After months of speculation, on Nov. 10, 2009, President Barrack Obama nominated Dr. Rajiv Shah to head the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Operating without an acting director since the President’s inauguration, Shah’s nomination ends a nearly 10 month leadership void at USAID . The Senate still needs to confirm Shah before he takes the position.
Shah is the former Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics at the United States Agriculture Department. He also spent several years as the director of the Agricultural Development in the Global Development Program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In a statement, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Shah “has the skills and experience to lead a reinvigorated USAID in the 21st century.” She added that his nomination to lead USAID demonstrates “President Obama has reaffirmed that development must be a core pillar of American foreign policy.”
According to Foreign Policy, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry (D-MA) “promised swift proceedings” for Shah. “It’s terrific, we’ll move forward as soon as we can, I hope weeks,” Kerry said, adding that he wasn’t aware of any objections from Republicans. Additionally, Foreign Policy reports that “Development groups were quick to praise the selection but also to call for increased powers for the USAID administrator role, which is now under review.”
Many in the nonprofit sector will also be monitoring how Shah, if confirmed, will handle the Proposed Vetting System (PVS). The PVS would require grant applicants to submit detailed personal information on “key individuals” to be shared with the intelligence agencies. There is widespread criticism from nonprofits that the PVS would create unnecessary and potentially dangerous barriers for humanitarian groups providing relief in global hot spots. For more information about the concerns about PVS, please read Issue Brief: USAID Must Consider Alternative Vetting Approaches.
Additional bio information about Dr. Rajiv Shah:
Prior to joining the Foundation in 2001, Shah was the health care policy advisor on the Gore 2000 presidential campaign and a member of Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell’s transition committee on health. He is the co-founder of Health Systems Analytics and Project IMPACT for South Asian Americans. In addition, he has served as a policy aide in the British Parliament and worked at the World Health Organization.
Shah earned his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and his Master of Science in health economics at the Wharton School of Business. He has attended the London School of Economics, is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and has published articles on health policy and global development. Shah previously served on the boards of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), the Seattle Public Library, and the Seattle Community College District. In 2007, he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.