Nominated USAID Administrator Prioritizes Ongoing Initiatives, Promises No New Ones

USAID got one step closer to having a new administrator with Gayle Smith’s successful hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday. For nearly 90 minutes, members of the Committee and Ms. Smith engaged in a refreshingly productive dialogue on Agency priorities, operations, and shortcomings.

It was great to see Chairman Corker, Ranking Member Cardin, and Senators Gardner, Menendez, Coons, Perdue, Murphy, and Markey attend the hearing and, even better, ask thoughtful questions about the Agency’s operations and its potential. There was also a strong signal from the Committee that, in a shrinking budgetary environment, USAID must be clear about its priorities moving forward and actively seek out partners of all ilk to advance development progress around the globe.

The nomination hearing touched on a range of issues. Below are my three main takeaways for USAID if Ms. Smith is confirmed as its next Administrator.

1. USAID will have a list of priorities…but that list is mighty long. Ms. Smith’s priorities for USAID include: achieving further results from Feed the Future, Power Africa, and maternal and child health programs; expanding USAID programs in democracy, rights, and governance; pushing the Agency to do more on human trafficking and corruption; working on the Administration’s ambitious development goals in Central America; seeing a successful transition in Afghanistan; continuing USAID’s work on humanitarian crises; solidifying food aid reform; and strengthening USAID as an institution. (I’ll pause and let you take a breath.) With less than 18 months and a budget that probably won’t be expanding anytime soon, this ambitious list seems untenable to execute successfully in its entirety.
2. No new initiatives! Ms. Smith made clear that USAID would not pursue new programs and initiatives under her tenure. Rather, she’d focus on institutionalizing ongoing programs like Power Africa, Feed the Future, and Local Solutions. This is a welcome bit of news for those both inside and outside the Agency still reeling from initiative whiplash.
3. Development is about more than aid. Both the Committee and Ms. Smith spent an impressive amount of hearing time focused on how aid can leverage other resource flows for better development impact. From discussions on increasing domestic resource mobilization to building trade capacity, from curbing illicit financial flows to removing constraints to private capital investment, the hearing sent a clear message that USAID’s future lies in leveraging and catalyzing other flows for development ends.

With a positive hearing under her belt, what’s next for Ms. Smith? Her nomination now goes to a vote by the Committee. If she is successfully voted out of Committee, her nomination will go for a vote before the full Senate. With the end of this Administration rapidly approaching and a robust agenda for USAID, here’s hoping the confirmation process continues its swift pace.