The Role of International Organizations, Regional Organizations, And

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SCUSA 63

Thinking Beyond Boundaries:

Contemporary Challenges to U.S. Foreign Policy

The Role of International Organizations, Regional Organizations, and

Non-Governmental Organizations:

Seeking a Tangible Way Forward

In the Charter of the United Nations, our countries pledged to work for ‘the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples.’ In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we recognized the inherent dignity and rights of every individual, including the right to a decent standard of living. And a decade ago, at the dawn of a new millennium, we set concrete goals to free our fellow men, women and children from the injustice of extreme poverty. These are the standards that we set. And today, we must ask: Are we living up to our mutual responsibilities?

-President Barack Obama, September 2010[1]

In his 2010 address to the United Nations, the Presidentexpressed the central tenetsof the world’s primary Intergovernmental Organization – the United Nations.[2] The United Nations is both a participant in and a witness to an increasingly global civil society. More and more, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society organizations are UN system partners and valuable UN links to civil society.[3]Because of the somewhat more formal relationship of NGOs with governments, often as a source of their funding, this paper focuses more specifically on the role of NGOs in their consultative role with both the UN and the U.S. regarding policy and program matters.[4] The UN,for example, organizes and hosts, on a regular basis, briefings, meetings and conferences for NGO representatives who are accredited to UN offices, programs, and agencies.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has definedcivil society broadly as the multitude of non-state organizations around which society organizes itself, which may or may not participate in the public policy process in accordance with their shifting interests and concerns.[5]More narrowly, one can think of “civil society” as non-state organizations that push for more effective democratic governance through advocacy, policy analysis, mobilization of constituencies, and by action as a governmental watchdog.[6]

In countries with fragile democratic traditions, the freedoms necessary for building and sustaining an active and independent civil society are often curtailed, denied, or misunderstood. A top priority of US foreign policy is to work to strengthen commitment to an independent and politically active civil society in developing countries. The range of groups and NGOs receiving USAID assistance includes coalitions of professional associations, civic education groups, women's rights organizations, business and labor federations, media groups, bar associations, environmental activist groups, and human rights monitoring organizations.

Trying to rationalize the United States’ commitments to our myriad assistance programs underway with both intergovernmental organizations and NGOs, the President has called for new emphasis on the most powerful force the world has ever known for eradicating poverty and creating opportunity– broad-based economic growth. To this end, the President issued the new “U.S. Global Development Policy”and pledged to work with Congress to better match our investments with the priorities of our partner countries.[7] “Guided by the evidence,” the President has said,“we will invest in programs that work; we’ll end those that don’t.”[8]

The US and the Millennium Development Goals

To accomplish this goal the President pledged to pursue the Millennium Development Goals.[9] These goals include (1) eradicating extreme hunger and poverty; (2) achieving universal primary education; (3) promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment; (4) reducing the under-five child mortality rate; (5) reducing the maternal mortality rate; (6) combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases; (7) ensuring environmental sustainability; and (8) developing a Global Partnership for Development. They are the result of the Millennium Summit, which met from 6-8 September 2000 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, and the World Summit held five years later. By the end of the World Summit the Millennium Development Goalshad been adopted by 23 international organization and 189 UN member states.[10]

Since 2000, governments have worked to achieve the Millennium Development Goals with mixed results. Experts generally agree that while some goals are on track to be met, the majority of them are unlikely to be achieved by 2015. Many have also found that progress toward the goals is unevenly distributed across regions and countries.

In July 2010, the Obama Administration published the U.S. Strategy for Meeting the Millennium Development Goals, which highlights four imperatives: (1) leveraging innovation, (2) investing in sustainability, (3) tracking development outcomes (not just dollars), and (4) ensuring mutual accountability among aid donors and recipients. Governments, NGOs, and others have scrutinized indicators to determine progress made toward the Goals. While many experts assert that there is no “one size fits all” approach to advancing development, and that the most effective policies and interventions will differ by country and by Goal, in the past decade, governments, NGOs, and others have identified certain factors that contribute to the fulfillment of these objectives.

Generally, experts monitoring indicators of progress towards the Millennium Development Goals have identified two overarching trends. First, while some MDGs are on track to be achieved, others have made no progress at all or, in some cases, have deteriorated. Second, while some MDGs are on track to be met, progress towards the Goals is unevenly distributed among regions and countries.

These two trends raise a host of questions for US policymakers: In what areas, if any, have the Millennium Development Goals been successful? Are they practical, especially in the wake of a global recession? What is the role of foreign aid in reaching these Goals? What recommendations can be offered to the Administration and Congress to ensure the Goals are met?

Background: The US and the UN

The world has changed markedly since the United Nations (UN) was founded in 1945. For more than sixty years, U.S. leadership in and engagement with the United Nations has advanced crucial U.S. foreign policy priorities. These include the promotion of global peace and security, the improvement of the human condition, and the elevation of shared norms and values. Without the United Nations, its affiliated agencies, and numerous other international organizations, U.S. influence and initiative in these priority areas would be limited, and U.S. authority on the global stage diminished. In a world of 21st-century threats that pay no heed to boundaries, rebuilding a strong basis for international cooperation has allowed the U.S. to work more effectively with other nations. This collaboration facilitatessolutions to common problems at the United Nations, making the American people more secure.

On matters of international peace and security, the UN’srole has been central to several top U.S. foreign policy priorities. UN peacekeepers help prevent conflict and protect civilians around the globe, at a fraction of the cost of sending U.S. troops. Security Council sanctions on Iran have had a significant effect on that regime, including hampering its efforts to develop nuclear weapons. UN counterterrorism sanctions have isolated terrorists and frozen their assets and those of their supporters. UN missions in Afghanistan and Iraq work to strengthen democracy and mediate local conflicts, meaning that we can draw down our military forces there on schedule.

The UN’s humanitarian agencies also deliver lifesaving aid in many of the world’s worst crises. From Haiti to Somalia, Pakistan to the Congo, the World Food Program and UNICEF preempt starvation, the World Health Organizationprevents outbreaks of disease through vaccination programs, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees provides comfort to those displaced from their homes. These agencies are only a few of the important UN organizations that are saving lives, providing critical humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations, and contributing to the overall human security on which lasting peace can be built.

The United States also works through the UN system to promote global respect for human rights and universal values. The U.S. sees the UN as an increasingly important forum for bringing the countries of the world together to promote human rights and expose abuses and violations of liberty, equality, and basic human dignity, no matter where they occur. Global leadership means actively engaging other members of the UN’s Human Rights Council, to continue the transformation of that body into one that can respond effectively to human rights abuses, in real time and with concrete action.

In addition to its engagement in such well-known UN bodies as the UN Security Council and the World Trade Organization, the United States also benefits from its participation and leadership in less visible specialized and technical agencies at the UN. Among these are the International Civil Aviation Organization, which promotes safe and secure commercial and cargo air transport for American travelers by establishing global standards for safety, air traffic services, navigation, and communication;the World Intellectual Property Organization, which maintains the global system governing intellectual property rights and thus ensures thatU.S. innovators and entrepreneurs can file for and obtain intellectual property protection outside the United States; and the International Maritime Organization, which oversees global waterborne trade, including approximately 90% of all U.S. foreign trade.

U.S. leadership at the United Nations produces important global outcomes and also results in tangible benefits to American citizens. These include direct economic returns such as the purchase of American goods and services, as well as the employment of American citizens. Nevertheless, there have been justified calls for reforming the institution so that U.S. taxpayers’ money is spent wisely and UN programs are managed effectively. The recently created Office of Internal Oversight Services within the UNhas provided valuable recommendations to improve the UN’s effectiveness. It has alsodeterred waste, fraud, sexual exploitation, and abuse, although it has fallen short in the area of investigations of alleged offenses.It is still possible to ask, though, whether the UN has done enough to address its critics’ charges that it wastes the money of US taxpayers.

U.S. Support forNGOs

NGOs play a crucial role in countries across the globe, whether as advocates, watchdogs, or service providers. However, their ability to make a true impact depends not only upon their own organizational capacity and financial viability, but also upon such external factors as their host country’s legal framework, communications, and the quality of other sectoral infrastructure.

For many years following the collapse of communism in 1989, Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia were important foreign policy priorities for the European Union and the United States. For both, these regions were the primary theatres for a value-based foreign policy that advanced stability and security through soft power, support for human rights and democracy, integration with Western political institutions, and assistance to civil society through official bilateral, intergovernmental organization and NGO efforts. Over the past decade, however, this paradigm has increasingly given way to more traditional realpolitik, in response to new challenges such as terrorist threats against the West, civil strife and armed conflict in many parts of the world, rising and often hostile nuclear powers, and the growing importance of energy security.

For the past fifteen years, USAID has published its annual NGO Sustainability Index, which reports on the strength and overall viability of NGO sectors in countries receiving U.S. foreign assistance. The Index highlights both advances and setbacks in sectoral development, and allows for comparisons of NGO efficacy across countries and sub-regions over time. The Index is an important tool for local NGOs, governments, donors, academics, and others to understand and measure the sustainability of theNGO sector.[11]

For NGOs to contribute meaningfully to global progress, they must be financially viable, which requires that the international economy be robust enough to support their self-financing efforts and to generate philanthropic donations from local sources. For many NGOs, financial viability may be equally dependent upon their ability to compete for international donor support funds. Factors influencing the financial viability of NGOs include the state of the economy, the extent to which philanthropy and volunteerism are being nurtured in the local culture, as well as the extent to which government procurement and commercial revenue raising opportunities are being developed. Virtually all development activities have strong supporters both in the United States and globally who can sometimes make selecting appropriate projects politically difficult because of differences in perceived need. Efforts have been made by NGOs at the international level, most notably through the Copenhagen Consensus, to help policymakers prioritize various development challenges based on estimated costs and benefits.[12] Can donor countries better coordinate their priorities and resource allocations yet advance development in a shrinking economy? Is the USAID Sustainability Index a useful tool in informing this consensus?

Conclusion

The current national security strategy recognizes development not only as a moral imperative, but as a strategic and economic imperative. This goal cannot be met effectively by individual governments without the active involvement of intergovernmental organizations like the UN,civil society organizations,NGOs, and the private sector.All of these groups must forge a new division of labor for development in the 21st century.

Given the lingering effects of the global financial downturn and accompanying fiscal constraints, the U.S. and other governments are likely to feel a greater need to prioritize development assistance programs. The challenge is to obtain synergy through more efficient and effective engagement with intergovernmental organizations and NGOs in order to achieve sound foreign policy objectives. With shrinking national budgets reducing available allotments to foreign aid and assistance, is there an expanded role for private public-private partnerships (e.g., NGOs et al) including international corporations which can efficiently work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals?

Recommended Readings

Bowles, Newton.The Diplomacy of Hope: the United Nations Since the Cold War. New York: I. B. Tauris, 2004.

Dijkzeul, Dennis, and Yves Beigbeder, eds.Rethinking International Organizations : Pathologies and Promise. New York: Berghahn Books, 2003.

Islah, Jad. NGOs: Between Buzzwords and Social Movements. Development in Practice 17 (2007):622-629.

Pease, Kelly-Kate S. International Organizations: Perspectives on Governance in the Twenty-First Century. New York: Prentice Hall, 2008.

Simmons, P. J. 1998. “Learning to Live with NGOs.”Foreign Policy 112 (Autumn): 82-96.

Teegen, Hildy, Jonathan P. Doh, and Sushil Vachani.“The Importance of Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) in Global Governance and Value Creation: An International Business Research Agenda.”Journal of International Business Studies 35 (2004): 463-483.

United Nations Development Programme.Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals. 2005.

U.S. House.Committee on Foreign Affairs. Achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals - Progress Through Partnerships: Hearing before the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, 111th Cong., 27 July 2010.

U.S. House.Committee on Foreign Affairs.The United Nations: Urgent Problems that Need Congressional Action: Briefing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs,112th Congress, first session, 25 January 2011.

U.S. House.Committee on Foreign Affairs.Reforming the United Nations – Lessons Learned : Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 112th Congress, first session, 3 March 2011.

U.S. Senate.Nongovernmental Organizations and Democracy Promotion "Giving Voice to the People": A Report to Member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, 109th Congress, second session, 22 December 2006.

Weiss, Thomas, and Sam Daws, eds.The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Werker, Eric and Faisal Z. Ahmed.“What Do Nongovernmental Organizations Do?”The Journal of Economic Perspectives22 (2008):73-92.

Willetts, Peter. Non-Governmental Organizations in World Politics: The Construction of Global Governance. New York: Routledge, 2011.

[1] Remarks by the President at the Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York, United Nations Headquarters, September 22, 2010,

[2] UNGA, New York, September 22, 2010.

[3] Over 13,000 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have established a relationship with the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). The vast majority of these CSOs are NGOs; there are also institutions, foundations, associations and almost 1,000 Indigenous Peoples Organizations (IPOs) listed as CSOs with DESA - which maintains a database of registered CSOs. See UN and Civil Society

[4]For the UN’s definition of CSO/NGO see: “WHO’s Interactions with Civil Society and Nongovernmental Organizations,” WHO 2002,

[5] USAID is an independent federal government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the U.S. Secretary of State. Its work supports long-term and equitable economic growth and advances U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting economic growth, agriculture,trade, global health, democracy, conflict prevention, and humanitarian assistance. It provides assistance in five regions of the world: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Eurasia, and the Middle East.

[6]“Lessons in Implementation: The NGO Story,” A Study Sponsored by the Office of Democracy and Governance

Within USAID’s E&E Bureau. October 1999.

[7] UNGA, New York, September 22, 2010.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.

[10] See,

[11] USAID NGO Sustainability Index, 13th Edition – June 2010.

[12] The Copenhagen Consensus project has convened some of the world’s leading economists to use cost-benefit

analysis to measure the extent to which development gains would result from additional investments in various sectors. For more information, see