DES MOINES, Iowa — U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Mark Green tells his team in Washington, D.C. at least once a week that they aren’t “doing development.”
“Development’s out there. We can enable it, we can support it, we can help provide ideas. We have cross-fertilization of ideas — those are things that we can do,” Green said of those working in the agency’s headquarters. “But development’s still going to be done in Western Kenya, development’s still going to be done in India. It’s not going to be done in the Reagan Building.”
Green said the agency’s transformation — which will see it stand up seven new bureaus — will help morph headquarters into customer service for the field, allowing local missions to be empowered in its work. His office in Washington is responsible for prioritizing investments and tracking metrics and outcomes, but ultimately, the field must drive the programming, Green said.