Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
USAID official says cost-effectiveness, security and long-term ties guide where U.S. aid goes
Summary
In a Q&A exchange, an unidentified USAID official said most U.S. foreign-aid funding is earmarked and that the agency is adopting a "best-buy" approach — including cost-effectiveness studies and randomized-control trials — while weighing national-security and regional interests. A questioner pressed comparisons with Chinese loan-based strategies.
An unidentified questioner opened a discussion about how the United States decides where to spend limited foreign-assistance resources, saying he is "sometimes overwhelmed by the degree of starvation" and asking how policymakers prioritize among urgent humanitarian needs, migration and longer-term problems.
An unidentified USAID official replied that much U.S. assistance is constrained by earmarks and that the agency uses governance assessments and cost-effectiveness filters to decide where dollars will go further. "We are also, 90% earmarked," the official said, and described a new internal emphasis on measurement and evaluation. "USAID has just last year launched an office of…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
