USAID Presents New Concept to UNAA Members
Patricia Flanagan speaks at the UNAA kick-off dinner
USAID was gracious enough to send an emissary to speak to The Ugandan Diapora at the UNAA convention this year. We met Patricia Flanagan, on the convention floor and were excited to hear that due budget cuts new innovative strategies are being explored to address all sorts of development projects. But first she needed to make the case that USAID is not the bucket of money that everyone thinks it is. So to that end I present USAID then and now.
US Total Remittance Flow 1960 Versus 2005
US total resource flows to the developing world in 2005 equaled US total resource flows totaled $164 Billion with only 9.4% of public funds left over after funds dedicated to Iraq and Afghanistan. In 1960 the total flows were $5.1 billion with 68% coming from public funds.
So ok… what we learn here is there is a ton of money going into the developing world. $164 BILLION from the US alone. But unlike in the past, this money is fragmented and comes from many different sources This makes the search for project support a huge challenge.
The mix includes public dollars at 16.8% (only 9.4% when you take out Iraq and Afghanistan), private funds at 42.1%, this is the Intel, Microsoft, Land ‘O Lakes of the world, and remittances at 25%. universities, religious organizations, NGOs and foundations round out the remaining 16.1%. We know that the remittance numbers are probably much higher given all of the untrackable remittance flows.
The concept that Patricia Flanagen presented to us at UNAA was a way to connect and leverage all the these dollars. When you have corporations dumping product into the developing world in the hopes of creating future loyal customers and governments implementing development plans with less and less money, how does a person with an idea get something done? Well USAID thinks their Diaspora Network Alliance is the way to empower the Diaspora and connect them with the remaining 75% of the resource flows.
As I understand it this concept basically means that USAID is becoming a match-maker of sorts. Bring your project proposal and they help you find the organizations that match your needs.
She also talked about a brand new program called“> Volunteers for Prosperity. Connecting badly needed human resources with programs on the ground in developing countries.
USAID want to engage the Diapspora by looking beyond remittances and on to:
Take a listen to what Ms. Flanagan had to say at the roundtable:
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Resources from USAID Roundtable:
Diaspora Networks Alliance
Global Framework with Microsoft
Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Program
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