Last week our Foreign Aid Effectiveness team at The Lugar Center (TLC), in partnership with the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN), released a new report on the role of evaluation and learning in U.S. foreign assistance programs. Why did we take on this project, why now, and what’s next?... Read More

American leadership and credibility in fighting global corruption took another blow last week with the Trump administration’s announcement that the U.S. will pull out immediately as a reporting country from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a global anti-corruption project.... Read More

Amidst the general approbation that accompanied Ambassador Mark Green’s arrival at USAID to serve as Administrator, there appears to be one dark cloud on the horizon. Some in the development community are deeply concerned about Administrator Green’s endorsement of “strategic transitions,” in which USAID works its way out of a job and, in one form or another, ends U.S. foreign aid to the transitioning country.... Read More

Last year our Global Food Security team was contacted by the Lugar Series, a political leadership development program, Class of 2016 informing us that in choosing their class project, they wanted to focus on a topic that would reflect Senator Lugar’s legacy in addressing the plight of hungry people across the globe.

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It is not easy and often impossible to reach a consensus in Washington these days. When it occurs, it is worth noting. With regard to how the United States manages its foreign aid programs and the President’s Executive Order calling for a redesign of government departments and agencies, including our lead development agency, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), we are approaching consensus and may achieve it with a little more work.... Read More

Corruption costs $2 trillion a year around the world, and is a leading cause of the poverty that breeds terrorism and triggers destabilizing flows of economic migrants. The problem is particularly acute with natural resource extraction--oil, gas and mining--where despite years of effort, there has been virtually no overall progress in reducing the level of corruption. In resource-rich developing nations across the globe, an estimated 1.8 billion people live in poverty because their country’s wealth is dissipated by corruption.... Read More

Let’s face it. We are, in the early portion of the Trump Presidency, in a period of foreign policy contentiousness in the United States: Russia; China; Iran; international trade; how to view refugees; ISIS; Israeli settlements; North Korea; Trans-Atlantic relations. The list of potential flash-points seems endless. ... Read More

Corruption in developing countries is a leading cause of violent extremism, including the international terrorism that directly threatens the United States. For the West to counter such threats from radical groups, we have to address the root causes of extremism, which means, “Tackling corruption must be a first-order priority.”... Read More

The new administration has undertaken a herculean task to reform government, with the goal of making it more effective and efficient. The President’s Executive Order calls for each department or agency to submit a plan to the Office of Management and Budget for achieving greater efficiencies. OMB would then presumably approve or modify those plans in crafting future budgets.... Read More

Famines rising in four regions of the world, millions of people fleeing from wars, and more refugees than after WWII make for almost overwhelming burdens and responsibilities for our international humanitarian system.  Much of that falls on the UN World Food Program (WFP), considered one of the most effective humanitarian agencies in the world. ... Read More