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New Mission Director For Sudan Sworn In
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2006
0420-06-038
Press Office: 202-712-4320
Public Information: 202-712-4810
www.usaid.gov
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced the swearing in of Katherine J. Almquist as its new Mission Director for Sudan. U.S. Director of Foreign Assistance and USAID Administrator Randall L. Tobias presided at the event and administered the oath to Almquist. Speakers at the ceremony included Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick and former USAID Administrator Andrew S. Natsios.
As Mission Director for Sudan, Almquist will manage the largest USAID program in Sub-Saharan Africa totaling $855 million in fiscal year 2005. The complex program provides extensive humanitarian and food aid to vulnerable people in southern and eastern Sudan and Darfur, as well as extensive reconstruction assistance in the war-affected south and areas of Abyei, Blue Nile, and Southern Kordofan.
In November 2005, Deputy Secretary Zoellick designated Almquist the U.S. Representative to Sudan's Assessment and Evaluation Commission, a position she will continue to hold during her tenure as Mission Director. In this capacity, she represents the views of the U.S. Government on the international commission mandated to oversee implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, which ended Africa's longest-running civil war in 2005.
Before her appointment, Almquist served as USAID's Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Africa, responsible for the offices of East African Affairs, Sudan Programs and Development Planning. She oversaw USAID programs in 12 countries and provided guidance on strategic planning and budgeting for the Bureau, which managed $1.5 billion in resources in fiscal year 2005. From 2001-2004, Almquist served as Special Assistant and Senior Policy Advisor to the USAID Administrator. She also served as Director of the Sudan Task Force, responsible for providing policy direction and program coordination for USAID activities in Sudan and preparing the Agency's post-conflict assistance strategy.
From 1999 to 2001, Almquist served as Chief of Staff for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and Chief of Staff for the Executive Office for Administration and Finance of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. From 1992-1999, she worked for the international relief and development agency World Vision in both Washington, D.C., and Geneva, Switzerland.
She holds a Master of Arts degree in international relations with concentrations in African studies, conflict management, and international economics from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information about USAID, visit the Web site at www.usaid.gov.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for more than 40 years.
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