Publications
In our effort to improve US foreign aid, we should listen to those who know best: the professionals who deliver aid and the people who receive it. They know how aid can and should work; how methods of aid delivery affect its outcomes; and how aid can motivate governments and communities to invest in their own development.
Oxfam America's Ownership in Practice series reflect perspectives from the field on the kinds of reforms that would improve the usefulness of US foreign aid on the ground, as well as insights from policymakers in Washington as to possible policy options that would put this vision into practice.
Ownership in practice: The key to smart development
Ownership briefing reports:
Ownership two-page executive summaries:
- Information: Letting countries know what donors are doing
- Capacity: Helping countries lead
- Control: Letting countries lead
Oxfam America's Smart Development in Practice reports bring voices from several countries to the Washington aid debate. The reports provide various perspectives—from the country offices of US agencies delivering aid, US contractors, host governments, civil society organizations, beneficiaries, and other donors—on the challenges confronting US foreign aid and the reforms that could improve it.
By responding to these voices, we can embrace a new vision for US foreign aid—one that listens to and works with the countries we are trying to support, and in the process, strengthens US standing abroad as a genuine partner in development.
Smart Development: Why US foreign aid demands major reform
Country field reports:
- Field Report: Cambodia
- Field Report: Afghanistan
- Field Report: Southern Sudan
- Field Report: Mozambique
- Field Report: El Salvador
- Saving
lives through country ownership: Three steps for President Obama’s
Global Health Initiative to succeed
- Failing the Cardozo test: Why US foreign assistance legislation needs a fresh start
- Foreign aid 101: A quick and easy guide to understanding US foreign aid
- Guidance to the Global Health Initiative on implementing country ownership
- Can aid for food security show the way for broader aid reform?
- Why are humanitarian advocates leading on aid reform?
- Transparency is happening now: USAID and Indonesia's national budget
- Why should water, sanitation, and hygiene advocates lead on aid reform?
- Why should health advocates lead on aid reform?
- What development professionals need: Voices from the frontlines
- "D" is for Different: Why diplomacy and development are not the same, and why it matters
- Why trade policy can help or hinder the US's fight against poverty
- The tied aid "round trip"
- When developing countries lead, will the US follow?
- The Humanitarian Response Index: Where we stand
- Measuring the right results
- Getting results from our aid: Rethinking what we measure


Follow us online