Reduction Expected for Foreign Aid Due to U.S. Financial Crunch

America's current state of financial distress is forcing the first significant cuts in overseas aid in nearly two decades. Advocates and officials believe that these measures reflect the country's decline in ability to influence the world.

In attempts to cap off the growing national debt, both the House of Rep. and the Senate have proposed cutting financing for the State Department and its related aid agencies. The sectors that will be impacted include: food and medicine for Africa, relief for disaster-affected areas such as Pakistan, and political and economic assistance for new democracies of the Middle East.

This financial predicament we are in threatens a foreign policy that emphasizes diplomacy and development, a complement to American military power. Also, it puts us a few steps back in the increase in foreign aid that President George W. Bush advocated for after the tragedies of September 11, 2001. With increase in international funding, hopes of reducing anti-American sentiment and roots of extremism would take place.

As quoted by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, "There is a democratic awakening in places that have never dreamed of democracy. And it is unfortunate that it's happening at a historic time when our own government is facing so many serious economic challenges, because there's no way to have a Marshall Plan for the Middle East and North Africa."

Only one percent of the federal budget is allocated to foreign aid. With already a small budget, further cuts here puts our nation at a further disadvantage compared to our fellow wealth nations in providing international assistance. Needless to say, c

uts will be made to government programs across the board. But the funding for the State Department and foreign aid has proven to be the single largest cut to any one department with a reduction of $8 billion in April.

Representative Kay Granger, a Republican from Texas and chairwoman of the House appropriations subcommittee overseeing foreign affairs said that the financial crisis faced has cornered us to make "a fundamental change" in how the foreign aid is spent.

While the final budget may remain uncertain, it is needless to say that foreign aid will decline for a second year.

-Georisa Chang

Source: The New York Times

African Entrepreneurs Develop Apps to Increase Quality of Life

The U.S. Department of State recently concluded a contest that challenged African entrepreneurs to develop apps that would serve their community. African developers used their talents and creativity to solve both everyday problems and the unique challenges that African communities face. This coincides with Millennium Development Goal #8: Developing a global partnership for development. These problems were tackled head-on by African developers who were intimately familiar with the problems and struggles of their community, but were supported by the U.S. State Department as well as private contributors such as iHub, Appfrica Labs, and SODNET.

These inventors have shown that people can make a difference simply by looking at common, everyday problems and asking themselves, "What can we do to fix this?" The elimination of poverty does not necessarily come a giant leap at a time, but through incremental steps.

So what was the winner? An application designed to monitor the fertility of cows. For farmers who do not always have the funds to give their cows the proper nutrition, they can use this application to determine the best days to provide nutrition for both the mother and the calf. This tool will help with breeding, feeding, and will increase the health of the newborn.

Other tools developed include software that can report government corruption in real-time, budgeting tools for expecting mothers, and a program that can use text messaging to provide death and funeral announcements to friends and family (Newspapers are too costly).

-Corey Cox

SOURCE: U.S. Department of State