The Foreign Service Journal, December 2019

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2019 23 sional skills in these areas that are fundamental to our foreign policy goals. We are also clarifying roles and responsibilities, and better aligning functions. Addressing today’s complex challenges requires a concerted unity of effort. In the field, this can be complicated by multiple funding sources and authorities, and specialized functions. To reinforce a “One Team, One Mission, One Voice” approach, agency leadership has clarified that all USAID personnel—regardless of home bureau or funding— function under a single organizational structure under chief- of-mission authority, led by the senior-most USAID officer at post, whether a mission director, USAID representative, senior development adviser or the senior USAID representative. Implementing this guidance improves the coordination, pro- gramming and communication necessary to achieve foreign policy goals and to contribute effectively to the interagency team at post. One commitment of the Transformation initiative is to make our agency more field-focused. Our field missions depend on Washington for technical support in many sectors, and this support comes from a variety of offices and bureaus, each with its unique procedures. Lacking a standard process, missions can spend considerable time and effort to track down and secure support. USAID staff members often draw on per- sonal relationships to shortcut the mix of processes. But the overreliance on personal relationships erodes transparency and increases inequities in the level of support Washington provides. Having collected feedback from FSOs, USAID is imple- menting an “Agency Approach to Field Services”—a system that establishes uniform, agencywide procedures for request- ing and providing field support; creates an online portal with a searchable database of support services to facilitate requests and allows our FSOs to track these requests; and establishes governance mechanisms to ensure accountability, oversee standards of performance and continually improve how we support the field. The Journey to Self-Reliance At the core of all this change is the principle of the “journey to self-reliance”—that the purpose of foreign assistance should be to end the need for its existence. All of our reforms are designed to accelerate development progress and work toward the day when partner countries can finance and implement solutions to their own development challenges. In doing this, USAID presents a different model to the developing world— namely, a strategic partnership that strengthens governance institutions, rules and practices to advance the country’s own development. By contrast, the authoritarian government’s model is one of establishing strategic dependence based on the use of predatory finance, corrosive capital and tools of repression in an attempt to build legitimacy. The relationship between the Department of State and USAID is central to the United States achieving its foreign policy objectives. While diplomacy and development are dis- tinct professions with distinct expertise, they must coordinate closely to achieve U.S. government goals. The spaces we oper- ate in (e.g., humanitarian assistance, conflict prevention and stabilization, political transitions, countering violent extrem- ism, fragile states) are increasingly interagency spaces. The Transformation initiative recognizes that our work requires far more coordination and engagement with the interagency than has been the case in the past. Change is not merely an implementation process. At the center of this change are people who have dedicated their professional careers to the work of USAID. Despite our employees’ participation in shaping these reforms, reorga- nization interrupts predictability, fuels uncertainty and adds to work-life stress. Given the scale of the Transformation reforms, change is neither easy nor instantaneous. It takes significant time to move from consultation to design, approval and implementation—a lengthy process that can increase the anxiety that uncertainty brings. We are also sensitive to the need to work with different organizational cultures, manage distinct authorities and untangle overlapping processes. To be successful, we need to hire for the future and attract talent with skills in areas such as private-sector engagement and innovative partnering. Reforming our structures, programs and workforce is an ambitious undertaking, but it positions USAID to best achieve our national goals in today’s challenging global environment. n At the core of all this change is the principle of the “journey to self-reliance” —that the purpose of foreign assistance should be to end the need for its existence.