Journalists can find surprising nuggets of news gold with a little determination and patience when they mine publicly available sources from the U.S. Agency for International Development, former Bloomberg News editor and Africa development consultant Ed DeMarco told National Press Club members in a recent online workshop.
Reporters can learn, for example, that the U.S. government, even while at odds with the Ethiopian government over the war in Tigray, is planning a program to mitigate conflict and support peacebuilding. The planning suggests U.S. confidence that a peace settlement might be possible in the coming months and that there will be a need for a comprehensive peace effort. Potential headline: “As Ethiopia conflict flares again, U.S. sees opening to build peace.”
In the Sept. 15 workshop, organized and hosted by the club’s International Correspondents Committee exclusively for Club members, DeMarco walked participants through websites far beyond the basic usaid.gov. He explained otherwise obscure places on the internet such as DEC, which stands for “Development Experience Clearinghouse,” not exactly a name that rolls off the tongue, but a site that offers a seemingly endless supply of authoritative background information and potential further sources.
In the realm of climate change, reporters can find information there on urban air pollution solutions, a big issue in the context of global targets to reach net zero emissions. For techies, there’s a rigorous study of a project in Kenya involving Virginia Tech, Egerton University in Kenya, and an Australian tech firm on how blockchain could be used to improve incomes, food security, and efficiency. Potential headline: “Blockchain can boost food security in Africa, study finds.”
There’s sam.gov, which stands for a decidedly less cuddly description, the “System for Award Management.” There, reporters can find requests for proposal, contracts, and other morsels for any branch of the U.S. government, including on foreign aid. DeMarco explained how to navigate the site to unearth the most interesting information.
And that’s not to mention other websites related to foreign assistance, including those of the International Development Finance Corp, which reveals that this U.S. government loan program is working on a new $400 million investment in Moldova energy in the context of Russia’s war on Ukraine; the Famine Early Warning System or FEWSNET -- think Somalia most recently; ForeignAssistance.gov; PEPFAR, which offers data-rich “country operation plans;” the Millennium Challenge Corp. at and of course the USAID Office of Inspector General reports.
One of DeMarco’s suggestions was to find documents related to a particular area of focus and look for key program directors and contacts, then seek interviews with them for more information, nuance and color.
“Foreign aid, like foreign policy, can take us on an unexpected journey,” DeMarco said.
