WASHINGTON. A network of global development experts from think tanks, humanitarian and development organizations, and advocacy groups, will launch a new initiative to bring U.S. foreign assistance into the 21st century.

"America's foreign assistance system is badly outdated, poorly organized, and generally ill-equipped to meet today's global challenge," says the network's new report, "New Day, New Way: U.S. Foreign Assistance for the 21st Century."

The launch of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) will be held on Tuesday, June 10 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building.

WHO: Speakers include:

Rep. Howard L. Berman, chair, House Foreign Affairs Committee

Rep. Nita Lowey, chair, State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee

Sen. Chuck Hagel, member, Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Steve Radelet, Center for Global Development and co-chair, MFAN

Gayle Smith, Center for American Progress and co-chair, MFAN

and MFAN members:

David Beckmann, Bread for the World

Ray Offenheiser, Oxfam America

George Ingram, Academy for Educational Development

Lael Brainard, Brookings Institution

WHAT: Bringing U.S. Foreign Assistance to the 21st Century

WHEN: Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

WHERE: Room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building

Members of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network include: Steve Radelet (Center for Global Development), Gayle Smith (Center for American Progress), Brian Atwood (Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota), David Beckmann (Bread for the World), Lael Brainard (Brookings Institution), Larry Diamond (Hoover Institution, Stanford University), Sam Worthington (Interaction), Francis Fukuyama (The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University), Carol Lancaster (Mortara Center for International Studies, Georgetown University), George Ingram (Academy for Educational
Development), Larry Nowels, Charles MacCormack (Save the Children), Michael McFaul (Center on Democracy, Development and Rule of Law, Stanford University), Ray Offenheiser (Oxfam America), Stewart Patrick (Council on Foreign Relations), and William Reese (International Youth Foundation).

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