WASHINGTON: Dr. Rajiv “Raj” Shah has been confirmed the head of USAID, the move makes him the highest-ranking Indian-American in any US presidential administration.
Shah, who was once a top official at one of the biggest non-profit organizations in the world, now he will run the United States’ largest foreign assistance program, the US Agency for International Development.
Not bad for a 36-year-old with degrees in medicine and business. Shah previously consulted with former presidential candidate Al Gore before accepting an executive position working on agriculture policy at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In May 2009, Shah joined the Obama administration as undersecretary for research, education, and economics at the Department of Agriculture. As he takes the helm of USAID, which has been without a chief since the outset of the Obama administration, one of his first tasks will be to help devise a strategy for infusion of new foreign aid to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Senate, although focused on its landmark healthcare overhaul vote, underscored the importance of getting the nation’s foreign aid house in order by taking time on Christmas Eve day to confirm Dr. Shah. Unlike the healthcare legislation, which received a strictly party-line vote, confirmation of the Department of Agriculture official won bipartisan support.
US foreign assistance is expected to double to more than $50 billion a year over the next half-decade, in particular with boosts in development outlays to Afghanistan and Pakistan. But at the same time, USAID enters the period of growth a weakened agency, having lost its independence and having been incorporated into the State Department in a post-cold-war reorganization of foreign aid.
His confirmation is welcomed on Washington by non-profits that work in the developing nations. The nomination comes after 10 months of false starts and stalls by the White House. The delay drew criticism from several foreign policy hands, who said that Obama’s vision of “smart power diplomacy” could only be realized with a strong head of USAID.
Senators John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Dick Lugar, the committee’s top Republican, last month urged Obama to speed things up, saying that efforts to support the president’s development agenda were being “hampered by a leadership vacuum” at USAID.
As USAID lost influence during the past decade, US development assistance policy and dollars were dispersed to dozens of other agencies, in particular the Department of Defense. But some development experts worry that Shah’s relative lack of experience in government affairs and the weakness of the agency will make it difficult for him to assert his influence. Others say crucial decisions on major new development programs are to be made soon, when Shah will still be learning the ropes.
For example, some development advocates note that a major conference on Afghanistan is set for January in London, and they worry that the proceedings, without strong leadership in the development field, will focus instead on security issues and demands for rooting out corruption.
But other experts highlight Shah’s expertise in food security, noting that issue is also an Obama administration priority.
Born to Indian immigrant parents from India who settled in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the late 1960s, Raj Shah grew up in the Detroit area. He earned his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and M.Sc. in Health Economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and also attended the London School of Economics.
