USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah to Speak at ICRW’s March 8 Event

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah will join three other panelists on International Women’s Day for the launch of ICRW’s Passports to Progress 35^th anniversary discussion series.

The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) on Feb. 10 announced that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah will participate in a March 8 ICRW discussion about breakthrough innovations for women in developing countries.

Shah will join Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, Bobbi Silten, chief foundation officer at Gap Inc., and Tim Hanstad, president and CEO of Landesa for the event, which kicks off ICRW’s Passports to Progress 35^th anniversary discussion series. The discussion will be moderated by Andrea Mitchell, NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent.

“Administrator Shah is leading the charge to transform USAID into the world’s premier development organization,” said ICRW President Sarah Degnan Kambou. “He is identifying innovative approaches to make development more efficient and effective, including by elevating gender throughout all of the agency’s policies and programs.”

“Administrator Shah’s insights will be invaluable to our March 8 discussion, and we are thrilled that he will be part of our panel,” she said.

Through USAID Forward, Shah has outlined an ambitious agenda to reform USAID’s business model by investing in new partnerships, focusing on high-impact results and emphasizing innovation. In a recent speech at the Center for Global Development, he stressed that he is “not trying to build an updated version of a traditional aid agency,” but rather “to build something greater: a modern development enterprise.” Shah hopes to foster an environment where staff are encouraged to partner with the private sector and academia to identify creative solutions for rapid, large-scale change.

Shah, who is also a medical doctor, recently served as the under secretary for research, education and economics and chief scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Shah served as the director of agricultural development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Roxanne Stachowski is ICRW’s external relations associate.