The Foreign Service Journal, December 2010

D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 9 U.S. Foreign Assistance: Quantity, Not Quality On Oct. 5 the Center for Global Development, which offers “indepen- dent research and practical ideas for global prosperity” in cooperation with the Brookings Institution, released a re- port titled “Quality of Official Develop- ment Assistance” ( www.cgdev.org/ ) . The assessment draws on data from the 23 donor countries that are members of the Development Assistance Com- mittee of the Organization for Eco- nomic Cooperation and Development ( www.oecd.org/dac ). Collectively, these donors gave aid amounting to $120 billion in 2009, disbursed through 156 bilateral and 263 multilateral agen- cies. The study uses 30 indicators group- ed in four dimensions, which reflect what it calls “an international consen- sus of what constitutes high-quality aid”: maximizing efficiency, fostering in- stitutions, reducing burden, and trans- parency and learning. Rankings can be viewed in separate indices and in the Quality of Aid Diamond , which makes it possible to quickly compare countries and agencies across all four dimensions. Although the United States fares poorly overall when compared with other countries and multilateral organ- izations, some agencies rate better than others. The U.S. Agency for Interna- tional Development and the Defense Department get poor marks, but the Millennium Challenge Corporation does much better. Study authors Nancy Birdsall and Homi Kharas say their goal is to help fill the research gap on what might be called aid agency effectiveness by con- centrating on measures over which the official donor agencies have control. They express the hope that the report will be a catalyst for lively debates and, more importantly, for substantial im- provements in how aid is provided. — Steven Alan Honley, Editor A Turning Point for Nigeria? Africa’s largest oil exporter andmost populous country is preparing for an eventful 2011 with elections that may determine whether it remains at peace or erupts in sectarian violence. In an C YBERNOTES Site of the Month: www.meetup.com Meetup.com is the Internet’s equivalent of a community center. It is an online hub that lets people create and find groups in their area based on practically any common interest or hobby. There are social and professional groups, groups for hikers, bikers, readers, poets and cat lovers. Just plug in your Zip code or city name to see all the different groups meeting in your area. Because Meetup allows individuals to find, form and join groups with ease, its membership has exploded. The site has more than 7.2 million members who meet in 79,000 groups located in roughly 45,000 cities worldwide (although activity is mostly concentrated in the United States). Registration on the site is free, and each group has its own page with detailed information including a member count, the next meetup date and any membership fees (the majority of clubs are free to join). The interface is friendly and similar to Facebook in that users create a profile, post a picture, interact with other users on discussion boards and manage their memberships online. Scott Heiferman, Matt Meeker and Peter Kamali started the site in 2001 “to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize.” A new addition to the site is “Meetup Everywhere,” which the creators describe as a way for “organiza- tions, companies and movements to enable their fans/followers/customers/audience to create community about them, everywhere.” For example, Oprah Winfrey put out a worldwide call through Meetup Everywhere asking her viewers to band together to support American educational reform. Those traveling abroad, whether for work, school or leisure can ease their transi- tion into a new environment by linking up with one of Meetup.com ’s numerous ex- patriate groups, located in major cities across the globe like Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Amsterdam and Seoul. —Mohammad Alhinnawi, Editorial Intern