Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have said USAID is crucial to deploying their preferred "smart power" foreign policy strategy, which envisions more equal roles for diplomacy and development alongside defense. His selection ends a long search to find someone to head the beleaguered agency, which dispenses billions of dollars in aid each year to developing countries.
Rajiv Shah, a medical doctor who currently holds a senior position at the Agriculture Department dealing with food security, will bring "fresh ideas" and an "impressive background" to the U.S. Agency for International Development, President Barack Obama said in a statement announcing the nomination.
Shah, 36, whose family immigrated to the U.S. from India, is now the Undersecretary for Research, Education and Economics and Chief Scientist at the Agriculture Department where he manages a budget of more than $2.6 billion and more than 10,000 staff around the world.
Before that, Shah had several positions at the Gates Foundation, including managing its $1.5 billion contribution to a global vaccination fund and helping launch the foundation's Global Development program where he oversaw a $1.3 billion investment portfolio.
http://www.usaid.gov/
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The United States has a long history of extending a helping hand to those people overseas struggling to make a better life, recover from a disaster or striving to live in a free and democratic country. It is this caring that stands as a hallmark of the United States around the world -- and shows the world our true character as a nation.
U.S. foreign assistance has always had the twofold purpose of furthering America's foreign policy interests in expanding democracy and free markets while improving the lives of the citizens of the developing world. Spending less than one-half of 1 percent of the federal budget, USAID works around the world to achieve these goals.
USAID's history goes back to the Marshall Plan reconstruction of Europe after World War Two and the Truman Administration's Point Four Program. In 1961, the Foreign Assistance Act was signed into law and USAID was created by executive order.
Since that time, USAID has been the principal U.S. agency to extend assistance to countries recovering from disaster, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms.
USAID is an independent federal government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State. Our Work supports long-term and equitable economic growth and advances U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting:
economic growth, agriculture and trade;
global health; and,
democracy, conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance.
We provide assistance in five regions of the world:
Sub-Saharan Africa;
Asia;
Latin America and the Caribbean,
Europe and Eurasia; and
The Middle East.
With headquarters in Washington, D.C., USAID's strength is its field offices around the world. We work in close partnership with private voluntary organizations, indigenous organizations, universities, American businesses, international agencies, other governments, and other U.S. government agencies. USAID has working relationships with more than 3,500 American companies and over 300 U.S.-based private voluntary organizations.
For more information on our business and procurement opportunities, please visit our Business section. If you would like to know more about employment opportunities with USAID, please visit our Careers section of our web site.
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