USAID
Washington, DC

 
ADMINISTRATOR GREEN: Good morning, everyone. Good day and good afternoon, all. Welcome. It's good to see all of you again. You know, when I first introduced myself to you almost six months ago, I told you I was deeply honored to be joining this team. Now, that was based on what I had witnessed from my days in Congress, my leadership of the International Republican Institute, my time as a teacher in Kenya, and, of course, as Ambassador to Tanzania. A half year later, a few trips under my belt, and I can say, in all honesty, that my sense of pride has only grown, and it's grown by leaps and bounds.

First, I am impressed every day by the skill, professionalism, but, most of all, dedication of our team all around the world. From our Foreign Service Nationals, to our staff in the field, to those of you here at headquarters: you -- all of you -- are the principle reason why USAID is a vital tool in American global leadership. Not the buildings, the budgets, not even our most innovative programs. Really and truly, it's your skills and your passion, what you bring to your job each and every day, that's really what does the most to lift lives in troubled lands all around the world.

Over these last several months, I've been inspired by the FSNs I've met in places like South Sudan. FSNs like Albino, Aurupai, Justin, Oling, Patrick, and Mary. Each day, their lives are under threat, and yet, each day they come to work. I remember meeting with them in the compound in Juba not so long ago. And one of them said to me quietly, "When I go home each day, I am afraid, because I don't know who owns the night." Can you imagine? And yet, with true courage, these great members of our team have dedicated their lives to helping to pushing back the darkness in their country.

I'm inspired by Nehal Sanghavi, his team of innovation officers in India, and the entire mission there. I first met them when I traveled to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit a few months back. Their leadership has helped transform how we work alongside the Indian Government.

You know, decades ago, we provided food aid and other assistance to India in very traditional ways. Thanks to the extraordinary progress India has made, with some help from people like Sanghavi and his team, we are now conveners; we're incubators; we're accelerators of innovation in support of the government's own efforts to lift the lives of their people.

We help the government test new approaches and technologies -- which, once proven, the government can then scale up. Our role is no less important that it was decades ago. In fact, I would argue, in so many ways, it's much more important. Our Indian team helped me better understand the development journey and what the path to self-reliance and prosperity can really look like.

I'm inspired by people like those in the Office of Human Capital and Talent Management, in the General Counsel's Office, the Management Bureau, and in administrative services offices all across the Agency. Recently, when the government briefly shut down, they were in their offices until midnight on Friday and Saturday, and they worked all day Sunday. Thanks to their hard work, when Monday came, we were ready with an orderly shutdown. Now, no shutdown is good (laughter) but they made sure we were prepared. Their commitment and dedication is a shining model for all of us, including for me, when taking on our daily challenges.

Could everyone who's here who worked over that weekend in advance of the shutdown please stand up? (applause)

You have our thanks. You have our undying gratitude. The second reason that my pride as Administrator has grown is that I've gotten the chance to see firsthand the vital importance of our work. As many of you know, I just returned from Syria where I saw how we're helping citizens and communities that were ravaged by the evil reign of ISIS in their land. It was striking; it was heart wrenching.

As we drove through Raqqa, the place ISIS had proclaimed the "capitol of the caliphate," we saw rubble and twisted metal everywhere. We saw a place where barbaric thugs had displayed the victims of execution. We even saw a couple of the cells that had been used as the sites of torture. And yet in Raqqa, despite all the months and years of suffering and brutality, we also saw lots of signs of the perseverance of the human spirit.

There were people making bricks, selling modest items from shops and street corners, and there were even kids playing games with makeshift toys. At the IDP camp I visited not far from Raqqa, the people there thanked me for the help we were providing and they also shared their longing -- their absolute longing -- to go home.

We play an irreplaceable role with our national security partners alongside Syrians. Not to do heavy reconstruction, but to help restore a semblance of essential services, so those people can go home. So, the communities might slowly rise and recover and one day prosper.

General Votel, with whom I visited Raqqa, said that as the fighting winds down, his words, "we're moving into what I, frankly, regard as the more challenging, the more difficult part, and that is how we consolidate the gains and how we get people back into their homes." Ladies and gentleman, that's where we come in. And it's one of the many ways that we serve America's national security interests in that region.

From Syria, I traveled to Davos where I met with some of the world's business and political leaders. Yep; really and truly. Syria and Davos in a single trip. (laughter)

In Davos, it was clear over and over again just how much people from around the world looked to us -- looked to USAID -- for ideas, advice, counsel, inspiration. And it was just more proof to me that we are the world's premier international development agency and our leadership really matters. As I said, I've never been prouder to serve as your Administrator.

Now, today we're going to talk a little more about the Redesign process that's been underway for some time. In a bit, we'll hear from Jim Richardson and some of the team behind our Redesign efforts. They'll join me on stage so we can answer your questions.

But before that, I'd like to step back for a moment. Why is it that we're undertaking the Redesign effort? Well, first, of course, we're required to do so as part of a White House executive order. That's something we're supposed to do. But, to be honest, even if we weren't, I would argue that we should be looking for ways to analyze ourselves. We should be looking for ways to strengthen our team and our approach to our great mission.

I began today by saying how proud I am of the team here at USAID, and I really am. We have unparalleled talent, experience, and dedication in our ranks. I want Redesign to help us tackle those structures and practices that hold us back. Those hindrances that make our work more difficult. Moments ago, I told you how important our mission is for American leadership and global development. I want the Redesign effort to reform our procedures and structures to help us take that mission to new heights.

Secretary Tillerson and I both want to see Redesign strengthen teamwork between State and USAID. We believe that we can achieve much more for both our partners and the American people if our institutions are communicating better and we're working more closely. And that's a goal all of us should strive for each and every day. Redesign is an opportunity we should seize upon to fulfill that vision I laid out some months ago: that the purpose of foreign assistance is to end the need for its existence.

When I first arrived here, I was given a copy of the report that came out of the Secretary's listening survey. It's 110 pages long and includes feedback from 55 percent of all of you. It looks at what you believe holds you back -- what prevents you from doing your work more effectively. It touches upon what makes you proud, what inspires you. By the way, 89 percent of USAID respondents say that they are inspired by the work that they do each and every day. That's incredible.

After weeks of studying those results, I met with our senior leadership team, and I asked them to think through reforms we could undertake to eliminate the barriers that all of you identified through that listening survey and to strengthen those things that make you proud. That led to what we've termed Redesign's five pillars: the journey to self-reliance; strengthening our core capabilities; advancing national security; empowering our people to lead; and respecting American taxpayers.

Each of these pillars came from you -- your feedback in the listening survey, your participation in working groups or consultations, your emails to the Transformation Task Force, T3. And in a relatively brief time -- I think we've made great progress.

For example, two weeks ago at a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid -- ACVFA, as many of you know it -- we presented a high-level outline of the data, metrics, and targets that we've been working on internally to develop and to guide our work. We hope that this will guide our programing in countries as they progress on their journey to self-reliance. We've been working for months to answer questions like: "Working with our partners, how do we measure their progress, their challenges, and the effectiveness of our investments? Or how do we know where our resources can best make a difference?"

Now, first off, to be clear, this is still a work in progress. We're getting close, but these metrics are not quite ready to be rolled out and acted upon. So, let's restate what is that we're working on here. We're not looking at outputs -- at least not in the "widgets and production line sense." As much as possible, we're aiming to track and measure capacities.

We're not recording the number of bed nets produced or delivered; we're looking at our partner countries' ability to deliver those bed nets on time, on budget, and increasingly using their own resources and networks. We're taking steps to ensure we're helping partners tackle their global health challenges with well-trained professional and support staff, well-resourced and well-designed interventions, and with an inclusive delivery system that reaches even historically underserved communities.

To be clear, we're not aiming for a scorecard or indicator formula in the MCC sense. MCC's indicators dictate whether countries even qualify for assistance. And their partner countries are rarely among the poorest countries in the world. What we're looking for are mileposts, signposts in that journey to self-reliance that we talk about over and over again. How far along are they in reaching their aspirations? And how can we strengthen their ability to get there?

Those kinds of metrics are a lot harder to craft and certainly more complex. But they help us help others. I think, in the grandest sense and tradition, of American compassion. I know Rajaraman -- where's Anu -- will be joining us shortly on our panel. When she presented our work to ACVFA, Anu said that we're trying to develop tools that will provide clear guidance to our people in the field -- the people she called our "Birkenstocks on the ground." (laughter)

Her words, not mine. Take it up with her afterwards. (laughter)

If we're successful, and I believe we will be, these will be the metrics that will make our programing more effective and your jobs easier.

Moving forward, I want to keep a dialogue open about these metrics and about each of those pillars that I've referred to. Again, these are the journey to self-reliance; strengthening our core capabilities; advancing national security; empowering people to lead; and respecting taxpayer investments. Ultimately, these pillars are about how we can best empower you. And so, it's vitally important that all of you are engaged.

Today, we have four ways for you to become more engaged and more involved. First is our new podcast -- USAID Leads -- where you can submit questions that I will answer at the end of each episode. Second, in coming weeks, I'll be hosting brown bags throughout the Agency, and I encourage you to attend. Third, I'll be meeting with our Africa and Middle East Mission Directors next month in Germany, and you can use them to communicate to me. Fourth, of course, that's what today's town hall is all about. I know there's a lot of interest in this topic -- we received 43 questions from you on MyUSAID and 1,000 of you voted on your favorites. We'll do our best to answer a few of your questions.

We'll also learn more as the President's budget rolls out, and I will be heading up on the Hill to answer, dodge, weave -- whatever I can do with the questions that they send my way. (laughter)

That's my way of saying that more is coming soon. But the big part of this is that we will work hard to keep the avenues of conversation and discussion going. We'll do our best to keep you apprised. But, we really do want to hear from you. Today is your chance to hear a few answers to some of your questions. And to set the stage, we have a brief video of staff discussing each of the Redesign's four pillars and sharing what this work means to them.

As the video walks you through each pillar, please think about what it means for your work, and either ask a question today through the other channels I just mentioned. Thank you, and I look forward to today's discussion.