The Foreign Service Journal, March 2021

56 MARCH 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Elevate USAID, Fine-tune Assistance A successful effort to reinvigorate U.S. diplomacy will require deep reforms in the U.S. foreign assistance program, in particu- lar elevating USAID and focusing its mission on the least devel- oped countries (LDCs). USAID’s workforce needs to be aligned with its mission and capable of designing and implementing its assistance activities independently. A focus on fewer countries and a handful of sectors is neces- sary to achieve a lasting impact. U.S. assistance should give priority to the poorest countries. The U.N. Development Program’s annual Human Develop- ment Index can be used to identify these countries. As of 2019, 30 of the 35 countries in the lowest ranks of this index (of 189 countries) are in sub-Saharan Africa. A rise in human development indices of these LDCs requires that most of their people have adequate levels of health care and education. Health care includes family planning, nutrition, sanitation and water. Education includes formal, nonformal, vocational and training needed to respond to the job market. Development is a long-term process. Therefore, guaranteed funding commitments of 10 to 15 years are required. The U.S. Congress needs to pass legislation making all countries in the LDC category eligible for multiyear crisis funding. The poorest countries cannot be helped effectively if the United States continues to adhere to a complicated bureaucratic process that can take many months from activity conception to actual implementation. In these countries, missions should be organized in a way that gives priority to assistance programs. Redesigning U.S. assistance is part of an overdue revision of overall foreign assistance legislation. Mark Wentling is a retired USAID Senior Foreign Service officer in Lubbock, Texas. Seek the Advice of Senior Diplomats Our frontline senior career diplomats have considerable experience, and look forward to sharing their perspectives with the White House and others guiding our foreign relations. An annual chiefs-of-mission conference with high-level adminis- tration officials to discuss perspectives and recommendations would be valuable and productive. Here are some of my own recommendations to the new administration. • Provide strong support for the Foreign Service, which is forward deployed, serving on the front lines in 277 embassies, consulates and missions overseas. • Underscore that engagement matters, including with fellow Americans. That is, indeed, why we are present overseas. • Invest in the future through expanded programming for youth, girls and women, health and education. • Maximize American soft power through the International Visitor Leadership Program, the Young African Leaders Initia- tive, the Humphrey and Fulbright Fellowship programs and the teaching of English—even if it is commercially available locally—to provide firsthand exposure to what we are and what we value. • Recognize that while security is essential, it is a means toward an end. • Note that Africa is being left behind among U.S. priorities; a second African Leaders Summit would go a long way toward demonstrating its relevance to us. • Emphasize positivity regarding America and its unique strengths, rather than negativity about Russia and China. • Regard alliances and coalitions as effective partnerships in addressing today’s transnational challenges. They provide synergy while building strength through burden-sharing. • Take advantage of the diaspora—of all nations—as impor- tant and worthy of our engagement and attention. • Express America and the Foreign Service fully as the complex sociocultural mosaic that they are, and underscore the strengths that our rich diversity provide us. FSO Eric P. Whitaker is the U.S. ambassador to Niger. Morale and Welfare Issues The Biden administration should look closely at two issues affecting the morale and welfare of its Foreign Service staff— first, the State Department’s treatment of those who suffered some unknown type of attack in Cuba and China; and second, the high number of leadership positions unfilled at State. The effects of the former were not adequately addressed by the previous leadership. The mistreatment of personnel after reporting their medical problems has been well documented in the media. The effect on staffing in China is impossible to ignore, and only firm action by the new administration can rebuild our shaken confidence. We sign up knowing this job involves many hardships and risks, but the lack of support for those affected is offensive. It recalls the Cold War days when staff in Moscow were not told