Former Gates exec seeks results-driven foreign aid

Ambitions to solve problems of poverty are at an all-time high, especially among organizations dedicated to global development in Washington state. But the public appetite to finance them is not.

The U.S. will have to get more results out of the money it's spending and find innovations that come from technology to help bridge the gap, Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), told a packed crowd Friday in Seattle's St. Mark's Cathedral at an event sponsored by Global Washington.

Shah, a former Gates Foundation executive tapped by President Obama to head international development, has brought the foundation's well-known focus on measuring results to the agency responsible for more than $20 billion in foreign aid.

The administration is living up to its commitment to double the foreign-aid budget, he said. But it must prove to taxpayers the resources are used effectively and that seemingly intractable problems can be solved.

"If we can continue to show things are really effective, generate results with the dollars and take efficiency very, very seriously, I believe Americans want to do more," he said.

Shah issued a call to action to Washington state, known for its role in technology, to contribute innovative ideas.

He described a vision of the future in which science and technology, in the form of a tablet computer with an Internet connection, could help a farmer in a remote village get such information as market prices and send photos of pests or crop diseases in asking assistance.

Chris Elias, chief executive of the Seattle health nonprofit PATH, cautioned that it's a mistake to equate innovation with technology. "Too often we think of it in terms of the gadgetry," he said. "You can't do a C-section through a cellphone."

Shah said one way the new evidence-based approach has improved programs came in recent efforts to assist Haiti. To boost access to safe water, USAID made it mandatory for trucks providing fresh water to also distribute chlorine tablets to Haitians. Diarrheal disease is now 12 percent lower than it was the day before the earthquake, he said.

Marla Smith-Nilson, executive director of Seattle-based Water 1st International, said she was pleasantly surprised at the forum's message, but she still wanted to hear more about developing human capacity and stronger communities.

"I don't think there's any technology that is going to replace neighbors talking to neighbors about the importance of washing hands and the importance of actually using toilets," she said. "There's nothing that fits in a box on a shelf that is sold in a marketplace that is ever going to replace that kind of learning about public health and behavior change."

Kristi Heim: 206-464-2718 or kheim@seattletimes.com