Craig Lasher's blog

On the global gag rule, on funding for UNFPA, and on PEFPAR -- who holds the office of the Presidency makes the critical difference.

This year's Bush administration denial of $40 million to UNFPA comes as no surprise. But buried in the statement lies the threat that other international family planning groups who work in China may also have their U.S. government funding cut.

Craig Lasher is a Senior Policy Analyst at Population Action International (PAI).

As a veteran foreign aid advocate, I was keenly interested when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced in January a major restructuring of the U.S. government's foreign assistance program under a new vision of "transformational diplomacy." Its lofty goal was described as "helping to build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that will respond to the needs of their people and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system." As the details of the new strategic framework for foreign aid begin to emerge, however, my cynical concern that short-term national security and democracy promotion objectives favored by the State Department would trump the traditional focus of U.S. foreign assistance on development and poverty reduction appears to be on its way to being confirmed. Such a shift could prove enormously detrimental to long-term development programs, including family planning and reproductive health.