Mining for News Gold in U.S. Foreign Aid

Sep 15 2022

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Sep 15, 2022 at 1:00pm

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Online

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Viola Gienger

[email protected]

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Meeting

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Learn about a treasure trove of data and insights that most journalists routinely miss in an interactive online workshop for members of the National Press Club on Thursday, Sept. 15, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. US Eastern Time. 

Edward DeMarco, a former Bloomberg international politics editor in Washington and National Press Club member who went on to work in Africa as a strategist for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for a decade, steers you through a raft of overlooked sources and other information. He’ll provide pointers on how to:

  • Get clues ahead of the curve about U.S. policy moves on – and in – any number of countries.

  • Find great stories that fly under the radar and involve billions of dollars, especially as the U.S. tries to up its game on foreign policy and national security even while keeping its military out of direct combat.

  • Understand the international scene with data-rich context free for the taking – especially on climate change, health, education and agriculture. 

  • Spot signs of trouble in countries around the world through U.S. government reports from the USAID, which in developing countries often has a deeper understanding of ground truth than the State Department, which focuses mostly on government counterparts and elites in the capital.

DeMarco, author of the Ethiopia memoir Last Days in Naked Valley, will guide you through:

  • USAID procurement documents (calls for proposals for contracts and grants) that signal what the U.S. is planning to invest in to support foreign policy goals.

  • Fraud reports produced by investigators for the USAID Office of Inspector General (who are federal agents in regional offices worldwide).

  • The newsiest data and reports from companion agencies such as the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corp. and PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief).

About DeMarco: He was an editor at Bloomberg during the Bush and early Obama years. After moving to Africa, he became USAID’s senior democracy and governance (DG) adviser in Ethiopia (2012-2016) and then at USAID Zambia (2016-2021). In Ethiopia, his work across all sectors of the American development portfolio and on human rights in the iconic Lower Omo Valley earned him the Meritorious Honor Award from the administrator of USAID and is the basis for his memoir. In Zambia, he managed major civil society and transparency programming and designed one of America's largest democracy-support programs in sub-Saharan Africa, Local Impact Governance. He has led or participated in technical reviews for major awards of U.S. foreign assistance contracts, and has drafted country strategies, managed grants and contracts, advised ambassadors and senior agency officials and served as a thought leader on how to strengthen governance across Africa.

This free workshop is hosted by the Club’s International Correspondents Committee and will be moderated by Viola Gienger, Washington Senior Editor for Just Security, a website of analysis in national and international security law and policy based at NYU Law School..

Registered participants will receive a unique link to access the Zoom meeting in their confirmation email after completing registration. Attendees will be able to interact with DeMarco for questions and discussion..