USAID Hosts Overseas Delegation of Young Politicians for Democracy Panel
On Friday, October 29, 2004, USAID hosted more than 70 young leaders from 23 countries who were in Washington to participate in a bipartisan program to study the U.S. election process, sponsored by the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL).
The USAID panel discussion took place at the culmination of a week-long visit designed to provide ACYPL delegates with the opportunity to see how national elections and campaigns are conducted in the United States.
“USAID administers foreign assistance programs to support the development of political parties, fair elections, civic participation in the political process in many of the countries represented in the ACYPL delegation,” said Brock D. Bierman, USAID Chief of Staff, Bureau for Europe & Eurasia. “We hope that this forum will provide an opportunity for delegates to discuss how this experience can inform their efforts to promote democracy back home.”
The delegates, most of whom are between the ages of 25 and 40, are all politically active in their home countries. They were selected based on their political experience and their potential to assume future positions of national political leadership. Among the participants were young leaders from Afghanistan, Bosnia, India, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Russia and Turkey. The delegates spent five days in Washington, D.C. learning about the nuts and bolts of American political campaigns and then traveled to West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland to witness the final days of the campaign and await the election returns. The group reconvened in Washington to discuss what they learned before returning home.
The American Council of Young Political Leaders
National Election Study Program 2004
USAID BRIEFING
Friday, October 29, 2004
9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Call to Order
Shane MacCarthy is Senior Advisor to the Chief of Staff with USAID’s Bureau for Europe & Eurasia. A veteran USAID staffer, he has been with the Agency for more than 25 years. MacCarthy’s tenure has spanned several Bureaus, with assignments ranging from Special Assistant to the Assistant Administrator for the Development Support Bureau to Project Officer for the Office of Private and Voluntary Cooperation, and included various posts with the missions to Kenya, Uganda, Swaziland and Egypt. MacCarthy joined the Bureau for Europe & Eurasia in 1997 as Program Operations Advisor, and transitioned to his current position in 2002. A graduate from Holy Cross College, he holds a master’s degree in theology from St. Vincent College.
Agency Overview and Welcome
Frederick W. Schieck was confirmed as the Deputy Administrator for USAID in January 2002, following a long and successful career in international development both at USAID and other institutions. Schieck was a USAID Foreign Service Officer for more than 25 years before retiring in 1990 with the rank of Career Minister. He also held a number of senior positions at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC, from 1990 to 2000, including Deputy Manager of the Bank's Operations Department, which was responsible for over $5 billion a year in lending to 26 Latin American countries. He has also served as a member of the Board of Trustees and Vice President of the Executive Committee of the Pan-American Development Foundation. During his Foreign Service career at USAID, Schieck held senior positions in Washington, DC, including Acting Assistant Administrator and Deputy Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Program and Policy Coordination; and Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia. Overseas, Schieck served as USAID Director in the Philippines and in Guatemala; he also worked in Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador. Schieck has a bachelor's degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. He has served in the U.S. Army Reserves.
“An Overview of U.S. International Development Efforts in Europe and Eurasia”
As Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia, Dr. Kent R. Hill oversees USAID programs in 29 countries spanning the Balkans to Central Asia , including all countries of the former Soviet Union . Before joining USAID, Hill served as president of Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, MA, from 1992 to 2001. From 1986 to 1992, he was president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, DC. He taught European and Russian history at Seattle Pacific University from 1980 to 1986. A graduate of Northwest Nazarene College, Hill has a master’s degree in Russian studies and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Washington. Dr. Hill has published books on Christianity in Russia and the former Soviet Union and more than 50 articles and reviews on subjects such as the Soviet Union and Russia, human rights, religion in communist countries, Russian intellectual history and Marxism. He is a noted expert on human rights and international religious freedom issues and has been an active participant in dialogue between Catholics, Evangelical Protestants, Orthodox and other religious groups.
“Providing Support to Political Parties in E&E: Opportunities and Challenges”
David Atwood is currently a Senior Foreign Service Officer and Director of the Office of Democracy, Governance and Social Transition in USAID’s Europe & Eurasia Bureau. He has worked with USAID in a variety of capacities since 1981, and served as a member of the Foreign Service since 1987, with long-term assignments in Mali , Bangladesh, and Egypt focused on agricultural development, private sector development and economic policy, as well as earlier AID/Washington assignments in the Africa Bureau and the Global Bureau. Prior to his USAID experience, Atwood served as an employment counselor in Providence, RI and Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic. He holds an MS in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, an MS in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University, and a BA in Anthropology from Brown University. He has written and/or published in the areas of land tenure reform, food security, famine, and coalition building to reduce hunger and poverty.
Alexander Sokolowski serves as Political Process Advisor for USAID’s Europe & Eurasia Bureau. Prior to joining USAID Washington in June 2003, he taught Comparative Politics at George Washington University as an adjunct professor. Sokolowski received his Ph.D. in Politics (comparative politics) from Princeton University in September 2002, writing his dissertation on the structural determinants of fiscal and social policy failure in Yeltsin’s Russia. He has served as a Foreign Policy Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He also holds master’s degrees from Princeton and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Through the mid- to late-1990s, Sokolowski worked for the National Democratic Institute’s Moscow office as a Political Party Program Officer and Political Analyst. Fluent in Russian, he has published articles in academic journals (Europe-Asia Studies, Demokratizatsiya) and opinion pieces in print media (The Moscow Times).
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| ACYPL delegates with USAID Assistant Administrator for Europe and Eurasia, Dr. Kent R. Hill (center) |
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