Speeches

Commencement Address by Administrator Rajiv Shah at Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University

sgruber — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:05:21 +0000

Commencement Address by Administrator Rajiv Shah at Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University

Saturday, May 18, 2013

It is also my honor to be here today because your education represents something unique in our world. Even since the giants of industry—Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon—first established their footprints here in Pittsburgh, this city has served at the frontier of American innovation and philanthropy—proving what is possible when you apply both your heart and your mind.

With backgrounds as diverse as engineering and history, Heinz scholars learn to apply these principles to their own work—bringing analytic rigor to public policy and compassion to analytics. It is here—at what Steve Jobs called the intersection of technology and liberal arts—that ideas gain influence and action has real meaning.

Presentation by Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administrator, at the Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of AAAS Fellows

sgruber — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:30:51 +0000

Presentation by Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administrator, at the Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of AAAS Fellows

Friday, May 3, 2013

It is a great honor to participate in the fortieth anniversary of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) policy fellowship program. I’d like to begin by thanking Alan Leshner, Cynthia Robinson, and their colleagues in the diplomacy security and development program for partnering with USAID, and to Alex Dehgan for his superb leadership in the science and technology arena at USAID. And I’ll extend a particularly warm welcome to all of our current and former USAID AAAS fellows, who have enriched our Agency.

Remarks by Deputy Assistant Administrator Larry Garber at the Carothers/De Gramont Book Launch Presentation

sgruber — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:00:31 +0000

Remarks by Deputy Assistant Administrator Larry Garber at the Carothers/De Gramont Book Launch Presentation

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Good afternoon! I am really excited to be here today. Indeed, from the day that Tom first shared with me an early draft, I have been waiting impatiently for this book to be published. And now that the day has come, I must start by congratulating the authors – both Tom and Diane, and note how pleased I am to see such a crowded room for this launch.

Presentation by Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administrator, to the Workshop on Metrics for Agricultural Transformation

sgruber — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:55:08 +0000

Presentation by Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administrator, to the Workshop on Metrics for Agricultural Transformation

Friday, April 19, 2013

We are here today to reaffirm our interest and commitment to following up on the outcomes of the Copenhagen Consultation in 2012 to provide ourselves with a new tool in our work in promoting sustainable economic growth around the world. This is essential if we are to fulfill the vision we all share for the future. Indeed, two months ago, President Barack Obama pledged in his State of the Union address that the United States will join with our allies to eradicate extreme poverty in the next two decades. He said that this will be achieved by connecting more people to the global economy and empowering women; by giving our young and brightest minds new opportunities to serve; by helping communities to feed, power and educate themselves; by saving the world’s children from preventable deaths; and by realizing the promise of an AIDS-free generation.

Remarks by Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administrator, at Peacebuilding 2013: Pacem in Terris at 50

sgruber — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:36:13 +0000

Remarks by Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administrator, at Peacebuilding 2013: Pacem in Terris at 50

Friday, April 12, 2013

I must admit that it’s daunting to speak before religious scholars, and organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, St. Egidio, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. I feel like the man who was asked to speak about Whale Anatomy, and as he looks into the audience, he sees Jonah.

The task is made less daunting by the recognition that Pope John’s 23rd encyclical is accessible throughout five decades. In the 1960’s, it’s accessible during nuclear disarmament and an end to the arms race, as well as decolonization and an end to the caste system dividing nations. It can be applied to the 1970’s, as we witnessed gender equality and women’s empowerment on the rise, and an end to racial and ethnic prejudice and discrimination. We can look to it as we committed to treatises on the inter-connection of global human rights and peace in the 1980’s. And in the 1990’s, it’s useful at the need to ensure that growing science and technology is pursued not as a goal of its own but as a means toward the betterment of mankind. More recently, perhaps not surprising given my position as USAID’s Deputy Administrator, it is a strong endorsement of foreign assistance as a means of building peaceful, stable societies. It may sound self-serving since my agency’s budget is going to the Hill tomorrow, but paragraph 88 reminds us:

Remarks by Administrator Rajiv Shah at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

sgruber — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:01:34 +0000

Remarks by Administrator Rajiv Shah at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

About a year and a half ago, I saw famine for the first time. At the world’s largest refugee camp, 50 miles from the Somali border, I met mothers who had carried their children for weeks across famine-stricken and terrorist-held lands. One young Somali mother named Habiba was forced to make the heartbreaking decision – knowing she could not carry both children to safety – to leave one behind on a hundred-kilometer journey.

Across the region, the worst drought in 60 years had thrown 13.3 million people into crisis and brought more than 750,000 people—mostly women and children—to the brink of starvation. As the suffering mounted, we mobilized a large-scale humanitarian response to save lives as quickly as possible. But too often we couldn’t reach those in greatest need—even as the crisis worsened before our eyes. Armed groups openly affiliated with al Qaeda blocked our access, attacked our food convoys, and targeted food distribution centers. In the hardest hit areas of southern Somalia where these militants ruled, food aid couldn’t save lives.

But cash transfers could.

Remarks by Administrator Rajiv Shah at the Clinton School of Public Service

sgruber — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:15:13 +0000

Remarks by Administrator Rajiv Shah at the Clinton School of Public Service

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Thank you. It is really special to have the opportunity to be here, and I just want to say thank you very much.

And I do want to note that it is very special for me to get to be hosted by Senator Boozman here in his home state. He has been obviously a dedicated public servant and I think everyone here knows about his tremendous accomplishments on behalf of the state. What you might not know as much about is the fact that he chairs the Malaria Caucus and the Hunger Caucus, and that he fights really hard on issues that maybe have not traditionally been seen as particularly rewarding to spend time on from a political perspective because he brings such personal passion and commitment to the work, and I have had a chance to see that leadership in action in Washington.

Remarks by Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administrator, at the Stakeholder Day of the 4th Meeting of the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Indonesia

sgruber — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 20:11:08 +0000

Remarks by Donald Steinberg, Deputy Administrator, at the Stakeholder Day of the 4th Meeting of the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, Indonesia

Monday, March 25, 2013

It's a great honor to moderate this panel on the Framework and Priorities for the Post-2015 Development Agenda. I wanted to take a few moments at the start to introduce the panel and the panelists. We will be looking back over changes since the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were established, looking forward to the post-2015 goals, and even looking inward as we consider how we as governments, international organizations, civil society, and private companies can play our full and proper roles in this exercise.

Remarks by Monique Mosolf, USAID/Cambodia, on World Tuberculosis Day

mgebremedhin — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 06:41:27 +0000

Cambodian Minister of Health Mam Bunheng (left) and Monique Mosolf of USAID (right) commemorate World TB Day in Phnom Penh on March 25, 2013.

USAID/TB CARE I Cambodia

Remarks by Monique Mosolf, USAID/Cambodia, on World Tuberculosis Day

Monday, March 25, 2013

Commemoration of World Tuberculosis Day

Remarks by Administrator Rajiv Shah at the USAID Forward Progress Event

sgruber — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:23:58 +0000

Remarks by Administrator Rajiv Shah at the USAID Forward Progress Event

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

About a year and a half ago, I traveled with Dr. Jill Biden and Dr. Bill Frist to the world’s largest refugee camp, 50 miles from the Somali border. In a camp originally built for one-fifth its capacity, I met mothers who had carried their children for weeks across famine-stricken lands and terrorist-held territories.

The famine had proven once again the power of extreme poverty, extreme climate, and extreme ideology to undermine security and create a moral catastrophe. About three weeks ago, I returned to the region and saw a very different picture.