The Foreign Service Journal, December 2007

V.P. VOICE: USAID BY FRANCISCO ZAMORA Who’s on First? I f you’ve ever seen the Abbott and Costello skit “Who’s on First?”, you’ll remember Abbott’s attempts to explain the lineup of team players whose given names were literally “Who,” “What” and “I Don’t Know”? The ensuing confusion is a classic comedy routine. What does this have todowithUSAID, youmay ask. Plenty, because all the same ingredients contributing toconfusionof roles are there. It would be hilarious if it weren’t for the fact that this situation is also tragic and obstructing our mission. Like poor Costello, we are all trying to make sense of the changes in our organi- zational structure that have resulted from the ongoing reforms precipitated by the transformational diplomacy decree. To start with, USAID now has a phantom bureau called the Foreign Assistance Bureau, or FA, which has no real people working in it. It is intended as a placeholder for actual employees sent to work at the State Department in the “F Bureau.” At State, this F Bureau is made up of about 115 positions, of which some 60 are filledwithCivil Service and Foreign Service USAID employees, the remainder being State Department employees. Within the F bureau are five geographic offices: African Affairs, Near Eastern Affairs, European and Eurasian Affairs,WesternHemisphere Affairs and a combined East Asian and Pacific Affairs and South andCentral Asia Affairs; one pro- grammanagement function; and a global/functional unit. At the same time, in the same State Department building, youwill find the regular geographic bureaus for the same five regions (plus a South Asia Bureau). Then, back at the USAIDRonald Reagan Building headquarters, you will find the same five regional bureaus matching the F Bureau yet again. Confused yet? You’re not to blame. Now, imagine a scenario inwhich decisions need to bemade regarding a particular country program. Which desk officer of any of the aforementioned offices is responsible? State’s regional bureau? The F regional office? Or USAID’s region- al bureau? Does anyone know? If it is hard for us to under- stand, imagine how outside organizations react. We reformed foreign aid and created the F Bureau with the idea of coordi- nating foreign aid. This does not accomplish that. Basic roles and responsibilities are greatly con- fused. And, while we have triplication of regional functions, one vital activity, policy and strategic planning, actually ceased to exist when the Policy and Program Coordination Bureau at USAIDwas abolished. The policy function has long been rec- ognized as essential to improving coherence, consistency, man- agement and leadership at USAID, but no longer. Initially, pol- icy development was transferred to F, but then was abolished by the former USAID administrator, who apparently did not see a need for someone other than himself to develop policy (a la Louis XIV, “L’etat, c’est moi”). However, the F Bureau’s organizational chart still shows four senior policy advisers assigned there. It is not clear what their jobs will be now. Subsequently, sensing the need to re-establish a policy func- tion, USAID created the ProgramAnalysis and Coordination Office under the chief operating officer at USAID headquar- ters. However, fromwhat we can tell, this office still does not have the same role PPChad indeveloping true policy and strate- gic planning functions. The current reorganization has caused fragmentation of our development assistance programs to the point where no one knows anymore who is in charge. We may need to rethink how to clearly and logically divide up the work, as well as del- egate authority and responsibility among all actors. Once upon a time, the roles for USAID and the State Department in regard to foreign assistance were clear. USAIDdid development and foreign assistance, and State car- ried out diplomacy. Now there is confusion aboutWho decides What, and What is the Policy. I don’t know. Oh wait, he’s on third ...! We are all trying to make sense of the changes in our organizational structure that have resulted from the ongoing reforms precipitated by the transformational diplomacy decree. To start with, USAID now has a phantom bureau called the Foreign Assistance Bureau, or FA, which has no real people working in it. 56 F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L / DE C EMB E R 2 0 0 7 A F S A N E W S