I WORK IN GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT, A FIELD that has suddenly become the focus of intense political controversy—even though most Americans still don’t know the basics of what it is, how it is conducted, or why it matters.

When we talk about global development or foreign aid, here—at the risk of oversimplifying—is what we mean: the strengthening of capacities in economic development, health, education, energy, food security and safety, and governance, by means of humanitarian and technical assistance, with respect for human rights, and in ways that are congruent with the cultures and traditions of host cultures. Putting it more simply, it’s using expertise to partner with host nationals on the ground to improve individual, community, and societal well-being.

My own career in this field goes back some fifty years. I began in 1977 as a Peace Corps volunteer. I was a malaria health worker in a remote Colombian Village in the Choco, the western region bordering Panama to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Through my work educating villagers about malaria, dispensing malaria medication to the sick, and studying the mosquito that transmits the disease, I learned firsthand that building relationships with people from other countries is one of the best foreign policy tools that America has.

 

READ THE FULL STORY ON THE BULWARK

---