Unlock Aid Unveils 'Aid Reimagined: The New American Foreign Partnership Standard'

Open Letter Sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio Presents Bold, Results-Driven Path Forward To Shape the Future of U.S. Foreign Assistance

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, March 12, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today, Unlock Aid, a coalition representing more than 100 organizations committed to reimagining and rebuilding a more effective approach to global development, announced a groundbreaking new standard for U.S. foreign assistance that reimagines America's approach to global development. In an open letter to Secretary Rubio, the coalition details how the new standard aligns America's international development efforts with both U.S. interests and global needs.

The coalition is calling on the U.S. State Department and Congress to embrace a new, transformative approach to foreign assistance that prioritizes results, mutual benefit, and economic sustainability while eliminating inefficiencies to ensure every dollar spent delivers maximum impact for U.S. citizens and its partners around the world.

"When done right, Americans benefit directly when we invest globally," said Walter Kerr, Co-Executive Director of Unlock Aid. "Your family's health and safety, your job, and the products on your store shelves are directly connected to how effectively America engages with the world. Our new standard offers a new way forward beyond simply cutting aid or maintaining the status quo."

Two years ago, Unlock Aid launched a global listening tour engaging hundreds of social innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, diaspora groups, faith leaders, national security experts, and community leaders across the United States and around the world. They asked a fundamental question: If we could start over, what would we do differently? The new standards are the result of what they heard—a modernized, effective approach to global development.

As the State Department and Congress navigate the future of U.S. foreign assistance, Unlock Aid urges the adoption of six core standards:

Advancing What Works

*Promote Jobs & Economic Growth: Prioritize investments that promote jobs and economic growth while securing new markets for U.S. products and services.

*Protect Public Health: Prioritize investments that promote strong health systems that prevent, detect, and respond to infectious diseases that are essential to both global and national security.

*Invest in Innovation, Scale What Works: Leverage technology and innovation to bring down costs, deliver faster results, and scale what works.

*Drive Mutually-Beneficial Partnerships: Transform traditional aid relationships into mutually-beneficial partnerships where host countries have agency and co-invest —ensuring Americans don’t shoulder indefinite financial burdens while building strong, self-reliant partners abroad.

*Prioritize Results Over Process: Focus on paying for measurable results rather than activities, with accountability for impact and metrics that benefit partner countries and the United States.

*Require Strategic Exits, Self-Reliance: Design all foreign engagements with fixed end dates, self-sustainability or clear transition plans to local actors.

Unlock Aid also shared with Secretary Rubio a set of practices that must be eliminated, including overreliance on international intermediaries rather than organizations that are closest to the challenges, bureaucratic inefficiencies and red tape, programs that position the U.S. as the sole funder or single point of failure, small-scale initiatives with limited impact, and top-down programs developed without local buy-in, which jeopardizes sustainability.

"The world is changing, and America's approach to global engagement must change with it," said Amanda Arch, Co-Executive Director of Unlock Aid. "These standards provide a bold new blueprint for smarter, results-driven partnerships that deliver real impact—fueling global progress while ensuring every taxpayer dollar works harder for American families."

In the coming days, Unlock Aid will unveil specific initiatives aligned with this standard that are ready for immediate implementation—and the coalition invites the public to help shape and strengthen these efforts. Unlock Aid will draw upon the sharpest insights from distinct perspectives and constituencies, including entrepreneurs, researchers, civil society leaders, business and industry leaders, diaspora leaders, faith community leaders, and policymakers.

Forthcoming proposals will include actionable and specific ideas, such as: creating a clear “menu” of high-impact, win-win co-investment opportunities with partner countries in sectors like digital infrastructure, health security, energy, and food security; establishing a Global Innovation Office to better leverage innovation to address shared global challenges while reducing costs and speeding up results; and enabling everyday Americans—including and especially diaspora communities—to co-invest directly alongside U.S.-vetted programs.

Critically, proposals will also provide specific ways for the administration to immediately restore life-saving humanitarian programs that deliver measurable outcomes in days and weeks, and that transition long-term funding to sustainable local sources.

A copy of the letter sent to Secretary of State Rubio can be found here.

About Unlock Aid
Unlock Aid is a coalition representing more than 100 organizations committed to reimagining and rebuilding a more effective approach to global development. The coalition includes innovative firms, local social enterprises, technology companies, entrepreneurs, investors, and civil society organizations focused on creating a future where foreign assistance delivers greater impact. Learn more at unlockaid.org.

Brian Franklin
Unlock Aid
+1 703-201-3875
brian@unlockaid.org
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