1.This Act may be cited as the
Initiating Foreign Assistance Reform Act of
2009
.
2.National Strategy
for Global Development
(a)Congress makes the following
findings:
(1)Poverty, lack of opportunity, gender
inequality and other violations of human rights, and environmental degradation
are recognized as significant contributors to socioeconomic and political
instability, as well as to the exacerbation of disease pandemics and other
global health threats.
(2)The 2002 National
Security Strategy of the United States notes: “[A] world where some live in
comfort and plenty, while half of the human race lives on less than $2 per day,
is neither just nor stable. Including all of the world’s poor in an expanding
circle of development and opportunity is a moral imperative and one of the top
priorities of United States international policy.”.
(3)The 2006 National
Security Strategy of the United States notes: “America’s national interests and
moral values drive us in the same direction: to assist the world’s poor
citizens and least developed nations and help integrate them into the global
economy.”.
(4)Poverty reduction
is in the United States national security interest, in that it improves United
States security by mitigating the underlying causes of violence and extremism,
addresses threats like climate change and disease that know no borders, expands
economic opportunities for United States producers and consumers, shows the
best face of the United States to the world, and represents the values,
kindness, and generosity of the American people.
(5)Elevating the
United States’ standing in the world represents a critical and essential
element of any strategy to improve national and global security by mitigating
the root causes of conflict and multinational terrorism, strengthening
diplomatic and economic relationships, preventing global climate change,
curbing weapons proliferation, and fostering peace and cooperation among all
nations.
(6)Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton has stated that robust diplomacy and effective
development are the best long-term tools for securing America’s
future
.
(7)A
National Strategy for Global Development, as required under subsection (b),
would bring such departments, agencies, and offices together to develop a
comprehensive strategy laying out the principal objectives, approaches, and
basic framework for global development policies and programs—bilateral and
multilateral—as part of broader policies of the United States for engaging in
the world.
(b)The President shall
develop and implement, on an interagency basis, a comprehensive national
strategy to further the United States foreign policy objective of reducing
poverty and contributing to broad-based economic growth in developing
countries, including responding to humanitarian crises. The strategy required
under this subsection shall be known as the National Strategy for Global
Development
.
(c)The strategy required under subsection (b) shall support
United States engagement with developing countries in order to reduce poverty
and contribute to broad-based economic growth in developing countries and
therefore further the achievement of United States long-term foreign policy and
national security interests. The strategy shall further—
(1)define the role of United States Government
departments and agencies in carrying out global development policies and
programs, such as trade policies, debt relief, climate change, and other
polices and programs to reduce poverty and contribute to broad-based economic
growth in developing countries, and create a process to enhance the interagency
coordination among such departments and agencies to ensure policy and program
coherence and avoid duplication and counterproductive outcomes among such
policies and programs;
(2)establish development objectives for global
development policies and programs described in paragraph (1) to reduce poverty
and contribute to broad-based economic growth in developing countries
consistent with internationally recognized development goals and host country
priorities, including cross-cutting principles and best practices to ensure
that efforts are as effective as possible;
(3)review and improve coordination among
United States Government departments and agencies carrying out global
development policies and programs described in paragraph (1) and other
countries and organizations, including multilateral, bilateral, and
international organizations, host country governments, and civil society
organizations, carrying out similar policies and programs to reduce poverty and
contribute to broad-based economic growth;
(4)address the
continuum of activities relating to poverty reduction in developing countries,
including activities to address humanitarian needs through urgent humanitarian
assistance and rehabilitation, reconstruction, and long-term development;
(5)establish development goals for each
geographic region of the world based on the specific needs of each such region;
and
(6)include budget requirements to carry out
the strategy.
(d)In developing the
strategy required under subsection (b), the President should, to the maximum
extent practicable, ensure that the strategy is flexible so as to respond to
changing objectives, approaches, and needs of developing countries and changing
United States foreign policy and national security interests.
(e)In developing and implementing the strategy
required under subsection (b), the President should consult with the Committee
on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate, nongovernmental stakeholders, international financial
institutions, other international organizations involved in humanitarian
assistance and development efforts, and developing countries.
(f)
(1)Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the President shall transmit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of
the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate a copy of the strategy required under subsection (b). The strategy shall
be transmitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified annex if
necessary.
(2)Upon transmission of the strategy to Congress under
paragraph (1), the President shall publish the strategy (other than the
classified annex, if any) on the White House website.
3.Monitoring and
evaluation of United States foreign assistanceChapter 1 of part III of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2351 et seq.) is amended by inserting after
section 608 the following new section:
609.Monitoring and
evaluation of United States foreign assistance
(a)The President shall
develop and implement a rigorous system to monitor and evaluate the
effectiveness and efficiency of United States foreign assistance. The system
shall include a method of coordinating the evaluation activities of each
Federal department or agency primarily responsible for carrying out United
States foreign assistance programs with evaluation activities carried out by
other such Federal departments and agencies, and when possible with other
international bilateral and multilateral agencies and entities.
(b)In carrying out subsection (a), the
President shall ensure that the head of each Federal department or agency
described in subsection (a)—
(1)establishes measurable performance goals,
including gender-sensitive goals, for United States foreign assistance programs
carried out by the Federal department or agency;
(2)establishes criteria for selection of such
United States foreign assistance programs to be subject to various evaluation
methodologies, with particular emphasis on criteria for selection of programs
and projects to be subject to impact evaluation;
(3)establishes an
organization unit with adequate staff and funding to budget, plan, and conduct
appropriate performance monitoring and improvement and evaluation activities
with respect to such United States foreign assistance programs;
(4)establishes a process for applying the
lessons learned and results from evaluation activities, including the use and
results of impact evaluation research, into future budgeting, planning,
programming, design and implementation of such United States foreign assistance
programs; and
(5)establishes a
policy to publish all evaluation plans and reports relating to such United
States foreign assistance programs.
(c)
(1)In carrying out
subsection (a), the President shall ensure that the head of each Federal
department or agency described in subsection (a) develops an annual evaluation
plan of United States foreign assistance programs carried out by the department
or agency stating how the department or agency will meet the requirements of
this section.
(2)In preparing the evaluation plan, the head
of each Federal department or agency described in subsection (a) shall consult
with the heads of other appropriate Federal departments and agencies,
governments of host countries, international and indigenous nongovernmental
organizations, and other relevant stakeholders.
(3)Not later than 180
days after the date of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter,
the head of each Federal department or agency described in subsection (a) shall
submit to the appropriate congressional committees and the United States
foreign assistance evaluation advisory council established under subsection (h)
a copy of the evaluation plan.
(d)
(1)For federal
departments and agenciesThe
President shall enhance the performance monitoring and improvement and
evaluation capacity of each Federal department and agency described in
subsection (a) by increasing and improving training and education
opportunities, including adopting best practices and up-to-date evaluation
methodologies to provide the best evidence available for assessing the results
of United States foreign assistance programs.
(2)The President is
authorized to provide assistance to increase the capacity of the governments of
countries receiving United States foreign assistance to design and conduct
performance monitoring and improvement and evaluation activities.
(e)The head of each
Federal department or agency described in subsection (a) shall include in the
annual budget of the department or agency a funding amount to conduct
performance monitoring and improvement and evaluations of United States foreign
assistance programs, projects, or activities.
(f)United States
foreign assistance evaluation advisory council
(1)The President shall
establish a United States foreign assistance evaluation advisory council
to—
(A)provide guidance
on the conduct of evaluations for United States foreign assistance programs,
projects, and activities;
(B)facilitate
publication of common indicators to be used for measuring the outcomes and
impacts of United States foreign assistance;
(C)facilitate
publication of best practices reports for different types of United States
foreign assistance; and
(D)provide advice in
the planning and coordination of United States foreign assistance evaluation to
avoid duplication of efforts.
(2)The advisory council shall be composed of
not less than 7 members appointed by the President from among private
individuals who are familiar and experienced in monitoring and evaluating
foreign assistance programs, with at least 2 members having specialized
expertise in outcome and impact evaluation methodologies.
(3)The
chairperson of the advisory council shall be designated by the President at the
time of appointment.
(4)
(A)Each member shall be appointed for a term of 4 years,
except as provided in subparagraph (B).
(B)Any
member appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the
term for which the member’s predecessor was appointed shall be appointed for
the remainder of that term and may be appointed for an additional term of 4
years.
(5)The advisory council shall meet not less
than four times each year. The chairperson of the advisory council shall call a
meeting of the advisory council upon request by four or more members of the
advisory council. The meetings of the advisory council shall be made open to
the public and minutes, comments, reports and other related documents shall be
published in the Federal Register in a timely fashion.
(6)Section
14(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.; relating to the
termination of advisory committees) shall not apply to the advisory council.
(7)Not later than two years after the date of
the enactment of this section, and every two years thereafter, the advisory
council shall prepare and submit to the President and the appropriate
congressional committees a report that summarizes the activities of the
advisory council, including the advisory council’s assessment of the
performance monitoring and improvement and evaluation programs of each Federal
department or agency described in subsection (a).
(g)
(1)Not later than one
year after the date of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter,
the President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a
report on—
(A)the use of funds
to carry out evaluations under this section;
(B)the status and
results of evaluations under this section; and
(C)the use of results
and lessons learned from evaluations under this section, including actions
taken in response to recommendations included in current and previous
evaluations, such as the improvement or continuation of a program, project, or
activity.
(2)The
report shall also be published in the Federal Register and made available on
the public website of each Federal department or agency described in subsection
(a).
(h)In
this section:
(1)Appropriate
congressional committeesThe
term appropriate congressional committees means the Committee on
Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate.
(2)Evaluation;
outcome and impact evaluation
(A)The
term evaluation means the systematic and objective determination
and assessment of the design, implementation, and results of an on-going or
completed program, project, or activity.
(B)Outcome and
impact evaluationThe term outcome and impact
evaluation means an assessment of the impact and outcome of the outputs
of a program, project, or activity.
(3)Impact
evaluation researchThe term impact evaluation
research means the application of research methods and statistical
analysis to measure the extent to which change in a population-based outcome or
impact can be attributed to United States program, project, or activity
intervention instead of other environmental factors, including change in
political climate and other donor assistance.
(4)The
term impacts means the positive and negative, direct and indirect,
intended and unintended long-term effects produced by a program, project, or
activity.
(5)The
term outcomes means the likely or achieved immediate and
intermediate effects of the outputs of a program, project, or activity.
(6)The
term outputs means—
(A)the products,
capital, goods, and services that result from a program, project, or activity;
or
(B)the changes
resulting from the program, project, or activity that are relevant to the
achievement of outcomes.
(7)The
term results means the positive or negative, direct or indirect,
intended or unintended outputs, outcomes, and impacts of a program, project, or
activity.
(8)Performance
monitoring and improvementThe term performance monitoring
and improvement means a continuous process of collecting, analyzing, and
using data to compare how well a program, project, or activity is being
implemented against expected results and program costs and to make appropriate
improvements accordingly.
(9)United States
foreign assistanceThe term United States foreign
assistance means—
(A)assistance
authorized under this Act; and
(B)assistance authorized under any other
provision of law that is classified under budget function 150 (International
Affairs).
(i)Authorization of
appropriations
(1)Of the amounts
authorized to be appropriated for each United States foreign assistance program
for each of the fiscal years 2010 and 2011, not less than 5 percent of such
amounts are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section for such
fiscal year.
(2)Amounts
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section for a fiscal year are
in addition to amounts otherwise available for such
purposes.
.
4.Transparency of
United States foreign assistance
(a)It is the sense of
Congress that the American taxpayers and recipients of United States foreign
assistance should, to the maximum extent practicable, have full access to
information on United States foreign assistance.
(b)Information
available to public
(1)The President shall publish in the Federal Register and
make publicly available on the websites of appropriate Federal departments and
agencies comprehensive, timely, comparable, and accessible information on
United States foreign assistance a detailed program-by-program basis and
country-by-country basis.
(2)To ensure transparency, accountability, and
effectiveness of United States foreign assistance, the information on United
States foreign assistance published and made available under paragraph (1)
shall include planning, allocations and disbursement, terms, contracting,
monitoring, and evaluation elements with respect to activities carried out
under such United States foreign assistance.
(3)Availability to
be in timely mannerThe
President shall direct the head of each Federal department and agency providing
United States foreign assistance to ensure that the information required under
this subsection shall be made available in a timely manner.
(c)In order to best
assess the use and impact of United States foreign assistance in relation to
funding provided by other donor nations and recipient countries, the President
should fully engage with and participate in the International Aid Transparency
Initiative, established on September 4, 2008, at the Accra High Level Forum on
Aid Effectiveness.
(d)In
this section, the term United States foreign assistance has the
meaning given the term in section 609(h) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
(as added by section 3 of this Act).
5.Repeals of
obsolete authorizations of assistance; conforming amendments
(a)The following provisions of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 are hereby repealed:
(1)Section 125 (22 U.S.C. 2151w; relating to
general development assistance).
(2)Section 219 (22 U.S.C. 2179; relating to
prototype desalting plant).
(3)Title V of chapter 2 of part I (22 U.S.C.
2201; relating to disadvantaged children in Asia).
(4)Section 466 (22 U.S.C. 2286; relating to
debt-for-nature exchanges pilot program for sub-Saharan Africa).
(5)Sections 494, 495, and 495B through 495K
(22 U.S.C. 2292c, 2292f, and 2292h through 2292q; relating to certain
international disaster assistance authorities).
(6)Section 546 (22 U.S.C. 2347c; relating to
certain international military education and training authorities).
(7)Section 638(b) (22 U.S.C. 2398(b); relating
to exclusions).
(8)Section 648 (22 U.S.C. 2407; relating to
certain miscellaneous provisions).
(b)(1)Section 135 of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2152h) is amended by striking
“section 135” and inserting “section 136.”
(2)Section 638 of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2398) is amended by striking (a) No
provision
and inserting No provision
.