Ideas for Change - Reforming US Foreign Aid | War and Peace

Ideas for Change - Reforming US Foreign Aid

Published January 13, 2009 @ 09:22AM PT

And now, for a shameless plug - Change.org is running the Ideas for Change in America campaign, and you have another three days to cast your vote for the top ten ideas.

These ideas will then be submitted to the Obama campaign on January 16th, so the time to vote is definitely now.

There are a few ideas related to humanitarian relief that I think are particularly critical:

First, reforming US foreign assistance - not least because we need a different approach to engaging with the world, one that elevates U.S. global development (read: foreign aid) efforts and brings them into balance with diplomacy and defense as tools of U.S. foreign policy. The best path towards this goal is modernizing the U.S. foreign aid system for the 21st century.

If you agree, please vote for the idea that More Effective, Strategic and Transparent Foreign Aid Should Be a U.S. Foreign Policy Priority.

Second, there's also a proposal about ending the genocide in Darfur that's definitely worth a vote.

Voting ends on January 15th. Ideas for Change in America is a project of Change.org, an online community and media network for social issues, in partnership with more than 50 leading organizations.

The Ideas for Change project was created in the wake of the 2008 Presidential Election in response to President-elect Barack Obama's call for increased civic participation in America. It is not connected to the Obama campaign or the administration."

[Photo from Reuters]

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Comments (1)

While I support foreign aid, I believe that you cannot give out money that you dont have, this is a basic mathematical principal. We help chinese immigrants and refugees and yet we owe China millions if not billions of dollars. Our first agenda should be to stop giving Isreal 4 Billion dollars a year for nothing. What do we owe these people, saving them was not enough? Dont I as a taxpayer have a say in where my money goes? FOUR BILLION!!!! this is incredible. Here we have a country the size of Rhode Island and it recieves basically a welfare check like no other. In short and in fact we support their current occupation of Palestinian Territory, its genocide of Palestinians and in the end, they believe that they are the supreme being and that if you are not Isreali, you are scum. I'm not making this up if you dont believe then educate yourself and you shall find.

Posted by Manuel Pereira on 01/13/2009 @ 11:47AM PT
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Michael has worked for NGOs in Afghanistan, across east and central Africa, and Iraq. Prior to going overseas, he worked on a project providing assistance to the United Nations on the application of International Humanitarian Law to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.