Two years ago, President Barack Obama and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton both called for elevating development within America’s foreign policy. Many people in the development community assumed their call to elevate development was about recognizing the importance of the work USAID and others have done for decades. But the President and Secretary’s call for elevating development was not a show of gratitude. It was not a reward. It was a challenge. It meant we would have to move past old debates and embrace new opportunities. Over the last two years, we’ve worked hard to take up the President and the Secretary’s call. It hasn’t been easy and progress hasn’t always come as quickly as we’d like. But throughout this letter I hope to show how key choices and reforms we’ve made are allowing us to rapidly respond to the demands of our world. To read the letter in its entirety, download below:

2012 Annual Letter by Dr. Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator

Anna Gohmann | USAID

In Dadaab, Kenya a young Somali woman explains how she walked over 100 miles on foot with her two children to seek refuge from famine.