Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 02/2015

Adjusting Assistance to the 21st Century: A Revised Agenda for Foreign Assistance Reform

George Ingram

July 2014

The Brookings Institution

Abstract

A decade of reform of U.S. development assistance programs has brought significant and important improvement in the nature and delivery of U.S. assistance. But the 21st century world is witnessing constant change in development. More developing countries are ascending to middle income status and gaining the capability, resources, and desire to finance and direct their own development. The rapid expansion of private capital flows, remittances, and domestic resources has significantly reduced the relative role of donor assistance in financing development. Donors are becoming more numerous and varied. There is growing recognition that the private sector, both nationally and internationally, is an indispensable component of sustainable development.