Answering the Trillion Dollar Question
5 Principles to Lead a New U.S. Approach to Global Development
Dear Unlock Aid community,
We have a choice. We can commit to transforming an outdated global development system, created nearly 70 years ago in the aftermath of World War II, to one built for the 21st century. Or we can stubbornly cling to an approach that is simply out of step with the times in our ever-evolving world.
At Unlock Aid, we choose to create a new system built on the principles of abundance; innovation and agility; and, most importantly, decentralizing decision-making power and resources to the communities closest to the hardest problems facing our planet and everyone living on it.
Over the last six months, we spoke with hundreds of communities and organizations in the United States and around the world about what a new, more abundant U.S. approach to global development can look like.
You can read a full summary of what we heard here, along with recommendations on how to build a new system to match this ambition. Please tell us what you think.
We’re working with lawmakers to translate these recommendations into law, and we will begin sharing these principles with presidential campaigns and media influencers, so your input now is vital.
We welcome feedback through February 16. We’ll also be hosting a briefing on February 21 about what comes next (RSVP here).
We know what we’re up against. U.S. systems are too rigid, top down and risk averse. They’re missing time-bound, ambitious goals and compelling, committed mission statements. Our institutions are too used to doing things the way they always have. Innovating, trying new approaches, and working with local communities and organizations are seen as perilous; when instead doubling down on the status quo should be understood as more dangerous.
This isn’t just about global development but also about our economic and modernization policies in the United States, too.
President Biden is reportedly deeply frustrated that he cannot show off the material benefits of many of his administration’s signature legislative achievements. CNN reports that “it could be years before the residents of some of the communities receiving federal funds [from the bipartisan infrastructure bill] see construction begin.” Communities affected by the worst effects of climate change, domestically and abroad, are dismayed that they cannot access the federal funding created for them because they don’t know how to navigate a system that was never built for them in the first place. Close calls involving major airliners happen much more frequently than previously understood because the nation’s air traffic control system has not closed staffing shortages or invested in innovation at the pace required.
Meanwhile, local communities everywhere are too often kept from accessing the funding they need, while entrenched special interests continue to reap billions. Insiders know how to play the Washington, D.C. game; litigate when they don’t get their way; and benefit from special tips and knowledge as a result of their too-cozy, backroom relationships. The revolving door between the government and its cottage industry of consultants who have built their companies around the business of winning government contracts has created an echo chamber of received wisdom, a culture of self-dealing, and a failure to imagine and innovate.
U.S. public institutions need to show better, faster results — and operate like democracy and the planet’s future depends on it. This is a fundamental credibility issue to their ongoing legitimacy. In their absence, the public’s mistrust and lack of confidence in the government will continue to grow. Support for authoritarianism, a phenomenon experienced at alarming rates both in the U.S. and around the world, will continue to rise. Even American economist Milton Friedman, certainly no radical, once said, “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.”
The U.S must dedicate itself to the values of cooperation and collaboration, trust and responsibility, while working simultaneously to dismantle the deeply rooted systems of inequality, hypocrisy and inconsistency that drive so much of our federal and economic decision-making. We must work in partnership, investing in resources that respect and rely on generational wisdom and community-driven, cutting-edge innovation, unleashing local leadership rather than hoarding wealth and power in the hands of the few.
This is a critical year for change.
In 2024, Unlock Aid is focusing on three priorities:
First, we’ll be holding the Biden-Harris Administration accountable to the commitments it’s made to change business as usual, especially in the context of U.S. global spending.
Last April, we said we were launching an 18-month campaign “to reform the way the U.S. partners with countries around the world to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.” The U.S. government has just six to seven months left until Washington shuts down while elected leaders campaign full time for the 2024 election. The time to announce policy changes is over. Now is when we need to see major, tangible results. We’ll be running Unlock Aid as if we may not be here in 2025 — and we hope this administration operates with a similar sense of urgency.Second, we’ll champion what a new, more abundant U.S. approach to global development can look like. Specifically, we’ll be working with lawmakers and presidential candidates to translate what we heard over the past six months into concrete legislative proposals for long-lasting, transformational change. We can’t afford to settle for incremental fixes anymore. Now is the time to propose what a bold new system for the 21st century can look like.
Finally, we’ll continue to address cross-cutting themes that affect all of government and the stewardship of more than $1 trillion our of public resources, as we did last year with the White House. Expect to see more of that. Just as all politics are local, we know that all development is global. We commit to keep holding all U.S. agencies accountable for their words and actions and proposing what principles, people and policies the U.S. needs to bring all public institutions into the 21st century.
It’s no longer enough to reduce discussions about the management of over $1 trillion of public funding every year to tired and familiar debates about how much the U.S. should be spending on what priorities. The U.S. needs to be just as focused on who is making those decisions and to whom and to what ends those resources flow.
It’s time for the next generation of leaders who reflect the beautiful diversity and bold ingenuity of American communities, both elected and recruited, to drive this work, this country and the world forward. U.S. public institutions’ health and credibility depend on it. Democracy hangs in the balance.
2024 will be a decisive year, both for the U.S. and the world. We, at Unlock Aid, are determined and driven. The current reality is already more radical than we could have possibly imagined; it demands an equally ambitious recommitment to build new systems fit for the 21st century that inspire, include and innovate to drive transformational change. We look forward to working with you this year to build a better, more abundant future.
To Abundance,
Unlock Aid