Council on Foreign Relations wins major grant

The Council on Foreign Relations said on May 19 that it had received a grant from the Gates Foundation to launch a project focused on rebuilding the case for global health and development in U.S. foreign policy. CFR said the initiative will back research, policy analysis and outreach aimed at linking health and development finance to foreign-policy decisions. The project will be led through CFR’s Global Health program, which is directed by Thomas J. Bollyky. ### Who is funding the new effort? The Gates Foundation is providing the grant, according to CFR’s announcement published May 19. CFR did not disclose the amount in the announcement, but said the funding would bolster its work on aligning global health priorities with what it called “contemporary foreign policy realities” and on mobilizing sustainable sources of development finance. (cfr.org) CFR described the initiative as the Project on Rebuilding the Case for Global Health and Development in Foreign Policy. The organization said the project is intended to generate new analysis and broaden support for global health and development finance at a time when foreign assistance and international cooperation are under pressure. ### What will the project actually do? CFR said the project will conduct a strategic review of foreign-policy approaches to global health, including a data-driven assessment of the risks and opportunities tied to reductions in foreign assistance. (cfr.org) The group said the work will also examine national interests connected to international health cooperation and identify achievable health goals in what it called a shifting geopolitical landscape. The project will also analyze ways to mobilize development finance, including concessional lending, blended capital and advance purchase contracting, CFR said. It plans to pilot innovative financing mechanisms at development finance institutions and host convenings around proposals aimed at vulnerable populations. ### Which CFR officials are attached to it? Thomas J. Bollyky, CFR’s Bloomberg Chair in Global Health and director of the Global Health program, said in the announcement that “the world needs governments and industries, individuals, and institutions” working toward prosperity and security supported by global health and development finance. (cfr.org) Bollyky said the project would help generate fresh thinking and support in that area. Stephanie Psaki, a CFR senior fellow for global health and national security, will help lead the project, CFR said. The organization said Psaki most recently served as the inaugural U.S. coordinator for global health security at the National Security Council and has worked across the White House, federal agencies and international research and program management. Shannon K. O’Neil, CFR’s senior vice president, said Psaki’s background in global health, foreign policy and national security would help the initiative inform U.S. foreign policy on health. (cfr.org) O’Neil’s statement appeared in the May 19 announcement. ### Why is CFR positioning this inside foreign policy rather than public health alone? CFR has for several years framed health as a foreign-policy issue, not only a development or humanitarian one. (cfr.org) Its Global Health program says it produces policy analysis on health challenges in a globalized world, and a 2023 CFR report argued that the United States should treat pandemics and climate-related health threats as matters affecting national interests, including security and economic power. The new project extends that framing by tying health and development more explicitly to finance and diplomacy. In its announcement, CFR said it plans to engage bipartisan state and local officials through convenings and partnerships designed to broaden discussion of global health and development as core U.S. foreign-policy interests. ### What comes next? CFR said the next phase will include strategic reviews, financing analysis and convenings under the new project. (cfr.org) The organization directed readers seeking more information to its Global Communications team and said the work will sit within its existing Global Health program, where Bollyky and Psaki are among the named participants. (cfr.org)