearly a decade of experience as a journalist and he previously covered companies and the economies of East Africa for Reuters, Bloomberg, and Quartz.
