A recent Pew Research poll [6] showed that the three budget accounts that Americans most wanted to cut were foreign assistance, the State Department and unemployment benefits. This may be based in part on the wide misperception and overestimation [7] of the overall amount of foreign aid in the US budget. (It is less than 1%.)
The global stakes in development have never been higher. Most of the world’s countries have been trying since 1950 to lift themselves from poverty to prosperity. They have no textbook for this process, and they know that previous or existing models offer only partial blueprints. Many of these countries are mid-way along the path to success. In an interdependent world, their prosperity is also our own and their lack of prosperity harms both them and us.
Only actions that give people hope and opportunity will achieve permanent positive benefits on a global scale. Development skills are essential to the success of this work: skills that embrace both private enterprise and non-governmental organizations. Foreign direct investment, trade and remittances now are a much larger percentage of global capital flow than is official development assistance. What makes it possible for private capital to build jobs, however, is a sound societal underpinning. Good education, engaged citizens, public health standards, safe food requirements, sound infrastructure development, independent media, and safe environmental safeguards create and maintain the conditions for a healthy society to prosper. Without this scaffolding, private enterprise could not establish effective models for sound economic growth.
Recently, US government and private enterprise have launched important initiatives to combine good public policy and entrepreneurship to alleviate poverty and provide jobs. Now the NGO sector needs an unequivocal seat at this table, a stronger voice in this conversation. With the effective use of NGO skills that have taken decades to acquire and use, with their experience and judgment, with the oversight and careful attention to impact that is their hallmark, NGOs add indispensable quality to the work of the government/private sector partnerships. This NGO involvement deserves greater attention and credit and not only for the great and powerful in the NGO community.
IREX focuses on this critical juncture at the interface among government, private enterprise and NGOs. Education [8] impact reflected in student achievements, teacher professional development, and exemplary standards in higher and basic education provide an essential superstructure for societies. Learning citizen skills [9], with special focus on women [10] and youth [11], girds a community together for the long run. Making the best use of technology [12] to maximize the beneficial effects of development is a core interest.
The demands on the development community grow. Only effective cooperation among government, the private sector and the NGO community will make it possible to meet tomorrow’s challenges. There is more to be done here, and now would be an excellent time to widen the conversation and deepen the partnerships.