It’s Time to Move Beyond Aid: Washington, D.C. Recap
We went to Capitol Hill on the 100th day of this administration. Here's what happened.
Dear Unlock Aid community,
Last month, April 30 marked the 100-day milestone of this administration. We spent it exactly where we needed to be: on Capitol Hill, building what comes next.
Unlock Aid and the African Diaspora Network brought together entrepreneurs, innovators, and changemakers for two powerful days in Washington, D.C. Our shared goal: reimagine the future of U.S. global engagement—beyond aid.
We spent two days together in Washington, DC. Day one was focused on building and strategy setting. Day two was focused on action.
Day 1: Designing the Future
🔮 Futures Scenarios Workshop
We kicked off our “Beyond Aid” convening by forecasting the future. The world is likely to look very different in the next 5-10 years. Massive technology shifts turbocharged by artificial intelligence, a rapidly changing climate, and a fast-changing geopolitical environment, among other factors, will create challenges – and opportunities.
Executive Director Aditi Juneja of Democracy 2076 opened the session with a powerful message: having detailed plans for a variety of seemingly impossible scenarios can rewire our brains to look for pathways, even when it looks like progress is difficult to achieve.
This session was designed to help us prepare for what’s coming—by imagining what different futures could look like, and organizing accordingly. Participants explored four distinct “Beyond Aid” scenarios for the year 2030, each reflecting a different theory of how U.S. global engagement could evolve:
In one scenario, Big Tech's expanded influence created a techno-mercantilist future where U.S. global engagement prioritized resource extraction and transactional relationships.
In another, after a period of relative isolationism from the world, the U.S. wanted to re-engage, but the rules had been reset, with new partnerships forged across the world that fundamentally changed power dynamics.
In a third scenario, a major global climate and geopolitical shock served as a watershed moment that forced countries to find ways to work together more than they had before.
For each scenario, each group was asked:
If this were the future, how would our strategy adapt, what coalitions would be required, and what results and corresponding milestones would we need to hit between now and then to know we’re still able to make progress?
This exercise was a reminder that we must not only plan for the world we want, but also be ready to operate and lead in a variety of complex and markedly different global contexts.
🛠️ Implementation Planning Lab
During the second half of the day, we shifted from vision to execution, working through how many of the top policy proposals surfaced via our ReimagineAid.org initiative could be implemented over the next 18 months. That included:
How could the State Department rapidly deploy more than $14B+ in outstanding health and other life-saving funds – but to invest differently than we have in the past?
How could we create new channels for Americans – and especially diaspora communities – to co-invest in development initiatives to promote economic growth?
How could we change the way the United States partners with countries to create a win-win “menu” of investable deals, rather than outsourcing projects to third-party groups?
We developed detailed roadmaps with time-bound deliverables, ready to implement when decision makers call upon us.
As one example, we developed a ready-to-launch Request for Proposals (RFP) for a Health Results Fund — providing a specific way for Secretary Rubio to immediately release funds to restart critical global health programs with clear metrics and strong oversight.
That’s why, last year, we also drafted the Global Innovation and Prosperity Act, a piece of model legislation that lawmakers could introduce that provided a blueprint for a better, more modern U.S. approach to international assistance – and which included many ideas we’re now advancing today.
Day 2: Taking It to the Hill
On Day 2, which marked the 100th day of this administration, we brought our message directly to Congress. One lawmaker told us our proposals were a “breath of fresh air.”
In meetings with priority Members of Congress in both parties and in both the House and Senate, we called for urgent action to:
Call on Secretary Rubio to release $14B in unspent health funds immediately, but invest differently: Pay frontline actors based on results and prioritize self-reliance from the start.
Support proposals to unlock diaspora and American co-investment in global development. The global African diaspora sends $100+ billion in remittances each year, more than 3x the amount the African continent receives in U.S. foreign aid.
Use this as a moment to build a new, better system rather than return to what was:
Make innovation America’s calling card via a pilot-to-scale Breakthrough Fund
Offer countries a “menu” of investments good for America, good for partners
Create an “outcomes marketplaces” that pays only for successful discoveries
Later this month, Secretary Marco Rubio will testify before Congress to defend the President’s budget for U.S. international assistance. This will be one of our first opportunities to see how Congress is considering its role in the future of America’s global leadership, and a key test of whether our advocacy is shaping the debate. Stay tuned.
Who Gets to Build the Future?
Building new systems requires new visions — and new narratives. In this moment of global uncertainty, the future beyond aid has to be imagined before it can be built.
As we consider what comes next, we can’t just have the same people who built the old system reconstruct the new one.
Now is when we need to be bringing new voices and political constituencies to the conversation to shape the future of U.S. engagement with the world. We were so excited to co-host this two-day event with the African Diaspora Network, and we look forward to doing more together, as well as other new allies, to move “beyond remittances” and “beyond aid.”
Thank you to everyone who joined us, contributed your ideas, and committed to what comes next. The work to move to a new future is just beginning – and we’re glad to be building it together.
To Progress,
Unlock Aid
P.S. On May 28-30, the African Diaspora Network will host its African Diaspora Investment Symposium in Washington, DC. We’ll be there. You should RSVP, too. Click here for more information.