J Alexander Thier, the founder of Triple Helix, was the executive director of the Overseas Development Institute in London and was USAID’s chief of policy, planning, and learning from 2013 to 2015. He is writing in a personal capacity.
Sudanese dockworkers unload a U.S. aid shipment organized by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the World Food Programme at Port Sudan, Sudan on the Red Sea coast, on May 5, 2016.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (C) meets Syrian refugees during his visit in Hay al-Tanak an impoverished district that was turned into an informal Syrian refugee camp in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on March 25, 2016 . / AFP / Ibrahim Chalhoub (Photo credit should read )
PANAMA CITY, PANAMA - APRIL 07: Part of the Panama City skyline is seen as revelations about the law firm Mossack Fonseca & Co continue to play out around the world on April 7, 2016 in Panama City, Panama. The law firm, which specializes in setting up offshore companies, is at the center of an international scandal and continues to maintain it has broken no laws and that all its operations were legal. A report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists referred to as the 'Panama Papers,' based on information anonymously leaked from Mossack Fonesca, indicates possible connections between people setting up the offshore companies and money laundering. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
ANTALYA, TURKEY - NOVEMBER 15: (Front row L-R) Chinese President Xi Jinping, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, US President Barack Obama, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Russian President Vladimir Putin, (2nd Row L-R) British Prime Minister David Cameron, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, (3rd row L-R) Guy Ryder, Director General of International Labour Organisation (ILO), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, Angel Gurria (L), Secretary-General of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Bank of England Governor and Financial Stability Board (FSB) Chairman Mark Carney pose for a family photo during the G20 Turkey Leaders Summit on November 15, 2015 in Antalya, Turkey. (Photo by Berk Ozkan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
