U.S. President Barack Obama has launched several development initiatives during his term, among them, the Global Health Initiative, Feed the Future, the Global Climate Change Initiative and Power Africa. But for the former policy planning director for the U.S. Department of State, Obama’s development legacy is much more than the sum of those initiatives.
“There have been specific initiatives,” Anne-Marie Slaughter said, “but I think [the] most important is the elevation of development.”
Slaughter, who served under Hillary Clinton from 2009 to 2011, recalled that the single most important thing she felt she did during that time was to implement what Obama and Clinton jointly declared: As a foreign policy tool, development should be equal with diplomacy.
About the author
Jacques Jimeno
Jacques is a former copy editor at Devex’s news production team. Previously, he worked with the Philippine Department of Tourism and the World Wide Fund for Nature.
