The below is attributable to Deputy Spokesperson Shejal Pulivarti:
Deputy Administrator Paloma Adams-Allen traveled to Ethiopia, Egypt, and Germany from February 5 to 9 to meet with USAID staff on Agency priorities, and with development and humanitarian partners to underscore the Agency's commitment to collaborate closely on shared objectives.
While in Ethiopia, the Deputy Administrator met with USAID staff and thanked the team for their tireless work and commitment to USAID's lifesaving mission. She touched on the various challenges and immense opportunities in supporting the people of Ethiopia and acknowledged the specific contributions of USAID's local workforce. Deputy Administrator Adams-Allen met with key humanitarian and development partners, discussing priority areas such as food security and the implementation of reforms to ensure the integrity and delivery of U.S. assistance. The Deputy Administrator also met with women business leaders. She participated in a traditional coffee ceremony with a female coffee entrepreneur whose company, CoQua Trading, has grown with the support of USAID.
She also visited a leather goods production facility, Kabana Design, run by a female entrepreneur and a Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) alumna who is leveraging her business operations to support internally displaced persons with reusable sanitary products. During her second day in Ethiopia, the Deputy Administrator focused on USAID's youth engagement programming. She joined the Ethiopian Minister of Education, Denmark's Ambassador to Ethiopia, and representatives of the LEGO Foundation to celebrate the one-year anniversary of a USAID- and LEGO-funded program focused on early learning outcomes for children affected by conflict and drought, including refugees and internally displaced persons. She also met with teams of youth entrepreneurs driving digital innovation in the health sector with the support of USAID and visited a health center to see how digitization is supporting improvements in records management and patient care.
In Egypt, Deputy Administrator Adams-Allen joined a convening of USAID's local staff from the Middle East and Europe, during which she highlighted their leadership and other invaluable contributions to USAID's responses to ongoing conflicts, including the current conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Putin's war against Ukraine. She acknowledged the tremendous toll these conflicts have taken on local staff, recognizing the challenges they face in their dedication to the Agency's development and humanitarian efforts. The Deputy Administrator also underscored the Agency's efforts to date to better invest in and empower the 4,700 local USAID staff worldwide, who are the backbone of the Agency's overseas presence.
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While in Cairo, the Deputy Administrator met with USAID staff displaced by the conflict in Sudan, which has devastated the country for nearly a year. She acknowledged the sacrifices and the challenges staff and their families face, thanked them for their unwavering dedication and service, and underscored USAID's continued commitment to supporting the Sudanese people in their time of greatest need.
During the final leg of her trip, Deputy Administrator Adams-Allen visited USAID's team based in Germany, who provide operational and technical support to our Missions and Offices around the world, including through USAID's Middle East Regional Platform. The Deputy Administrator thanked them for their hard work, and reinforced the Agency's goals in the Middle East, including efforts to better localize its investments and support its staff operating in difficult environments and conflict settings.
Finally, the Deputy Administrator had the opportunity to meet with and thank senior leadership of the Syrian Civil Defense, (the White Helmets) who USAID has supported for more than a decade to scale up their life-saving work and help other other local organizations to respond to needs in northwest Syria.
