Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development launched its new Policy Framework: Driving Progress Beyond Programs, outlining the Agency's vision for development that lasts beyond the life of our programs. The Policy Framework outlines major policy objectives while providing a guide for the Agency to recruit new partners and take on crucial reforms.
The Policy Framework establishes three overarching priorities to drive progress through and beyond our programs and our budget: first, to confront the greatest challenges of our time; second, to embrace new partnerships; and third, to invest in USAID's enduring effectiveness. These priorities are connected - achieving our long-term mission depends on confronting the greatest impediments to development today. Marshaling action to address them demands new, inclusive, and ambitious partnerships; investments in our people; and the streamlining of our processes.
The Framework comes at a decisive juncture. A set of global, compounding risks imperils development progress, undermines democracy, and threatens stability. At the same time, a competition is underway to shape the international order, testing the global community's ability to work together to confront grave threats. In this moment, the United States, and our democratic partners, must offer inclusive leadership and bold action to extend the reach of human dignity - especially in communities too often excluded or left behind. And we must drive progress in ways that surpass the confines of the budgets we receive or the programs we administer.
The Policy Framework is USAID's highest-level policy document. It lays out a collective vision for international development, translates U.S. national security and foreign policy goals into Agency priorities, and promotes coherence among our development, humanitarian, and crisis-response policies and the work we undertake to implement them.
