The independent Office of Policy (POL) provides actionable policy counsel to USAID leadership by helping the Agency identify, analyze, and more effectively confront complex development and humanitarian challenges - of the moment and on the horizon. We conduct our work along three lines of action:
Policy Planning: Analyzing development trends in the context of U.S. foreign policy, informing decision-making by USAID leadership on key priorities, and supporting long-term planning for new or different policy directions
Policy Coordination: Managing time-bound, action-oriented task teams consisting of leaders and experts who coordinate strategies to address complex, cross-cutting policy issues and develop recommendations for USAID leadership
Policy Engagement: Maintaining relationships with other U.S. government and external partners and facilitating policy engagement campaigns that build support for USAID initiatives and broader policy solutions to development challenges
POL’s current focus areas include cross-cutting issues such as safe and legal global migration, economic resilience and statecraft, climate policy, multilateral development bank reform, addressing the sovereign debt crisis, and improving humanitarian-development-peace coherence to better address protracted crises. The Office also advances an affirmative agenda in the context of strategic competition with the People's Republic of China and develops strategic projects, including supporting innovations in market shaping policies and exploring the impact of advancements in artificial intelligence.
Leadership: Dr. Cindy Huang serves as the Director of the Office of Policy at USAID. She is also a part-time senior fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD). Dr. Huang has more than 20 years of experience leading humanitarian and global development efforts across government and non-profit sectors.
For more information please contact: policy@usaid.gov
