Under Development

Global Warming Gets Some Attention

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:29:19 GMT

But not much. Here's hoping it's enough.

Is Afghanistan a new Vietnam?

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:52:48 GMT

Although George Will's goals are transparent, his new article makes the case for withdrawal from Afghanistan. Actually Doonesbury makes a better case. My personal feeling is that the current election in Afghanistan was a huge missed opportunity to dislodge an unresponsive, weak national government.

Look for the Republican base to begin railing against nation building again.

Malnutrition and Starvation in Guatemala

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 03:26:38 GMT

Malnutrition and starvation continue to dog Guatemala. As it enters the "hungry season" - the time of year when people in many of the drier areas of Guatemala must depend on food stores for their survival - the forecast is not good. Already unusually high numbers of deaths by starvation are being reported. But that is acute hunger.

Guatemala is also home to chronic hunger and widespread malnutrition, as Sam Loewenberg notes a recent news piece. The U.S. government will spend $25 million this year to attempt to alleviate the pain of some of this. But to shift millions of people out of hunger is a herculean task.

210 Days into the Obama Administration

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 03:09:57 GMT

Well, by my count, this is day 210 of Obama's first 1,461 day administration. And Obama has still only announced 300 of some of the 501 appointments he has to make as commander and chief, this according to the Post's handy Head Count. Compared with past administrations this is amazingly slow. And from a HR perspective, it makes you wonder what's up. A White House full of the best policy in the world isn't going to get you anywhere without people to implement it.

This all came to mind again, when a friend pointed out that a "frontrunner" for the USAID Administrator post, at least according to the windy personalities that populate the speculative, leadership vacuum that is current Washington, decided to take an actual job offer instead of waiting around for Obama to come calling.

Out in the field, a lot has moved into a "wait and see" mode. And as someone new to the ways of the federal government, I wonder how long we can go with a black hole in the center.

Development News from South and Central America

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:36:59 GMT

Honduras: On July 7, the State Department announced, as a policy matter, the suspension of all assistance programs that would legally require termination if the events in Honduras were found to have triggered section 7008 of the FY09 Appropriations Act. As of July 8, USAID had suspended four programs totaling approximately $1.9 million in basic education, family planning, and the environment, including activities supporting the Government of Honduras (GOH) on CAFTA-DR environmental standards. LAC, USAID/Honduras, and GC are reviewing additional Agency assistance to the GOH to determine other programs appropriate for suspension.

Haiti: High Level Visitors in Haiti. U. N. Special Envoy Bill Clinton visited Haiti July 6-7. Former President Clinton’s visit coincided with a visit from
Cheryl Mills, Counselor to Secretary Clinton, and Paul Farmer, a prominent Haiti expert. Former President Clinton was in Haiti to discuss economic, social and environmental priorities of the national government. His visit included a tour of a mango processing factory in Cite Soleil, one of Haiti’s largest slums, a solid waste sorting center in Port-au-Prince, and the city of Gonaives to assess hurricane rehabilitation work. Counselor Mills and Dr. Farmer met with Haitian President Preval, Prime Minister Pierre-Louis, and key ministers to assure them of USG commitment to Haiti’s economic development.

Haiti: Haiti's External Debt Cancelled. Haitian economists welcome the decision of the World Bank, which waived the final four conditions, to cancel $1.2 billion dollars of Haitian debt to the international financial institutions, including $140 million in HIPC relief from all creditors and $841 million in additional relief from the World Bank and IDB. This debt cancellation allows the GOH to redirect nearly $4 billion dollars into projects focusing on the provision of basic services to Haitian citizens and economic growth activities. USAID intends to pay remaining IDB debt service for Haiti through 2011 (through $20 million in GOH budget support), per the USG’s pledge of budget support at the April Donors’ Conference.

Colombia: On July 5, 2,000 victims of Colombia’s illegal armed groups received the first payment from the Government of Colombia as part of the individual reparations program. The initiative was carried out with support from USAID/Colombia’s Community-Based Reintegration Process. President
Uribe attended the ceremony and apologized to victims on behalf of the state.

Bolivia: Foreign Minister Choquehuanca described President Obama as "worse" than George Bush due to U.S. interference in Bolivia’s internal issues and the indefinite suspension of the Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act. Choquehuanca was quoted in a La Paz newspaper as saying, “They are meddling with our Constitution and that is interference…. I have said that to

Mrs. Hillary Clinton and also that we no longer believe in their negotiators.” Vice President Linera stated that negotiations would continue but that the Bolivian government had increasingly less hope of fair treatment by the United States.

Mexico: High Level Meeting on Influenza A (H1N1) – Lessons Learned and Preparedness. Organized jointly by Canada, Mexico, the United States, the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization, the High Level Meeting on Influenza A (H1N1) Lessons Learned and Preparedness took place in Cancun, Mexico July 1‐3. Representatives from 43 countries, including 22 health ministers, gathered to compare and analyze experiences of different countries and discuss strategies for preventing, detaining and mitigating influenza A H1N1.

El Salvador: Elective Surgeries Suspended Due to H1N1. In light of the need to use more beds for common flu patients, the Director of the Children’s Hospital announced that elective surgeries have been suspended. There are 319 confirmed cases of H1N1 with one death being reported by the Ministry of Health authorities.

Nicaragua: Many Nicaraguans Question OAS Actions Against Honduras. Editorials, political cartoons and op-eds in the two main daily newspapers,

La Prensa and El Nuevo Diario continue to question why the OAS has been quick to criticize the removal of President Zelaya in Honduras but has failed to take any action against the Ortega administration following the credible allegations of fraud in the November 2008 municipal elections. In a television interview, respected Catholic Church leader Bishop Bernardo Hombach said the OAS and

Jose Miguel Insulza has shown “great belligerence” with Honduras but has said nothing about the fraudulent municipal elections.

Panama

: Assistance Agreement Signed. The governments of Panama and the United States signed an Assistance Agreement with an anticipated total budget of $9.2 million to support activities under the Merida Initiative. Panama’s Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Juan Carlos Varela, and the U.S. Ambassador to Panama, Barbara J. Stephenson, were present at the signing ceremony.

Natural Beauty

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:31:58 GMT

Maybe it's my recent trip scuba diving in Roatan. Or maybe it's the amazing skill of the photographers in question. But I am once again welling up with awe of the natural world. The National Geographic just released its annual top photographs. Here are some. Just absolutely stunning.

The Obama Administration is Finally Moving on Nominations for USAID

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:50:00 GMT

Former assistant secretary of state Wendy Sherman, who was also North Korea policy coordinator in Clinton days, has also been mentioned for China and for undersecretary for economic matters at State and for head of the Agency for International Development. Another candidate for that latter job is Frederick Barton, a highly regarded former AID official who was a member of the Obama transition review team on development assistance and chaired an Obama campaign team on post-conflict reconstruction.

Whoever takes the AID job will have to rebuild an organization that's but a shell of its former self in terms of overseeing major development programs.

Government and Religion

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:24:46 GMT

Revisionists get my goat. Gingrich is the newest arguing that the United States isn't a secular society. As proof he selectively draws from the Declaration of Independence "endowed by their creator." Here's what the author had to say about that:

To messers. Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, & Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut.

Gentlemen

The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. my duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, & in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection & blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves & your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem.

Th Jefferson
Jan. 1. 1802.

Washington Biz Skinny

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:17:44 GMT

House and Senate will be in recess April 6-17, 2009.

LEGISLATION:

- On Wednesday, April 1, the Senate passed unanimously an amendment
by Senators Kerry and Lugar, Chairman and Ranking Member, Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, to restore the 150 international
affairs part of the Senate FY 2010 Budget Resolution to the
President's request. Prior to the amendment, it was $4 billion
below the request.

- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a bill aimed at
spurring a "green revolution" to combat global food insecurity, in
part by loosening restrictions on using U.S. aid to buy food
overseas. The legislation would authorize $500 million for a new
emergency food assistance fund that could be used to buy food in
the affected region instead of buying it in the United States and
shipping it overseas. The bill also would create a global food
"czar" position at the White House, and would authorize $7.75
billion for agriculture research and exchange programs through FY
2014.

- The House approved on March 31, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve
America Act, which authorizes $10 million for USAID's Volunteers for
Prosperity Program. The measure was passed by the Senate on March
26.

- Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) Energy and Commerce Committee
and Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Energy and Environment
Subcommittee introduced legislation intended to create jobs, help
end dependence on foreign oil, and combat global warming. The
American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES also creates
an International Climate Change Adaption Program within USAID to
provide U.S. assistance for adaption to climate change.

Washing Mashines and Womens' Liberation

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 23:51:55 GMT

To mark International Women's Day this year, the Vatican published a lovely little article that proves how perfectly out of step the Pope and his coterie of sexless wonders are. The gist is a simple one. Contraceptives did little to affect the liberation of women. Rather the most important factor to change the status of women in Western society in the whole of the 20th century, was - you guessed it - the washing machine.

Why on earth does anyone put up with this twaddle?

So I used to wonder how sensitive I would be to earthquakes....

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:55:57 GMT

..but not anymore. Although some weeks ago in San Salvador, I felt a minor earthquake, once it was pointed out to me, I can't say that I seem to be all that sensitive to them. Last night, while I slept, a 5.3 magnitude earthquake shook the city...apparently. I didn't notice.

A business of scale

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 20:41:09 GMT

It's becoming more obvious by the day that Guatemala has become a new refuge for narco-money. Everywhere you look, there is new construction - fancy new malls, tall elegant highrise apartments - things that are generally beyond the means of most Guatemalans. A Colombian friend know the pattern. She grew up with it as a girl. Investments in complicated land deals generally serves as your best means to launder dirty money.

But of course, there are other ways. The old fashioned way for one. Come back to Guatemala with cash and stuff it in bank accounts. This doesn't seem to work out quite as well, thank goodness and a great deal is confiscated. However, by U.S. estimates, over the course of the last year and a half, at least $60 million has been laundered in the Guatemalan capitol. Yet another sign that narco-traffickers are moving south and away from the expanding war between cartels in Mexico.

Missing Dates

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:42:17 GMT

Missing Dates

Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.
It is not the effort nor the failure tires.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

It is not your system or clear sight that mills
Down small to the consequence a life requires;
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.

They bled an old dog dry yet the exchange rills
Of young dog blood gave but a month's desires.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

It is the Chinese tombs and the slag hills
Usurp the soil, and not the soil retires.
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.

Not to have fire is to be a skin that shrills.
The complete fire is death. From partial fires
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

It is the poems you have lost, the ills
From missing dates, at which the heart expires.
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

    -- William Empson

Around sunset in my new home

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:34:29 GMT

President Obama and the Developing World

Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:51:36 GMT

Well I have now checked. I can't find any presidential inaugural speech that refers so directly to U.S. assistance to the developing world. I can't remember one either. Go ahead and look.

So I was, to say the least surprised to hear what President Obama said in his inaugural:

"To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it."

That's quite a statement folks. Being where I am, I couldn't be more pleased.

Arrival

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:24:29 GMT

Por fin, I have made it Guatemala, the much promised posting. Arriving last night after dark, I have not seen much. But a colleague has promised to take me around some to acquaint me somewhat.

Last night's was my first taste of the diplomatic style arrival. It's interesting and far more pleasant than the usual customs process. For instance, I was greeted by several office staff, one of which promptly set off to get my bags, while I waited with another in the "diplomatic lounge". No customs, no worries at all. How nice.

Guatemala Weather

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:59:54 GMT

Holes

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:50:26 GMT

Who doesn't like a good money hole?

Preparing

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 01:55:12 GMT

Preparing for my first mission assignment is certainly taking its toll. Guatemala is a great assignment and I cannot wait to get there and start working. But getting there from here seems increasingly uphill. Getting shippers, tickets, etc.; getting the apartment ready for rent, a manager for the property, and of course a renter; getting ready for my Spanish exam - the focus of the last six months of my life; and, of course, trying to fit in a visit to my family for the holidays before I shove off.

Let's just say that the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times," seems incredibly apt.

With all this change in the air, my blog will be changing character too. From now on, it will be quite a bit more personal a lot more about Guatemala. As a country with a lot of natural gifts and historical difficulties, the Land of Perpetual Spring is sure to make for an interesting ride!

World Aids Day 2008

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:55:22 GMT

HIV/AIDS is a world pandemic as we all know. It is also devilishly difficult to deal with. Even within the so called "focus countries" - countries with a high infection rate and limited ability to deal with it, efforts to reduce infections and increase the availability of treatment have only been 22-23% effective. Scary.

Monterrey Consensus Follow-Up

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:57:50 GMT

Henrietta Fore, the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will lead the U.S. government delegation to the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development to Review the Implementation of the Monterrey Consensus in Doha, Qatar from November 29 – December 2, 2008. Recognizing that the current financial crisis particularly affects the developing countries of the world, the timeliness of this conference is significant.

As mandated by a United Nations resolution, the goals of the conference are to review the progress made and reaffirm the commitments of the 2002 Monterrey Consensus, which developed a framework for financing development in order to achieve sustainable economic growth. Progress towards this goal is in jeopardy as many donors are faced with economic recession. As the current administration winds down, it will be interesting to see what comes out of this meeting. Stay tuned.

Washington DC Congratulates Obama

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:03:15 GMT

U Street became a center for spontaneous expressions of exaltation last night when it became clear that the United States chose Obama to be their next president. I have never seen a presidential election that generated quite the same amount of excitement in the US. Singing and dancing in the Capitol City. Wow.

6 OF 9 PRESIDENITAL ELECTION FORECASTS PREDICT OBAMA WILL WIN 2008 POPULAR VOTE

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:39:47 GMT

Forecast models developed by prominent political scientists, some made as much as nine months ago, predict a victory for Senator Barack Obama over Senator John McCain in the two-party contest for the popular vote in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Obama is predicted to win an average of 52% of the vote with an 80% probability that he will gain more than half the total two-party popular vote. Six out of the nine presidential election forecasts predict an Obama victory with popular vote totals ranging from 50.1% to 58.2%, while two predict a race too close to call and one predicts a narrow McCain victory. All of the predictions appear in an election-themed symposium in the October issue of PS: Political Science and Politics, a journal of the American Political Science Association (APSA). The forecasts are based on different combinations of statistical and historical data and differ in their complexity and how far in advance their predictions were made. The earliest forecast was made 294 days in advance while the latest was made 60 days before the election; however, all were made before the Wall Street financial crisis of the past few weeks. Together these forecasts use a range of approaches and indicators that are critical to understanding national electoral processes and the dynamics at work in U.S. presidential elections.

The American Political Science Association will host a panel discussion on the 2008 election predictions featuring four prominent political scientists, including three of the forecast authors.

WHEN: Monday, October 27, 2008, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., with breakfast starting at 8:30 a.m.

WHERE: The National Press Club, First Amendment Lounge, 529 14th Street NW Washington, DC 20045

RSVP: Helena Saele, hsaele@apsanet.org, by 12 noon on Friday, October 24. Space is limited.

Imaging Depression in America

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:33:48 GMT

In a word, inane. Still better than cable "news".

The Future of Family Planning

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:30:29 GMT

Nick Kristof's article yesterday sheds some interesting light on two possible futures for U.S. assistance for family planning (aka getting pregnant when both parties are good and ready). The sounding board is Bush's parting salvo, deciding that we will not provide any condoms to the only clinics available in many parts of sub-saharan Africa. Obama supports U.N. family planning programs and John McCain apparently had this to say:

"I haven’t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don’t know if I would use taxpayer’s money for it….Ah, I think I support the president’s policy….You’ve stumped me….I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it in the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception — I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it."