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Blog Post
April 05, 2024
As the Center for Global Development’s inaugural Evidence in Policy Fellow, I just finished an extended engagement to help increase data and evidence use in the State Department’s Office of Foreign Assistance. While at State, I spent much of my time leading and participating in the work of the inter...
Blog Post
March 29, 2024
The US foreign assistance data for FY 2022 is nearly complete, except for some missing Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and Transportation data, and the data reveals some interesting trends. First, FY 2022 did not break the historical record of total obligations, but it came closer than any...
Blog Post
March 07, 2024
An extraordinary cascade of crises threatens Africa’s growth and economic stability. The incomplete economic recovery from the global pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, food and fuel inflation, rising debt distress, and Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza have all aggravated geopolitical and geo-econo...
Blog Post
April 20, 2023
For the first time in a very long time, the US government bureaucracy has instructions to expand its engagement with Africa. This has raised questions, especially in Africa, about whether these changes mark an inflection point in the relationship between the United States and its African partners.
Blog Post
November 28, 2022
In August, Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled the administration’s new US Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa. His remarks underscored the pivotal role Africa will play in shaping the future of the world and acknowledged that tackling the shared priorities of the United States and African cou...
Blog Post
August 25, 2022
The Office of Foreign Assistance performs three core functions. First, it coordinates the formulation of future USAID and State Department foreign assistance budget requests—a process that begins two years before the start of a fiscal year. Second, it manages the execution of the current fiscal year...
Blog Post
August 08, 2022
Blinken’s Nigeria speech was a notable departure from his predecessor’s comments when it came to Africa, signaling that the Biden administration was distancing itself from Trump’s view of Africa. That speech, and the new strategy, recognized the continent’s indispensable role in the provision of glo...