Secretary Albright ’59 closes second annual Institute with talk on politics of foreign aid

On Jan. 20, 2011, Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright '59 contributed to an open panel discussion titled, "Sustainable Solutions through International Aid" in Alumnae Hall upon the culmination of her second annual self-titled Institute for Global Affairs.  Former Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Henrietta Holsman Fore '70 and President of Oxfam America Raymond C. Offenheiser rounded out the panel, with Contributing Editor of Newsweek Eleanor Clift moderating.

Roughly one percent of the U.S. federal spending budget is allocated to the Department of State to support international aid programs.  With limited Federal funds, the State Department faces difficult tradeoffs in choosing to allocate spending toward foreign or domestic development.  

Taxpaying Americans are often confused as to why the U.S. government spends money for development assistance abroad when many poverty problems persist at home.  Secretary Albright '59 referred to this as the "Katrina effect," in reference to how evidence of the New Orleans hurricane remained drastically visible several months into the aftermath.   

The purpose of the discussion was to provide the audience with a variety of perspectives on the importance of international aid. Secretary Albright '59 defined foreign assistance as both altruistic and strategic in nature.  The former Clinton Administration member explained that not only can development aid as an act of humanitarian reason provide relief for issues such as hunger and poverty, but it can also be a foreign policy tool that countries use to bolster their individual positions within the world's geopolitical framework.  

Because the latter function of foreign assistance is underrated among the American people, Congress has traditionally been a difficult forum within which to garner support for foreign aid.  "[It] became very clear to me that linking those two words foreign and assistance was like trying to sell some terrible disease," Secretary Albright '59 said of her previous efforts to convince Congress that international aid creates a stable world in accordance with national interests.  She proposed that "national security support" would garner greater approval from the American government and people for achieving the same ends in foreign assistance.     

The three speakers challenged the 40 Albright Fellows in the audience to value the potential gains to the new trend of public-private partnerships, to study up on economics, history, languages, science and engineering, and to rack up international flyer miles to the developing world in anticipation of the shift of power to emerging powers such as India and China.   

The potential gains in a new trend of public-private partnerships in the world became a major theme of the dialogue.  Secretary Albright '59 explained that force multipliers develop when nongovernmental organizations relinquish dependence on the small foreign assistance budget and tap into the resources of private corporations that have expanded internationally—primarily into developing countries—thus becoming stakeholders in foreign assistance.  The logic behind this being that in order to operate internationally, corporations must demonstrate good local citizenship, or corporate social responsibility.

From observing China's fast recovery from national disasters through her work at the USAID, Henrietta Fore '70 testified to the success of the public-private model in the developing world.  "When corporations and nonprofits and academic institutions and government organizations gather together and focus on trying to get something accomplished, they can do it brilliantly," she said.  

Albright Fellow Anagha Vaidhyanathan '11 asserted her take on public-private partnerships.  "The idea of international aid has always been viewed as a transfer of money between governments, like the United States and Haiti, but [transferring money] through a non-governmental organization that can partner with local organizations can effectively allocate the money to the specific areas that can benefit from the aid," she said.   

Oxfam, an international confederation that works to reverse poverty an injustice through the cooperation of 14 organizations and their partnerships and allies throughout 99 countries, commanded a presence at the panel as well.  President of the American branch, and self-revealed Wellesley dad, Raymond Offenheiser contributed to the discussion the perspective of those who receive international aid.  

Most notably, Offenheiser spoke of developing countries' willingness to negotiate treaties with major carbon-emitting countries provided that they put money into multilateral funds that will help the non-emitting or low-emitting countries to deal with the effects of climate change.   

Hinting at the effects of globalization on a sense of global citizenship, Secretary Albright '59 introduced the emergence of "the responsibility to protect"—the concept that the international community has some responsibility to help those in another country if the respective head of state is not fulfilling his or her primary duty to protect the population.  But at the same time, Albright '59 acknowledged that the concept is contested as it violates countries' rights to national sovereignty and can thus be deemed interference.  

Albright fellow Surina Diddi '12 commented that the universality of today's global challenges compels one to look through a broader lens to innovate effective solutions to development.  "Everything is so interconnected [that] it's no longer good enough to just teach a man to fish, or just improve something in economic terms," Diddi '12 said.  "It needs to be a holistic development that looks at the political, economic, the scientific, the cultural aspects all at once."