Publication Date: May 7, 2021
Publication Location: WASHINGTON
Contact: Kathryn Schoenberger   |   [email protected]

World Learning congratulates Ambassador Samantha Power on her confirmation by the U.S. Senate to be the next administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Ambassador Power’s vast experience and passion for development, democracy funding, and humanitarian assistance make her an ideal choice to lead USAID,” said World Learning CEO Carol Jenkins. “As USAID administrator, she will help ensure that development plays a critical role in U.S. foreign policy and strengthen the international partnerships needed to address global challenges. We look forward to continuing to work with her and USAID to build a more peaceful, prosperous, and just world.”

World Learning has supported and partnered with USAID for more than five decades in every region of the world, educating refugee children and low-income communities, creating better opportunities for women, fighting poverty and exclusion, encouraging youth participation, and promoting responsive governance. 

Prior to joining the Biden Administration, Power was the Anna Lindh professor of the practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and the William D. Zabel professor of practice in Human Rights at Harvard Law School. She was also the founding executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Power previously served in the Obama Administration, first as special assistant to the president and senior director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights as part of the National Security Council from 2009–2013 and then as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2013–2017. Born in Ireland, Power began her career as a journalist reporting on international conflicts and has written multiple books, including A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, for which she won a Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction.