Senators Kerry and Lugar call for development leadership
September 25, 2009

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair John Kerry (D-MA) and ranking member Richard Lugar (R-IN) are urging President Obama to nominate an administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Their recent letter to the President declares their support for elevating global development as a priority of U.S. foreign assistance and states that the current "leadership vacuum" is seriously hampering USAID's ability to plan and implement development programs.

"Not only does U.S. development lack clear leadership at the top, but increasingly we believe that key development voices are being shut out of major policy decisions and interagency processes," they added, underscoring the concern shared by many in the NGO community that U.S. leadership on global development is lacking.

IGD urges the President to move expeditiously in nominating an administrator for USAID and supports its restoration as an empowered, professional development agency.

Read more about this issue at the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network blog.