Good morning, my name is nancy limborg. I am the president and ceo here at the u. S. Institute of peace im delighted to welcome you here for a very important conversation to prevent violence in a fragile world. Our speakers here today i want to extend a special welcome to mark green we are honored to have them here today and a very warm welcome to secretary Madeleine Albright whos been a fierce champion of ours for years and many thanks to the National Endowment for democracy who made todays event possible with their generous support and our good friends and partners in the george w. Bush institute. Its wonderful to have them cohost the event with us today. Usip was founded thirtyfive years ago by congress nonpartisan National Institute dedicated to the notion that peace is very practical and very possible. We firmly believe todays complex Foreign Policy challenges require the best thinking and partnership across the aisle. Last Year Congress asked usip host a bipartisan congressionally mandated with a request to a comprehensive plan to combat extremism in the worlds most fragile states. The principle of recommendation is the us should adopt a policy of prevention with a strong focus on government. Congress passed the global fragility act to take those Task Force Recommendations to create a binding commitment to a longterm prevention strategy. So its good to know bipartisan action is possible and today we have the change to talk more about the opportunity to seize that momentum we have before us. We have a Great Program planned for you. I am delighted to introduce a very good friend and our next speaker, the president of the National Democratic institute, former ambassador to burma myanmar, a distinguished and very dedicated Public Servant and author. Please join me to welcome him. Thank you so much its wonderful to be back at usaid. We want to think nafta to organize this event this morning and with a tremendous contribution that usip and the task force has made to advancing the cause of violence mitigation conflict prevention in fragile states. The passage of the global fragility act is just one indicator of the influence of usip, so congratulations to you all and thanks to the Bush Institute for the partnership these endeavors were engaged in around the world and i also want to acknowledge the National Endowment of democracy for enduring support for democratic voices globally. We are part of the family and proud of that fat these days. I want to thank mark green as tireless advocate to move countries on the path of fragility for selfreliance and thank you for your leadership and the continued support of democracy and finally this even has been a true collaboration as we mentioned i would like to thank the courts corine from usip and her very own lauren vanmeter. I should say we are doing this early in the new year, so thank you for working through the holidays to make this happen when it did. The genesis of the meeting is secrtary albright who serves as a Task Force Member to be an outspoken preventing violent extremism is a security issue its democracy and governance challenge. It is embedded and the findings of the report the Task Force Reports democracy and Good Governance as at the part of any fragile cities prevention strategy. The report does this it is an interest must be central to any and all strategies to prevent violence and extremism. The report urges that we forge new relationships and common thinking up across policy communities and, to develop new, innovative ideas among our defends, diplomacy, development and peace building partners. The Task Force Report recognizes the rise as well of geopolitical competition in fragile states and affirms but it is in the u. S. National security interest to support those fragile, excuse, me this fragile and conflict affected states that have chosen the democratic path. Upt elite inters book of conflict prevention of the global fragility act the act itself acknowledges even failures with the need to learn from experience as we go but the conversation is to proceed in that spirit thank you for joining us today. Now to introduce my colleagues of the Human Freedom Initiative have chosen and as they have alternative models with the corrupt elite interest this book of conflict prevention of the global fragility act the act itself acknowledges even failures with the need to learn from experience as we go but the conversation is to proceed in that spirit thank you for joining us today. Now to introduce my colleagues of the Human Freedom Initiative of the george w. Bush institute. Because youre experienced human rights and democracy support including years at our sister organization, i. R. A. , she also has extensive work for several members of congress including house leadership. Hes been a terrific partner in this event and many other initiatives. Lindsay, please come on up as we introduce administrator mark green. Thank you very much. Good morning, thank you rick, i have the longest title in the room so i appreciate that. It is quite a mouthful. On the Bush Institute, we are really happy to be partnering with usip. We are also grateful for the Financial Support has been provided. We hope there is a kick off. This is what we hope will be a longer partnership looking at how democracy and governance can combat violent extremism around the world. At the Bush Institute, our Human Freedom Initiative tries to stand with those living under tyranny and argue for fostering and developing leadershiip in democracies and you will hear today from one of our scholars from tunisia. I have the honor of introducing mark green from the keynote address the 18th administrator ad usaid since august 2017 and brought to that job really an unmatchable cv in terms of his experience. He was a congressman from wisconsin he was ambassador to tanzania under president bush and served as president from my old alma mater that Republican Institute to see the Governance Program the president and ceo for the institute for global development, director for the u. S. Global leadership council, director of the millennium callenge corporation, on and on. But before he was confirmed in his testimony ambassador green said violent extremism in many parts of the world hostility make our work far more dangerous and more expensive. I think hell agree that today the challenge makes the work of usaid even more imperative in this world. After his remarks hes agreed to take a few questions. Please welcome mark green to the stage. Lindsay, thank you for those kind words. And great to be with my old friend secretary albright, but daunting to be with her. I will say the first time i spent any considerable time with her was actually my first Election Observation for iri. Id been on the job a couple weeks and here i was in ukraine with albright and its just as daunting today. Madam secretary, its great to be with you. It is an honor to be joining you for these important discussions that you are undertaking. We are at a historic moment for america and her role on the world stage. As we look around us, there is an awful lot to process. Challenges of sorts in nearly every corner of the world so were tempted to feel like the swimmer at the millionaires pool party. As that story goes, the millionaire had a party around his swimming pool. It was filled with man eating alligators and the millionair said, i will give 1 million or the hand of my daughter to the first man to swim across the pool. Silence. Then sure enough there was a guy in the water, pushing the alligators out of the way, got out, climbing, dripping wet and the millionaire said thats the most courageous thing ive ever seen. Will it be the million or my daughter . The swimmer said, i just want to know who the hell pushed me in the pool. We feel like that sometimes. But in reality, many of the problems that we see while they have their own distinct context, the underlying causes have much in common. Many, if not most, relate back to something profound, the innate desire to have a meaningful voice in their own future and where that desire is unmet or attacked inaudible for example i understand why many are confused or even confounded in the eastern drc. The Ebola Outbreak there is now the second deadliest in history that continues to claim lives, even though we have a vaccine and are promising treatments. Worse, we Wee Community protests and armed attacked that seemd aimed at the very officials leading the response. The insecurity is so great that humanitarian and healthcare workers are unable to get to the most important hotspots. So i understand why were confused. But then we pause and reflect that these are the same communities that have been betrayed by their leaders for so long. Drc has officials more interested in selfenrichment than servine everyday people it is so broken that many of the most ebolaaffected communities were allowed to vote in the last elections and that Joseph Kabila and his family still appears to be Holding Hundreds of millions of dollars in mining interests. I appreciate the people are frustrated or bewildered by what is happening in haiti less than 600 miles from our shore. U. S. And canada have provided relief, hospitals and clinics were launched or rebuilt, and acricultural Training Provided to help alleviate hunger. Promising patients could not get. Clinics schools could not get supplies and equipment. Donors like the u. S. , we could not even get humanitarian aid to where we needed most strong. Yes, it is true. Haiti often seems like a magnet for misery in terms of natural disasters. Ten years ago, in the rich it was rocked by a terrible earthquake and it would be tropical storms since. Haitians are not picketing mother nature. They are not raging against the hurricanes theyre all raged officials linked aid investment never quite reaches the people and outside peacekeepers who have been linked to the spread of cholera and even sexual misconduct. On a recent flight that i took from portauprince to a country orphanage, i asked my helicopter pilot how he would describe haiti and its challenges to those who had never been and he paused and then he said flatly, never forget, at 500 feet, haiti is a caribbean island. Some even seemed puzzled by whats going on in hong kong. I mean, lets face, it the island has been doing pretty well economically. Per capita income is among the highest in the world. Unemployment less than 3 . But when chief executive carrie lam and her beijing oriented government tried to push through a law authorizing quick extradition to the mainland and its a system of justice all in the name of peace and stability, everyday citizens, especially students immediately took to the streets. Lam seems to believe that the protest would quickly and quietly fade away, but citizens were willing to surrender individual liberties for the mainland version of. Crowds go to 1 million and then by some accounts to, even in the face of tear gas, rubber bullets, batons and more. Since the extradition bill appeared seven months ago, more than 2000 protesters have been injured and 6000 arrested. When hong kong held its District Council elections in the midst of all of this, the results were historic an unambiguous. Now, lets face, it these District Councils dont have a lot of power and so the elections generally dont see much in the way of turnout. Sending the clearest possible signal and the value they placed on democracy, nearly 3 million turned out to vote. The highest turnout in hong kongs history. New pro democracy candidates captured to 17 of the islands 18 District Councils. Some would argue that none of this is american concern. We did not bring can below to power. We certainly did not push hongkongers into the streets. But i think in reality, we all realize that the health of freedom and democracy does affect our own interests and our own fortunes. History tells us that states with more democratic characteristics are usually more prosperous, stable and reliable partners. They are better Economic Partners because they possess the characteristics and conditions that we believe are vital for economic vibrancy and sustainable growth. They are better Strategic Partners because they are citizen centered, making them less likely to produce terrorist, proliferate weapons of mass destruction or engage in armed aggression. Conversely, authoritarian regimes are at best unreliable partners and at worst pose significant risks to peace and stability. Authoritarian regimes like maduro or tacos give rise to force migration of refugees burning a potentially destabilizing their neighbors, and in order to maintain their hold on power, regimes like these, regimes like iran, repress their people by isolating their citizens from outside influences and ideas. We often attacked, directly or indirectly physically or digitally those outside their borders who represent the freedom that they fear. So as we look to troubled lands and fragile tour, these are the principles that we need to keep in mind, and thats what usaid i was placing a new Even Stronger emphasis on stronger demo credit governance, citizen responsiveness, we believe it is crucial, anne. Key aim to build the usaid of tomorrow, among other things, were launching a new bureau for development, democracy, and innovation. Did ei will bring together expertise across the agency, will serve as a one stop shop for Technical Support and designing solicitations and programs and as its name implies, it will elevate democracy and governance and promote human liberty and services to and responsiveness in all of our programming and offerings. Did i will feature centers a focus that will help carry this out like the center for you than includes a development, center for equality and womens empowerment or the center for democracy, human rights and government. Thanks to President Trump and with the bipartisan support of the senate, ddi will be led by a long term democracy and, assistant administrator michelle factory. You can also see our stronger emphasis on democracy and democratic governance in the country by country metrics that we are assembling that we used to guide our investments and our priorities, the country road maps as we call them incorporate metrics that measure a countrys commitment to elements like freedom of expression, association and conference, the rule of law, protection of Civil Liberties and government transparency. When countries score low in these areas, it will challenge us to ask if we are dedicating enough resources to those causes. When countries score well, it will challenge us to find ways to best leverage their strength. In coming months, we will also see a greater emphasis on democracy, in new democracy focused Communications Plan that i am announcing today. That campaign will highlight our democratic governance investments all around the world as well as how this work tackles the underlying challenges and causes that ive mentioned and how all of that serves americas strategic interests. We want to help americans understand how modest investments and country institutions, self government, can prevent or extinguish the brush fires that seem to be burning in so many places. It will feature personal stories of individuals who are promoting democracy and Human Dignity in their own communities and countries, people like our china to mom, a tireless advocate for equality and inclusivity in nepal, after the debris, the first female president of the basic court of christiana, the largest District Court in coastal. We will tell their stories to help americans understand our story. That campaign will run through world democracy day on september 15th, but most importantly, you will see our stronger commitment to democratic governance and our programmatic offerings so, what will this look like . I will take a few minutes to give you a brief overview. In many countries, particularly those countries struggling to emerge from an authoritarian shadow, we want to emphasize programs that help bring Greater Transparency to institutions. You know, in the west, i think we are guilty of too often assuming that transparency and openness in decisionmaking is a natural state of governance. For countries that are emerging from say, communism, there is no tradition of openness. And its never really occurred to officials that they might want to keep their citizens effectively informed. Were looking at ways to train a new generation of officials to make routine such matters as the public release of meeting schedules and reporting that shows compliance with the rules in decisionmaking. In my recent visit to albania, the Prime Minister told me how much he appreciates all the investments that usaid and the larger u. S. Government have made over these years and then said to me that the Traditional Development programs, that is no longer what we need. And we look at the metrics, they were off the charts, as a high to the country. He said, we need help to fight corruption. We need help to restore peoples faith in government and theyre leaders and so, we plan to respond to him with tools and Technical Assistance that can help foster a true culture of government transparency. Pending congressional approval, we are looking to partner with his government to establish the u. S. Albania Government Data transparency academy. We hope this academy can focus on the three pillars, promoting Budget Transparency in government, insuring public visibility on Government Procurement procedures and creating demand for transparency among youth. A second focus in our programming will be fostering and supporting genuine choices in elections. We want to invest in political pluralism, free elections, and strengthening electoral integrity. You know, these days, authoritarian snow they cant lock elections out right. Even maduro and or take us a days report democracy, they want elections, and then they work to benjamin big them in any way that they can. In advance of the elections in cambodia, for, example they not only dissolved the main Opposition Group and banned them from politics but arrested and jailed its leader and at the same time announced he actually wanted free elections and wanted to bring observers in. They would see how smooth elections can be. But greenside no, especially when you are essentially on a post. Traditional democratic voices, the u. S. , canada and europe, all of us refused to take part. China, which purchased the election equipment, was only too happy to oblige and the chinese praised to the election as orderly. Well look for ways to support Electoral Systems and observation teams Meeting International objective standards and we will this press dismay at those which do not. You third, we want to support citizen responsiveness in government. When citizens see little hope that officials will listen and respond to their needs and priorities. On the other hand, disagreements or a chance to remain civil when citizens believe they are at least heard and so, we will support programs that help leaders, especially new leaders, become better constituent driven officials. I one of the most uplifting things i have ever seen was meeting with a young woman mayor in guatemala. She had a particular way of conducting town hall meetings. She would have her team bring road equipment to the town hall and then, when someone would say, i have a pothole, he would point and while the town hall was going on, the guy would go and fix the pothole. I kept thinking to myself, boy, do i have a use for a person like that we cant all be as action oriented as that mayor, but we can teach such modest things as town halls, how do utilize polling and surveys, helping parties to construct issue based platforms that are clear and which lead to accountability, so those are the activities that we will look to fund and to support. Fourth, inclusiveness, no democracy can be called representative if it is not listening to all of its people. No political system is truly stable ever dehumanizes large segments of population. Stability is not merely the absence of council. It requires an announcement in which all groups have a stake in the system survival and success and so, we will work to support and foster civic space, help counter dialogued vilifies, and reinforce the independence of journalist and media organizations. We will pay special attention to the largest marginalized community in nearly every part of the world, women, and so, we are ramping up our work on w. Gdp, Womens Global Development prosperity initiative, which aims to empower girls and women in numerous ways. We will support investments in womens education and training, expand access to financing and market opportunities, tackle barriers to economic participation like the laws of which prevent women from the golden property. , you also want to operationalize know the framework known as women, peace and security. It shows a reconciliation dispute resolution has woman at the table, almost always produces more sustainable results. Furthermore, we know the women are often the best Early Warning indicators of the rise of extremism. They are closer to the their families, they are closer to particularly, their sons, and so they can help spot trouble before it begins. Finally, there is no more important work for building stability, for tackling marginalization and reinforcing the bond between citizens and their government then creating pathways for youth engagement. Young people in the world over are eager to make their mark and to be heard. They are anxious to see a world in which they have a realistic chance to create, to contribute, to provide for themselves in their loved ones. There are over 1. 8 billion youth in the world. 90 of them live in the developing world and sadly, studies show that most of them dont believe that their government cares about their views or listens to their ideas. That disconnection cannot continue. It must be addressed if democracy is to succeed in the future. We will be looking for ideas and mechanisms that bring the young people together, especially across political and demographic lines and give them a chance to be heard. Well put place a premium on projects to teach young people how do you disagree and yet coexist, debate and yet reach conclusions and help them become productive citizens. Well place an even greater premium on those a to reach out to the many young people caught up in human displacing that we see in so many parts of the world. A final thought, we recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall. And i had the honor of being there as the reagan statue was unveiled not so far from the Brandenburg Gate but it actually reminded me of the 25th anniversary, which i celebrated in a different way. I was iri in those days and it occurred to me that i had staff who were not alive when the wall was up. And i said, how to help them understand what this means that i went to one of our bold board members, general branches go croft, and i said, general, you were there, you were there for your ripple and free, why do i tell young people . And he looked at he said, tell them it wasnt easy. He said, these days we look back and we, say of course, of course the wall would, fall of course germany will unify. He said, it wasnt easy and it was often in doubt. There were moments it did not who did not think it would happen. To them that when georgia you bush brought up to his cabinet he was going to give that speech you told them not to do, it scope off told not to do it. And so, i think the lesson for all of us, topic we take on today and talk about those problems, and documents problems in every corner of the world, we remind ourselves, as scope said, it isnt easy, it wasnt easy, it will never be easy. Building citizen responsive government, bringing communities together, its never been easy, but in that is the greatest glory that we have. A chance to work on responsiveness, chance to work on those underlying influences that we know are crucial to addressing fragility, to preventing violence, to giving hope to the next generation. Thank you. Thank you, sir couple questions . I am a train politician, i would dodge them as best i can. If you have questions we got two mics set up. Dont be shy. Told you this guys got a really impressive cv. If you could identify yourself, where you are from. Thank you. Thanks, administrator. My name is john. I am from canada but originally from haiti. I was glad you highlighted the situation of haiti. I worked with usaid for the democracy and Governance Office for a few years, but im also the creation of the democratic institute. I work worked on the political programming for ndi haiti for five years. My question is, given that you are putting about a new paradigm, new strategies, new programming, is it a realisation that given the the democratic backsliding we have been witnessing in parts of the world despite the massive investment of the international community, is that a realisation that there is a failure or are there some incremental changes that you want to implement . Great question. I think it is a recognition that we have a new challenges but also new opportunities and rules. I point out that back when usaid began, if you look at all of the money that flowed from the u. S. To the developing world, about 80 to 85 of it was very traditional government assistance. These days it is less than 10 . You have other flows that tap into opportunities that we need to step into. The largest part of course is commerce. Business in the developing world. I think there are new opportunities to collaborate with the private sector and local government to produce outcomes. Secondly, we have Better Technology in terms of the metrics that we use to measure outcomes. And then third, in terms of the usaid and our approach is to the good fortune of standing on the shoulders of those that for me. I like working in the development of democracy space because all came before me produced tools. What im trying to do what usa ideas perhaps aligned all of these tools in ways that point us towards, i think, a more outcome driven approach. Believe t as ive said many tii believe the purpose of our foreign assistance must be ending its need to exist and that when countries are willing to do difficult things, when they are willing to do big reforms then we need to walk with them along the way, but we need to be clear eyed and we need to be very frank and we need to not presume that we have all the answers but also talk about our own experience, our shortcoming and how countries can benefit so, it is new tools, new challenges and i think an opportunity to align all of the tools that we have in perhaps more effective ways. Yes, sir. Im bob, hershey im a consultant. In your use of new tools, how are things going on using the internet to hold meetings online and transparency and gather local funding and local Program Requirements . Great question and yes, that is one of the biggest challenge, or our biggest developments that we have and i often tell people, when i started in the development world, back in the late eighties, as a volunteer teacher in kenya, in my Little Village there was but one wind up telephone and you would pick it up and you would say, operator, give me 662 nairobian you would get under the mango tree until the call came through. Ten years after that, Johnny Carson was ambassador and he allowed me to go visit my old village, and i walked up and i wanted to find one of my former students and a young boy, and i said, you know navy, can you go get him and he pulled out his phone and said im a text message. We have opportunities now using Simple Technology that changed everything and so in terms of governance, citizens have the ability to use Modest Technology to hold government accountable, to express their opinion and in return government used to be putting everything online, everything in openness so the people can have their fate restored day by day when they see how government expenditures go. This is not inclusive, this is not inclusive. She tried to stop me from asking questions, so i just want to say that, apologized for this annoyance,. When i got to the United States several decades ago, i thought after i get a ph. D. I will go around the world and see where i can help the most but now i realize in america, this is a problem. They try to cover up everything and we have the highest mass incarceration in the world but we never say we have violation of human rights. Its a problem and i am here, i have a ph. D. , i have a very successful family with high achievers, and i find out my family are destroyed, i am an activist and advocate, i have produced tv programs and i have realized i want to help the world but, i have decided i have to stay here, later and i was not willing to do it but i was forced to do it, page with almost no freedom. Your question. But i want to tell you the problem so you can help me and help United States and help the world, how you are going to improve our society and i know you mention data some kind of partnership, and actually currently, that partnership is a serious problem maybe for this reason i was always denied to afford the opportunity to speak whether it is town hall page, Police Always obstructing him entering into space so you can really help our society especially from america first. Ill do my best to help society. Okay inaudible three levels of government inaudible . Great, thank you. One more question if we have one. Right there. Hi, mark, terrific remarks and thanks for the energy you are bringing to these issues usa, it is really critical, one of the things which you raised which i think is a really interesting idea is the evaluation of countries to see how they are doing and if theyre having challenges and problems to invest more heavily in democracy and governance in those places and i just wanted to ask you to go a little bit deeper on this because of course one of the challenges that you face in doing that is one, earmarks, and im really interested to hear how you get over the hump of being able to allocate more money for these things but the second is also that those environments where the challenges are greatest are often the most difficult for us to do this type of work, and you got a lot of resistance from the government, and the question, is how would you do that . How would you find the places where things are the hardest and invest more as opposed to having to do less . Good to see you again. In terms of picking our targets for investments, if you will, we try as much as possible to rely upon those metrics, what we call the country road maps but weve assembled, 17 objective metrics on commitment and capacity. You are pointing to the imperfect part of that in that we do have restrictions on funding, whether we no longer do earmarks, we do tertiary Public Policy directives i think they refer to them now but they are restrictions on some of our flexibility. The grand plan, to be very honest and open about it, in assembling these metrics, is to be able to earn more flexibility from the congressman across the executive branch. People may disagree with individual programs and investments, but will be able to show them, republican and, democrat at least it is based upon objective indicators that we are using where there is a logic to the approach that we are taking. So, that is the grand plan on that front. You are pointing to one of the challenges that we have. Secondly in terms of being able to work in some of these environments, first, as you know, we work primarily through implementing partners, the iri and ndin usips of the world, and we rely upon them to get to places we cannot. But it is a great challenge for us, right now. The non permissive environments that we face, is a major challenge, and its something we are constantly bumping up against. It does hurt our ability. On the other hand, i do think that what we are seeing in so many countries is that the youth bulge, that young generation that is aspirational in terms of its belief and wanting to have a voice in its future, is creating pressure points such that i think it is creating new openings for us. And so its a tough challenge and its a balance that we strike, but that is one of the principal hindrances to doing as much to want to. On behalf of usip, ndi, and the bush center, i want to thank you for your time, and for your leadership. We appreciate you devoting a good chunk of it to us this morning. For those in the audience, we ask you stay put. We are going to transition very quickly to our next conversation. But before that happens, please thank me and joining in thanking our speaker, mark green. Thank you
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