5 Ways Public Service has Transformed International Development

5 Ways Public Service has Transformed International Development

All over the world, people are suffering in unimaginable ways. Public service organization USAID estimates that 53 million people worldwide are in desperate need of food assistance. This aid and other forms of support must come from public service centers, either as part of government or as a non-governmental organization. A public service center assists international development through the promotion of health, food security, conflict mitigation, economic growth, and the increased equity of marginalized groups in any region.

Public Service Organizations Improve World Health, Promote Economic Growth

  1. Health: Policy analysts and public administrators work alongside people with medical expertise to gather information and ensure that policy initiatives can improve the health of those in various regions worldwide. For example, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) has noted that many countries lack the data collection they need to identify the best ways to deliver a health initiative. CHAI provides an applied analytics team to gather data, process it, and deliver this information to decision-makers in the country. With this additional support, policy-makers are able to make more educated decisions about the health needs of their citizens.
  2. Food Security: A major component of health in any region is defined by access to food. Some countries have the ability to produce or import plenty of food for citizens, while others struggle. USAID is a government agency that acts as a public service center aiming to improve the resilience of sovereign nations worldwide. Through USAID, the U.S. is the largest donor of food to Syria, Ebola-affected West Africa, and Sudan. The public service organization continually evaluates its approach to food assistance, supporting the local economy whenever possible and confirming that the food meets the nutritional needs of the population. In countries where malnutrition is chronic, USAID also works to improve the education of the population, so that people can meet their own needs in the future.
  3. Conflict Mitigation: The ability to ensure food for the population has a dramatic effect on a population’s ability to manage conflict in the region. The ongoing conflict in Syria is but one example of the work of public service organizations worldwide to improve the lives of millions. When providing food and means to help sovereign nations solve their own problems is not enough, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs offers support to minimize conflict and return peace to a region. Seeing that emergency relief efforts can only help when aid workers are not at risk for injury or death, this office may lobby the U.N. Security Council to find a political solution for conflicts that have led to open war and the deaths of thousands of people.
  4. Economic Growth: While some public service organizations provide assistance to countries in need, others emphasize the support that people in individual countries require to continue the economic development. The International Economic Development Council recognizes that economic growth in communities often happens at the grass-roots level. The IEDC provides educational and professional development opportunities to economic developers worldwide. By helping members through education, consulting, and other opportunities, the IEDC helps create jobs and promote the accumulation of wealth.
  5. Diversity and Equity: Many non-governmental organizations acknowledge the value of involving businesses in the creation of worldwide standards and recommendations to improve quality of life. The World Economic Forum started as a council of the thousand most important businesses of the day. Now, the Forum has become a standard for global leadership, promoting subjects such as diversity and gender equity. The Forum brings together the best minds on international topics to define how issues such as gender violence affect a region’s ability to grow economically. For example, Forum analysis says the welfare cost of gender violence is 5.2% of the global gross domestic product (GDP). When countries receive the support they need from organizations like the UN and the Forum to meet goals to end violence against women and children, they save the world trillions of dollars.

Public service focuses on the improvement of lives in a community, whether a city, a country or a continent. With a Master in Public Administration and Policy, graduates have the policy analysis and management skills they need to take on impactful public service jobs. By working continually to identify problems in the international community, a public service organization can help to ensure people all over the world can feel safe, healthy, and fed, along with the ability to achieve their own economic goals.

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