When we speak about foreign policy, we are usually focused on speaking about military activities and ignoring civilian foreign aid administered by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), much of which focuses on disaster relief and assistance in economic development.
As I have discussed previously in this blog , USAID has played a role advancing civics education in certain developing countries, encouraging civil society.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)has just developed a new Citizens' Voice Project in Pakistan. The objective, according to the USAID itself, is to "build a new generation of programs that strengthen local governments and legislative institutions, support the rule of law, and encourage a credible and transparent electoral system capable of producing leaders and policy makers who can help Pakistan achieve its Millennium Development Goals."
It appears as if USAID's role, through this program will be to provide finaicial assistance, to the tune of $100 million over the next four years, to local civic and social organizations within Pakistan. USAID says its design is to award money to organizations providing citizen oversight to municipal services, energy sector reforms, and water rights.
USAID's role in Pakistan is not brand-new. During the past few years, USAID has funded an anti-fraud hotline, trained representatives, supported election cycles, and provided technical assistance to municipalities to improve their delivery of local services.
When Americans think about increasing citizen engagement, we often think about voting and relations between neighbors. We don't sufficiently consider things like the delivery of local services, which is actually a fundamental aspect of any existing social contract.
It is also intriguing that we are funding USAID to assist the Pakistanis with accomplishing results we sometimes struggle with here, namely making our local governments more accountable and making our vote-counting system fair and transparent.
Perhaps the conclusion is for us as Americans to learn from our assistance in Pakistan to see what works and what doesn't work in terms of advancing citizaen engagement in society.
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