Volume Three, Issue Eight

Exploring the Frontiers in Development

Tony Blair addresses USAID's Frontiers in Development Conference

This week, USAID convened heads of state, young innovators, government officials, and international development experts for the inaugural Frontiers in Development forum on the campus of Georgetown University. 

We discussed and debated ideas that have made a difference or have the potential to make a difference in development.  We look forward to working with our partners to put these ideas to work in the coming months.  In case you missed the live stream, you can read our Storify feed where we've chronicled the three days of online conversation. We've also posted answers to questions that came in through Crowdhall and posted some of our backstage interviews with the panelists. 

Call to Action: A Promise Renewed

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah on the Georgetown Campus for at Thursday's Child Survival Call to Action

What do Hillary Rodham Clinton and Ben Affleck have in common? They came together this week with UNICEF and global leaders from the governments of the United States, Ethiopia, and India at Georgetown University for a Call to Action to end preventable child deaths. 

Every year, 7.6 million children die before their 5th birthday. Focused on ending preventable child death through the survival of newborns, children and mothers, the Call to Action convened 700 prominent leaders from government, the private sector, faith-based organizations, and civil society to kick off a long-term effort to save children's lives. Tune in today to watch the webcast and follow the conversation on Twitter with #5thBDay and #Promise4Children. 

The New USAID.gov

USAID recently launched a redesigned Web site as part of an effort to make the Agency more transparent, effective and accessible. The site has several new features, including an interactive map that features project information for an initial group of 40 countries, and an updated Development Experience Clearinghouse that provides an online repository of USAID's evaluations dating back to the 1960s. If you're browsing our site with your iPhone or iPad, you can also download two new apps from the iTunes Store. Mandy Moore was pretty excited about our new site too. Please share your feedback with us so that we can continue to improve the site.  

The Next Grand Challenge: Powering Agriculture

As part of the Frontiers in Development forum, USAID and its partners launched "Powering Agriculture: A Energy Grand Challenge". This global effort is aimed at increasing food security and driving economic growth in the developing world through effective and affordable energy solutions for farmers. Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter to learn more.

USAID Closes Panama Mission

President John F Kennedy hosts the President of Panama.

USAID/Panama

This week USAID celebrated Panama's economic growth and commitment to development by closing our mission there. Some of USAID's key accomplishments in Panama include: building over 100 schools; preserving the Panama Canal watershed; establishing outreach centers for at-risk youth; providing higher education scholarships; constructing roads in the Darien region; establishing the Ministries of Housing and Agriculture; and forming local organizations. 

Panama joins Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay, South Korea and Poland as countries that no longer receive USAID assistance.

UNICEF Chief Discusses Child Survival 

In this exclusive interview with USAID's FrontLines magazine, Anthony Lake, UNICEF's executive director since 2010, talks successes and challenges in child health around the globe. He also suggests where the development community can invest its resources to have the biggest impact, and recalls the resourcefulness of the planet's youngest citizens caught in some of the worst disasters - and how that can inspire us all. 

Read the full interview. 

USAID in the News 

Still can't get enough USAID? Here's a lot more. We were in the news quite a bit this week. National Journal and Politico both reported on our new mobile money partnership with Citi. We spoke to the Global Pulse blog about the need to focus efforts on the five countries that have 50 percent of all preventable child deaths. USA Today reported on the newly released report about global childhood deaths in the Health Policy and Planning medical journal.  

And don't Ben Affleck and Administrator Shah make a great team? We think so, read their joint op-ed in Politico on ending child mortality and more about Ben Affleck and Secretary Clinton's commitment in Foreign Policy Magazine. Finally, Administrator Shah chatted with Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC about child survival.

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