Imagine you are the director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States’ primary development organization that uses U.S. government funds to design and carry out development projects in LDC’s (lesser developed countries). Your annual testimony to Congress is approaching where you outline for the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee on the accomplishments of the previous year and USAID’s plan and areas of focus for the coming year. Given the ideas and lessons you have taken from our materials under the topic of “international development”, what would you recommend be the foci for USAID in the upcoming year? USAID has a multi-million dollar budget annually, so you can fund a wide range of projects and ideas. You are not expected to address specific LDC’s, but rather outline at least three specific types of projects, innovations, and/or technologies that you would focus on funding across multiple LDC’s and the evidence supporting these decisions. You can also address areas or projects that you would avoid.

Your writing should begin with an overview of your opinion and summary of data supporting it and rely on evidence from this week’s readings and any other pertinent course materials (e.g. lecture video) from this week, stated in a clear and organized manner. The writing should be approximately the equivalent of one page double-spaced with citations of our relevant sources to provide evidence for your argument.