Writing in the Center for Global Development’s (CGD) “Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Blog,” Sarah Jane Staats, director of the Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Program, discusses President Obama’s trip to Africa this week, writing, “The White House and U.S. development agencies have been unusually quiet prior to departure, but some things are sure to be on the agenda: economic growth, trade, investment, democracy, youth, food security, and health.” She notes, “Based on his administration’s global development policy work to date, we can expect three themes” — “[e]conomic growth, trade and investment”; “[d]emocracy gains, youth and women’s empowerment”; and “[t]he initiatives: food security, global health and climate power.” She adds, “While presidential trip announcements can draw global attention to important issues and policy responses, they run the risk of being photo ops that may or may not amount to much afterwards” (6/24).