Castro Q&A with USAID Administrator Ambassador Mark Green
As Delivered – Click Here for Video –
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, had the following question and answer session with USAID Administrator Ambassador Mark Green at the House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year 2019 foreign affairs budget proposal:
Rep. Castro: “Thank you Ambassador Green for your testimony today. Over the last few decades, the character of foreign assistance has fundamentally transformed through innovation.
“So do you support innovation as a part of your redesign efforts at USAID? And let me ask you specifically about the Global Development Lab within USAID, tasked with driving innovation, which has generated wonderful new ideas about approaching development challenges. Do you support the Global Development Lab and its efforts in driving innovation in foreign assistance?”
Ambassador Green: “Yes, absolutely. Innovation is one of the driving parts of our redesign effort. With respect to the Global Development Lab, we aren’t done with our redesign, we are still getting approvals and will continue to brief your staff.
“We are essentially going to take the Global Development Lab and the way that it goes about its work, so investigating, testing, and then scaling up innovations. And we hope to institutionalize that throughout much of the agency. So it’s one of the things I have learned a great deal about. Innovation has to be at the heart of what we do.”
Rep. Castro: “Well, thank you for that. I guess a big part of my concern is the President’s budget for FY19 requested only $12.5 million for the Global Development Lab in comparison to its typical funding levels at above $100 million.
“Obviously very drastic cut in funding, so how would this significant decrease hinder USAID’s intention of driving innovation in foreign assistance?”
Ambassador Green: “Well first off, funding for the Global Development Lab has actually gone up and down since its creation, but what we are trying to do again, as we go through this redesign process is make sure that we capture its lessons and use it more broadly.
“Secondly, the Global Development Lab is at the heart of our new approach to private sector engagement and a big part of how we are going about our business in that sense. So, traditionally, it’s the public-private partnership model which basically you craft a program and then you try to get the private sector to buy in or help.
“What we are doing largely with the help through the Global Development Lab is reaching out to the private sector and saying here’s a challenge that we see and an opportunity we see, we’d love your ideas.
“We’ve made it easier for them to participate and share those ideas. And then with the Global Development Lab, and again, we will be expanding its work, we are able to test those ideas, and put together the best ideas forward and make the funding more nimble. So we are doing our best to take all that you’re pointing to in the Global Development Lab and raise it and extend it.”
Rep. Castro: “You’re basically crowdsourcing, putting out a challenge and crowdsourcing the best ideas to solve these development issues—"
Ambassador Green: “I have learned so much in my travels, seeing some of the inspirational innovations in places like India. It really is quite exciting. And we have talked about how do you translate that into the future.
“In other words, as countries advance in their development journeys, at some point, like India, they don’t want food aid, they aren’t looking for money. They’re looking for help, technical assistance around these innovations, and that’s great. That’s a wonderful place for us to be and using some of the lessons that we have learned here is at the core of it.”
Rep. Castro: “And the Chairman and the Ranking Member both mentioned our concern about any kind of decrease in foreign aid at this point, particularly as China is growing more ambitious in its alliances around the world and its own development work around the world. So, what are your thoughts on, you know, American foreign assistance with a rising China out there?”
Ambassador Green: “Well, twofold. One, we recognize we will never have enough money to take on every challenge—humanitarian, developmental—we all recognize that. Number two, what you’re pointing to I think is very real. The rise of China, of how they do development, of the way they tie to development long term indebtedness that we are seeing in a number of places—lines on extractives and natural resources.
“One thing that we have not I think as a government and quite frankly as a nation done well enough is making clear to the world the choices that they have. There is the China choice, which is a sweetner, money up front, and then the fine print and the indebtedness. What we are trying to do with our assistance is to help countries build the ability to lead themselves.
“So, what we want is self-reliance. We want countries to move from being recipients to partners to hopefully donors. That’s a clear choice. That’s how we are trying to orient all of our tools in our programs.”
Rep. Castro: “Thank you and then one last quick question that I’ll take in writing: The situation in Venezuela has grown [increasingly] dire and there are about 1.5 million people who have basically fled their homes. In writing, the answer to the question of what are we doing to assist in that situation? Thank you.”
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