In every case, closing missions has allowed the United States to more closely focus its resources where it can have a real impact. The agency has also reduced its total staff by more than 25 percent since the beginning of the Administration. Few agencies in government have more dramatically streamlined their operations in recent history. Second, the Administration has come a long way in developing fast, flexible instruments for delivering assistance in today's rapidly changing world. Third, the agency continues to do more to work directly with people in the developing world.
Sustainable development is driven from the ground up.
Foreign assistance has always worked with governments in efforts to get policy right and create an institutional framework for growth. Whether it is microenterprise, immunization campaigns, encouraging democracy or teaching children, the agency is increasingly harnessing the best of America's know-how to directly improve the lives of people in the developing world. Just as the world has changed dramatically since the end of the Cold War, so has the role of America's foreign assistance program. Foreign assistance is more central than ever before. The United States is assisting nations around the world in starting stock markets, helping the innocent victims of famine and conflict and working to increase human capacity.