Today, USAID Administrator Samantha Power welcomed Paul Weisenfeld as the new Chair of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACVFA). Paul currently serves as Executive Vice President for International Development at RTI International, where he leads RTI's work to design and implement development programs addressing complex challenges in countries around the world.
Before joining RTI, Paul served as a foreign service officer for USAID, achieving the highest rank of career minister in the Senior Foreign Service, and received the Distinguished Career Service Award, the Agency's highest award. At USAID, he directed the Bureau for Food Security, led the Haiti Task Team to coordinate relief and reconstruction planning following the devastating earthquake in 2010, and served as USAID Mission Director in Peru and Zimbabwe. Paul has been serving on ACVFA since the committee was re-established in September 2022.
This announcement took place at ACVFA's Spring 2023 Public Meeting, where Administrator Power and Chair Weisenfeld engaged in a fireside chat style conversation on USAID's Policy Framework, Progress Beyond Programs Agenda, and the role of partners like ACVFA in advising the Agency on addressing pressing global development challenges. The event also included two panel discussions democratic strengthening, anti-corruption and locally-led development, featuring ACVFA members Derek Mitchell, Eka Tkeshelashvili, Hibak Kalfan, Johan Swinnen, Katherine Marshall, Liz Schrayer, and Sanjay Pradhan.
ACVFA was first established in the aftermath of World War II, earlier than USAID itself. Over many decades, ACVFA has played an important role for fostering cooperation between the U.S. government and a range of nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and civil society to inform its approach to U.S. foreign assistance. ACVFA's 30 distinguished members are among the most diverse in the committee's history, and are recognized leaders in international development from a wide array of backgrounds, expertise, and experience, and serve to advise USAID on pressing global challenges.
