The year 2009 has ushered in a new executive administration in the United States, and with it a rejuvenation of all administrative bodies of government at the federal level. Such a rejuvenation is exactly what the US foreign assistance system needs. There are a lot of important questions to be answered about the future of how the US manages its foreign aid, among them:

• What role will the Department of Defense play in foreign assistance in the years to come? Particularly, how will AFRICOM evolve?
• Will we see greater centralization of foreign assistance programs (e.g. rolling MCC and PEPFAR into USAID)?
• What will happen to State/f? Will it be strengthened? Or will USAID regain its autonomy as the ultimate agency of foreign aid?
• And most importantly, what priority will the Obama Administration give to foreign assistance? Can we expect sweeping reforms? A cabinet-level position?

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Bill Easterly is an economist that left the World Bank after being frustrated (and exposing in his books) with the ineffectiveness of the foreign assistance structure as it exists. His work is both insightful and invigorating for those of us that work in social enterprise development and on foreign assistance reform. This video gives you [...]