The United States Agency for International Development — USAID is the premier global development agency of the United States government and one of the largest global development organizations in the world.
As USAID goes, so goes global development.
Many in the broader NGO and development community were pleasantly surprised that Joe Biden has tapped former UN Ambassador Samantha Power to lead the USAID. Furthermore, unlike in the Trump years, the USAID administrator will be part of the White House national security team — suggesting that the perspective of global development will represented at the table when key US foreign policy decisions are made.
My guest today, Sarah Rose, is a policy fellow at Center for Global Development. In this conversation we discuss what lies ahead for USAID during the Biden administration and under the leadership of Samantha Power. We kick off discussing some broad trends at USAID over the past several years before have a conversation about the kinds of global development priorities that the new administration may pursue.