Departing USAID - Celebrating Milestones!

Hi all – As I prepare to take my leave from USAID this Friday, January 17, I want to share a few parting reflections.? About two and a half years ago I had the privilege of rejoining the U.S. government and serving with pride in the Biden-Harris Administration.? I took on roles as USAID’s Global Food Crisis Coordinator and Deputy Coordinator for Feed the Future, and also served as the first Assistant to the Administrator in the newly created Bureau for Resilience, Environment and Food Security (REFS).? I could not be prouder of all we have accomplished together — as an Administration and as a USAID team.??

While my primary focus was food security (see more below), I am proud to have served as the first REFS Assistant to the Administrator. Working with my? extraordinary leadership team, Senior Deputy Nancy Eslick and Deputies Mia Beers, Ann Vaughan and Gillian Caldwell, we forged a new Bureau with a clear sense of purpose and strong esprit de corps.? Together, we worked across this 400-person Bureau -- encompassing 11 different technical centers and offices-- to develop our vision, mission and? “visual” identity to reflect our shared ambitions. Together we are taking more inclusive and integrated approaches, using our expertise and resources in agriculture, nutrition, water, energy, environment, and infrastructure to collectively accelerate progress to achieve more resilient outcomes for both people and the planet.

One of my greatest pleasures was meeting with our extraordinary staff in USAID Missions around the world, as well as the many partners with whom we collaborate.? It is through your passion and commitment, your tireless and outstanding work, that the United States shows up as such a strong and compelling ally to vulnerable communities and developing nations.???

To my REFS colleagues and friends — thank you for your partnership and for your commitment to USAID’s mission.? As I said in my swearing-in ceremony, you truly represent the best that America has to offer, and I could not be more proud to have served alongside you.?

My time at REFS closes out my government career after 20 years of service — roughly a dozen years as a civil servant at USAID and the U.S. Department of State, and another 8 as a political appointee in both the Obama-Biden and Biden-Harris Administrations. Through it all, tackling global hunger and driving inclusive and integrated approaches that allow vulnerable communities to become more resilient to climate, conflict and other shocks have been through-lines.? Thanks to all who supported and mentored me along the way.? It has been a memorable and rewarding ride.

As I look back on my 2+ years of service, I want to share a few of the highlights that reflect the continued evolution and importance of the U.S. Government’s global hunger initiative, Feed the Future (FTF) as we work to address poverty, hunger and malnutrition in a world beset by ever increasing shocks and stresses. Under Administrator Power's leadership we have:

– Doubled down on public-private partnerships, including the innovative new FASA Fund in partnership with the governments of Norway, the UK and South Korea as well as an innovative financing facility focused on improving nutrition and diets in Sub Sahara Africa.

–Increased investments in women’s economic empowerment through GROW, such that today at least one in every four FTF dollars spent are spent on empowering women, and??

–Centered resilience more squarely in both our food security and broader work with the launch of a new Agency Resilience Policy and through our innovative response to the global food crisis that generated historically high food and fertilizer prices around the world in 2022.?

–With support from Congress, we programmed @$1 billion in supplemental funds?through FTF in response to the global food crisis to rapidly shore up food systems in vulnerable countries, including with access to finance for small agri-businesses and surging market-based access to seeds and fertilizer to vulnerable smallholders, especially women.? We used resources to dramatically increase investments in soil health and fertilizer use efficiency, and provided technical support to help develop and deliver on the related AU Nairobi Declaration which outlines African nations’ comprehensive commitment to creating more resilient and productive agri-food systems.?

–? Prioritizing research and innovation, we helped producers adapt to a changing climate through the US-UAE Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate, surpassing Feed the Future investment targets for climate resilient food systems research.??

–We co-led PREPARE, which increased access to weather information services and climate finance and supported investments in climate smart policies and programs in highly food insecure countries, and??

– Expanded our investments to reduce food, loss and waste as the global temperatures rise to help ensure that more food can make it off the farm and into the homes of those who need it most. ?

In the face of flat and declining budgets, we also made tough decisions to reprioritize resources in regions of both great need and great opportunity, leading to the launch of Feed the Future Accelerator in the east and southern Africa region, while scaling down or closing programs in other parts of the world.??

Internally, we focused on streamlining our processes and coordination.? We created new systems and structures within USAID, such as the REFS Bureau Feed the Future Steering Committee to ensure sustained focus and shared equities across all FTF-related REFS offices.

Across the 12 U.S. Departments and Agencies engaged in Feed the Future, we developed new partnerships and new friendships, and our collective work to advance U.S. global leadership in the fight against hunger is on impressive display in our 2024 Interagency Report.??

Thank you to partner communities, host governments, donors, the private sector, civil society, research institutions, multilateral organizations and all those involved in the fight against poverty, hunger and malnutrition. Your insights, ingenuity, commitment and resilience in the face of one of the greatest challenges of our day - the fight against global hunger and malnutrition - are making all the difference.

CGIAR AGRA Ismahane Elouafi Professor Lindiwe Majele Sibanda Bram Govaerts USAID/Zambia Beth Dunford International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) InterAction Bread for the World U.S. Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC) Alliance to End Hunger Feed the Future World Food Prize Foundation Mashal Husain Mercy Corps Catholic Relief Services Save the Children International Bill O'Keefe Kate PB Olga Petryniak Tjada D'Oyen McKenna Paul Weisenfeld RTI International Chemonics International DAI Tetra Tech International Development ACDI/VOCA Godfrey Bahiigwa African Union Dr. Agnes Kalibata Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim Jonathan Papoulidis Josefa Sacko 联合国粮农组织 Jocelyn G. Brown Hall Matt Nims Greg Collins International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) CGIAR Better Diets and Nutrition USAID Tanzania USAID