Gates Foundation Executive Becomes Head of USAID

Last week, President Obama named Dr. Rajiv Shah to head America’s US Agency for International Development (USAID). Rajiv J Shah, a medical doctor and health economist now at the Agriculture Department for six months and previously an executive with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will head an important agency whose power has eroded seriously in the Bush Administration.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has placed development as a core part of her foreign policy agenda and has publicly expressed total frustration over finding a 10 months process of finding a high quality leader who could survive the exhaustive confirmation process.

“USAID is a damaged agency that must take on institutional strengthening as a first order of business,” says Thomas Carothers, director of the Democracy and Rule of Law Program at the Carnegie Institute for International Peace in Washington. via ABC news

Because Dr. Shah is 36 Carothers suggests that he will bring fresh viewpoints to the position and a portfolio of skills, yet “does not have the gravitas to suggest the president intends to upgrade USAID to a cabinet-level agency.”

Dr. Shah has previously been confirmed by Congress, and it’s expected that he should be approved quickly. To say that the new head of USAID walks into an agency under fire is an understatement. With family roots in India, Dr. Shah’s the first person of color to head USAID.