Lisa Washington-Sow has served as the USAID Country Manager in Mauritania since January, 2016.  Prior to becoming USAID Country Manager in Mauritania, she worked in the field of development and humanitarian assistance for over 25 years throughout west and central Africa with various international NGOs and multi-donor projects.  She worked with Catholic Relief Services as Country Representative to Ghana and Ivory Coast (2010-2015) and Niger (2005-2010) and served as Program Manager in Senegal and Cameroon where she managed programs in agriculture/food security, education, emergency, and water, sanitation and hygiene.  Lisa worked as technical advisor to several agriculture and natural resource management programs in Senegal between 1990-1997 focused on reforestation, conservation and integrated pastoral and agriculture management.  

Lisa was a Peace Corps volunteer in Haut-Ulele, Democratic Republic of Congo. She is from Los Angeles, California and completed her graduate studies in Urban Planning and African Studies at UCLA.