by Kitty Taylor

I recently approached a number of business officials to get their thoughts on Secretary Clinton's "Smart Power" policy agenda (the three-legged diplomacy, development, defense stool). Specifically, I asked what they would say to Sec. Clinton if they had the opportunity to help shape the future of global development. Here is a rather thoughtful response from Kim Kotnik at Booz Allen Hamilton.

What global development needs...

If "Smart Power" is the interface of hard and soft power, then the development agencies should emphasize the positive benefits of partnerships with local institutions and the citizens of the country engaged, in order to help balance the harder elements of American power employed by other Departments. In this way, the development agencies can build good will that will help reestablish and reinforce a positive image of the USA abroad.

One tool of development that should be expanded is the public private partnership. True partnerships are not just US Government grants to match private sector funds, but rather involve shared ownership and leadership by the public and private sectors together. Well conceived and implemented public private partnerships will build trust and confidence in our Government and our nation's intentions.

Carrying out a Smart Power policy will require highly skilled, trained, and globally-minded professionals to lead. Reinvigorating the development agencies will require not just technical skills (agronomists, economists, health professionals, etc.) but also the capabilities to engage with a wide set of stakeholders in a changed environment, and improved inter-agency mission and planning coherence.

Smart power impact will be maximized when rigorous, independent impact evaluations enable evidence-based discourse and sound conclusions about what works and what doesn't. Current development program evaluation practices should be overhauled to ensure greater objectivity, rigor, and emphasis on techniques such as those pioneered by MIT's Poverty Action Lab and the Millennium Challenge Corporation that zero in on attribution, cause and effect. Better evidence showing what actually works will lead to better programs and higher return on investment.