US Agency for International Development - Obama Presidency Oral History

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Craig Spencer

...in the Obama administration, from USAID [US Agency for Internationa...
...the Obama administration, from USAID [ US Agency for International Development ] or other places or with litera...

Karen Richardson

...things. Samantha Power, who is the USAID [United States Agency for Internationa...
...Power, who is the USAID [United States Agency for International Development ] administrator now—she came a numbe...

John Podesta

...development in Africa. We regeared the USAID [US Agency for Internationa...
...in Africa. We regeared the USAID [ US Agency for International Development ] programs. Those didn't take big cut...

Geraldine Richmond

...Department, met with some folks at USAID [United States Agency for Internationa...
...with some folks at USAID [United States Agency for International Development ] as well as other organizations, jus...
...they let me see this school that USAID has built up, which is to serve as ...
...there was no tuition. And so, I think USAID is doing the best that it can to try t...
...to that region, certainly with USAID funding. I have seen that grow more...

Craig Fugate

...We get the reports. I say, “Tell USAID [US Agency for Internationa...
...get the reports. I say, “Tell USAID [ US Agency for International Development ] whatever I got is theirs.” There'...
...dealing with. So I knew that whatever USAID needed, good or close, and ther...
...It's Raj Shah, the new administrator of USAID , and they're asking for more urba...
...going, “Look, I'm not waiting for USAID to ask for stuff. Put togethe...

...Raj Shah was giving the brief from the USAID . I forget who was from Stat...
...Raj Shah started to brief on what USAID has got going. Just the body languag...
...Now here's the key thing. You've got USAID , UN, Secretary Napolitano, Hos...
...I had already gotten pushback from USAID about sending even more teams down...
...my reward was, I got detailed over to USAID for a couple of weeks to help Raj wit...
...I have an interagency agreement with USAID , which we got signed, that has th...
...in an international aid mission under USAID . What did you see down there? Wha...

Thomas Tidwell

...with the State Department and with USAID [United States Agency for Internationa...
...and with USAID [United States Agency for International Development ] to be able to promote programs aroun...

Dan Feldman

...sometimes up to three, detailees from USAID [US Agency for Internationa...
...up to three, detailees from USAID [ US Agency for International Development ]. Obviously the civilian assistan...
...important. And so, to have full-time USAID officers in our office, helping t...
...it. I did all the engagement with USAID , and on economic development acros...
...head of Afghanistan and Pakistan at USAID , [laughs] he used to say—I think h...

...as I said, was constantly frustrated as USAID because they couldn't do the types o...
...faced a huge blowback from many of the USAID contractors. Members of Congress go...
...had a conversation frequently with USAID counterparts where they would describ...

Andrew Herscowitz

...Andy held a variety of positions in USAID [US Agency for Internationa...
...held a variety of positions in USAID [ US Agency for International Development ], which he joined in 2002 and fo...
...go from law school back to working for USAID full time? After having lived in bot...
...snarky comments about, “Oh, that's USAID . They're doing really good work here....
...what happened was, a few months later, USAID came to town. This was a town tha...

...Development Credit Authority [DCA] at USAID ? I went and I worked at a law fir...
...his father had been a lawyer for USAID , and how he had essentially been ...
...been a general counsel for the USAID missions overseas. That piqued m...
...that and started applying for jobs with USAID , and after a few tries I eventuall...
...Development Credit Authority, which was USAID 's loan-guarantee program. I learned a...
...Office of Management and Budget, and USAID was arguing with another agency, OPI...
...way that I thought when I was over at USAID . So part of my job here is, as we'r...
...Right around the time that I joined USAID , there were a few magical things tha...
...lucky enough to be part of the team at USAID in the General Counsel's Office tha...
...fairly consistent. Then, you were USAID mission director in Ecuador at a perio...
...interesting in terms of the role of USAID and the political role that it take...
...and then ultimately culminated in USAID leaving the country in 2014? Ecuado...
...to find out, Is he going to throw USAID out of the country or not? Ironically...
...political spectrum there. I read that USAID 's ultimate exit in 2014 is describe...
...process. Yes. Also, I've got to say, USAID stayed there while I was there. I...
...Ecuador. One last question on this: USAID 's exit from Ecuador in 2014 followed ...
...impact some of this politicization of USAID in Ecuador? Not just USAID, I thin...
...of USAID in Ecuador? Not just USAID , I think everywhere. The WikiLeak...
...in Ecuador. I was the first person at USAID to roll out the Google suite o...
...CIO to create wireless network within a USAID mission, and then the first wireles...
...to move forward in the same way that USAID [unclear]. I was pulled back t...
...its IT systems in order to keep up with USAID so we could move into the twenty-firs...
...I got a call from the administrator of USAID , Raj Shah, saying, “Hey, Andy, I'...
...through, If I were to redesign how USAID functions and works across interagency...
...different agencies rather than having USAID do everything itself, and I would hav...
...look like, having run a couple of USAID missions, within my first three week...
...it to one of the chiefs of staff at USAID in the Africa Bureau, and he laughed a...
...and trying to demonstrate value to USAID , to the other agencies as well. Whe...
...we got initially—and it was because USAID at the time was very flexible—wa...
...to get detailees from other agencies. USAID paid for them for the most part, bu...
...been the head of the Africa Bureau at USAID , and Raj Shah, who had been USAI...
...at USAID, and Raj Shah, who had been USAID administrator. They had been working o...
...had been pretty unheard of—was, we took USAID resources and we transferred them t...
...the concept we talked about was, USAID doesn't need to try to do everythin...
...get the same budgetary resource that USAID gets do more of what they do well...
...pushback from some of my colleagues at USAID saying, “Why are you giving our mone...
...there a question as to whether USAID or another agency would serve as th...
...deals almost anywhere on the continent. USAID had missions all over the continent...
...this transaction. Why don't we see if USAID might be able to do a study to hel...
...we wanted the embassies and the USAID mission to be part of th...
...to criticize the pitch from any other USAID mission. Then, when they realized tha...
...For fifty, sixty, seventy years, USAID and the World Bank go into countrie...
...Power Africa is, compared to other USAID programs which are heavily earmarked...
...have done a lot of work with USAID going back, again, fifty-plus years...
...gone on to be chiefs of party, even on USAID contracts. Some of them have gone on t...
...we would achieve them. When Raj left USAID , I turned to Agnes and said, “Well...

Valerie Jarrett

...parts of the world. And I think that USAID [United States Agency for Internationa...
...And I think that USAID [United States Agency for International Development ] was working on a similar trajector...

Tina Tchen

...global work. And I could see that USAID [United States Agency for Internationa...
...I could see that USAID [United States Agency for International Development ] gave a lot of support to it. And I'...
...And what I knew at the time was our USAID and US investment in girls' educatio...
...Gayle Smith had not yet moved over to USAID , but Gayle was in the spot tha...
...There's a longstanding clause in the USAID congressional mandate that this mone...

...of her baby was to invest in this. And USAID sort of felt hamstrung about that. An...
...these interagency groups, meetings of USAID and State Department and interestingl...
...filmed that. And in the meeting, what USAID decided to do on its own was start ...
...appropriations. And a lot of stuff from USAID . And then I learned remarkably...
...since we were going to use so much of USAID 's money, we should just use thei...
...at the end it's like, “Look, we need USAID to be all in [laughs] on this effort...
...So that commitments to the projects and USAID would last for three years. So we kne...
...do that. That's just amazing. And then USAID did a lot of work in Malawi an...
...methods in Malawi and Tanzania. And the USAID team, Stephenie Foster from the Stat...
...face and I can't remember her name at USAID —really went to Tanzania and Malawi...
...that would become programming for USAID . And then I think they also raise...
...side was an interagency effort with USAID , and the State Department, and others...
...and others. We made sure, in USAID , there was three-year programming an...
...the State Department to the table, and USAID to the table, and others, to reall...

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US Agency for International Development - Obama Presidency Oral History

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