New U.S. Foreign Aid Emphasis on Government Partnerships is Encouraging — If Done Right

(Sarah Rose and Daphne McCurdy – Just Security) The United States has begun signing bilateral agreements on global health cooperation under the State Department’s new “American First Global Health Strategy.” In the largest of those agreements, the United States will provide $2.1 billion over five years for Nigeria’s efforts to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis; advance maternal and child health; and prevent infectious disease outbreaks. The government of Nigeria, in turn, will commit an additional $3 billion of its own budget to the objectives outlined in the agreement. The United States has supported these public-health goals in Nigeria and many other countries around the world for decades. But the expansion of government-to-government agreements in health cooperation marks a sea change in approach, pivoting away from largely funding local and international NGOs to implement health programs and toward more direct engagement with partner country governments. While many questions remain about how these agreements will be implemented, government-to-government engagement provides an opportunity for the United States to support partner country governments in delivering services to their citizens. The success of these approaches, however, will ultimately hinge on how they are carried out. As the State Department begins to implement these new agreements, and develops new policies to guide them, it should understand both the value and the vulnerability of such partnerships with foreign governments. Factors to consider include the importance of broad-based local ownership, transparency, proper risk mitigation, and adequate staffing, as well as the need for patience and a clear-eyed view of the strategic — and potentially harmful — interactions between political goals and people’s lives. – New U.S. Foreign Aid Partnerships Are Encouraging If Done Right