Rajiv Shah

Leadership in Crisis Response

On his fifth day as Administrator, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, that destroyed the capital and killed more than 200,000 citizens. Shah was tasked by President Obama to lead the United States response to the disaster, launching one of the largest humanitarian efforts in history.^[12]

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah listens to the story of a young Somali woman who walked for 33 days with her children to reach Dadaab camp in Kenya.

Throughout his tenure, Shah would lead the U.S. Government response to major crises and natural disasters including the famine in the Horn of Africa where more than 13 million people were in need of assistance.^[13] He and his team are credited for putting into place an innovative real-time data assessment effort and establishing new public-private partnerships that saved lives.^[14]

In 2014, Shah led the U.S. response to the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa again focusing on a strategy that was driven by evidence, innovation and data. The response is credited with slowing the rate of new infections faster than had been projected, which prevented significant transmission across Africa and to other parts of the world.^{[15][16][17][18]}

Reforming USAID

In addition to overseeing America's response to international crises and humanitarian assistance, Shah worked to reform how USAID conducted business. He pioneered a new model of development that included more innovation and engagement with the private sector, all focused on ending extreme poverty around the world.^[19] As co-chair of the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), a comprehensive evaluation led by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to redefine diplomacy and development, Shah worked to incorporate development as a part of an integrated, values-driven national security strategy.^[20][21] He earned bipartisan support for his efforts, which included increasing his Agency's budget growth during a time of sequestration.^[22]

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah responding to questions on the flooding in Pakistan at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on August 4, 2010.

Internally, Shah launched USAID Forward, a set of reforms that touched nearly every part of the Agency, including contractor and procurement policies.^{[23][24][25][26][27]} He returned budget and policy oversight back to USAID from the State Department, recruited top talent from other fields, increased the number of foreign service officers, established the Administrator's Leadership Council, similar to Alan Mulally's Business Process Review at Ford Motor Company, which included all senior officials across USAID and established USAID Staff Care Center that provided 24/7 global support for Agency staff around the world.

Food Security Reform/Feed the Future

Shah led efforts to reform food security in an effort to fight against hunger around the world.^[28] His efforts had a broad, bipartisan coalition in support of global development in the United States Congress, resulting in a fivefold increase in America's overall investment in fighting hunger through investments in agriculture. Shah used the Camp David G8 Summit in 2012 to attract private investment commitments to the effort.^[29] The U.S. Government's Feed the Future initiative has been documented to have moved nearly 40 million people out of hunger and poverty and led to dramatic reductions in child stunting around the world.^{[30][31][32][33][34][35]}

Maternal and Child Health

Shah has been committed to improving child health since medical school and used his time as Administrator to build on past accomplishments. As Administrator, he restructured $2.9 billion of global health investments to focus on cost-effective ways to save lives of children under the age of five in priority countries.^[36] He created a partnership co-led by Ethiopia, India and UNICEF, "A Promise Renewed", to have more than one hundred partner countries restructure health priorities and invest in measurement to deliver better outcomes.^[37] As a result of these and other efforts, the global level of child deaths is coming down faster than previously expected.^[38][39][40]

U.S. Global Development Lab

Shah continued building on his new model of development in 2014 when he announced the establishment of the United States Global Development Lab.^[41][42] The Lab brings together public and private sector partners to support innovative development solutions in areas that include water, health, food security, nutrition, energy, education and climate change. The U.S. Global Development Lab, a key recommendation of the first QDDR, increased the number of scientists and technology experts within USAID, including 65 fellows from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He increased the investment in science, technology and innovation, taking Agency spend from roughly $130 million when he became Administrator to over $600 million, to focus not only on research, but also on innovation and applied solutions in science and technology.^[43]

President Obama talks with advisors aboard Air Force One during a flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town, South Africa, June 30, 2013. Included are: Mike Froman, U.S. Trade Representative; Grant Harris, Senior Director for African Affairs; USAID Administrator Raj Shah; Gayle Smith, Senior Director for Development and Democracy; and Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

At the launch of the Lab in New York, Shah stated: "To solve our most intractable development challenges, USAID has established a new way of working, bringing on board the best and brightest staff and new partners, all working in concert to help end extreme poverty. The Lab will engage a global community of inventors, academics, researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate leaders in science and technology to invent, test, and scale the most promising and cost effective solutions to end extreme poverty."^[44]

The launch event also featured a keynote address by former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was a strong supporter of the use of science, innovation, and partnerships to further U.S development goals.^[45]

Power Africa

In 2013, President Obama launched Power Africa, bringing together technical and legal experts, the private sector, and governments from around the world to work in partnership to increase the number of people with access to power.^[46][47] As Administrator, Shah led the Administration's efforts to secure billions of dollars of private investments for African power development to bring more than 26,000 MW of power online.^[48]

National Prayer Breakfast

In 2014, Administrator Shah was invited to keynote the 62nd Annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC.^[49][50] The yearly event, which is held on the first Thursday of February, is hosted by Members of Congress and organized on their behalf by The Fellowship Foundation.^[51] Every President of the United States since 1953 has spoken at the event that is attended by more than 3,500 dignitaries and is carried live on C-SPAN. The breakfast is designed to be a forum for the political, social, and business elite to assemble and build relationships. Since the inception of the National Prayer Breakfast, several U.S. states and cities and other countries have established their own annual prayer breakfast events.^[52]

Raj Shah briefs Dr. Jill Biden, Dr. Bill Frist and others en route to Dagahaley refugee camp, Aug. 8, 2011. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

Bipartisan Outreach

To institutionalize efforts to transform development, Shah worked closely with Congressional leaders and a broad range of non-government stakeholders on a select set of legislative priorities. In recent years, President Obama has signed many of these into law. The Global Food Security Act is the second largest global development authorizing legislation in recent history.^[53] The Electrify Africa Act has institutionalized Power Africa and the Agriculture Act ("Farm Bill") included the most significant legislative reforms in American food aid in sixty years.^{[54][55][56][57]} Shah's effort to enlist Congress as a real partner and build a broad bipartisan coalition to support these priorities is credited in large part for their passage.^[58]