(as prepared for delivery)
Good morning everyone. Happy Friday! I am glad to see both new and familiar faces. Like my colleagues, I miss interacting with you in person, but I hope that will change in the not-too-distant future.
Covid-19 has impacted us all, but I know you remain resilient, and I hope you are paying attention to your well-being, that of your team, your loved ones, and your larger community. Thank you for your continued efforts to make sure our programs are accessible to those who need them the most.
At USAID we work together with the U.S. Embassy’s diversity and inclusion council to promote a nondiscriminatory, inclusive, and integrated development approach. Our hope is to ensure all people -including those who currently face discrimination, have limited access to benefits, cannot rely on legal protections, or are unable to participate socially - are fully included and can benefit from USAID development activities. Our goal is to make sure our programs are inclusive.
Inclusive development is smart development. Including and empowering all people strengthens both society and the economy. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that an inclusive development approach leads to deeper, more sustainable outcomes. Simply put, inclusion is key to aid effectiveness.
I was pleased when I heard our team initially discussed a joint workshop on inclusion of people with disabilities. Our colleagues from Agile - who have years of experience on this topic - will make this workshop a rich learning experience along with your participation.
Before I conclude, I just want to emphasize an important point that is relevant to both USAID staff and partners. That is the fact that USAID’s commitment to nondiscrimination and inclusion extends to beneficiaries through our policy on Nondiscrimination for Beneficiaries. This policy articulates the principle that all beneficiaries should be able to participate in USAID programs without discrimination.
And while it is our policy, I hope we can agree that it should be our aim to approach our daily lives with these ideas in mind.
Thank you very much, WE Act and Agile, the USAID community and partners for leading and participating in this important workshop.