DOGE Targets First Trump Administration's International Development Finance Corporation

 Politico published on 28 April 2025 an article titled "DOGE Targets US Foreign Aid Agency Created under First Trump Administration" by Robbie Gramer and Sophia Cai.  

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) was created with bipartisan congressional support during the first Trump administration to provide private sector funding for development projects in lower- and middle-income countries--offering an alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative.

A team of DOGE personnel went to the DFC headquarters in Washington this week to begin assessing the agency's effectiveness and alignment with the president's agenda.  

Comment:  Because the DFC was created during the first Trump administration, it may be left intact.  In any event, it was a good initiative that should be retained.  But that has not stopped DOGE from dismantling other good institutions such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, U.S. Institute of Peace, and the Woodrow Wilson Center.  

Africa Election Guide

The 2013 Elections Guide is a new initiative launched by the Woodrow Wilson Center's Africa Program with the aim of keeping the public informed of all national elections taking place in Africa.  This 2013 Elections Guide features all of the presidential and legislative elections this year, covering election cycles in 12 countries for a total of 15.

Analysis of Obama in Africa

Steve McDonald, director of the Africa program at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, analyzed the recent visit to Africa by President Barack Obama in a two part blog posting.  Part I looked at the visit just before it occurred and Part II commented on the results at the end of the visit.  McDonald was more positive at the end of the visit than before it began. 

Women As Agents of Social Change in Ethiopia: Upcoming Event in Washington

The Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington is hosting on 20 June 2013 between 3:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. a discussion titled "Women as Agents of Change: Traditional Practices and Community-Based Social Change in Ethiopia." 

The speakers are Bogaletch Gebre, founder of Kembatti Mentti Gezzimma and recipient of the 2013 King Baudouin African Development Prize, and Sharon Wiener, acting ambassador at large, Office of Women's Issues, U.S. Department of State. 

Horn of Africa Event

The Woodrow Wilson Center's Africa Program is hosting on 29 February a panel discussion on the "Webs of Conflict and Pathways to Peace in the Horn of Africa." It will draw from a paper on this topic written by Paul Williams, Associate Professor, George Washington University. Other panelists are Chic Dambach, Chief of Staff for Congressman John Garamendi; Raja Jandhyala, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Africa, USAID; Birtukan Midekssa, Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow, National Endowment for Democracy; and myself.

You can obtain details for this public event here.