Washington, DC
Remarks
ADMINISTRATOR SAMANTHA POWER: Thank you, Monde [Muyangwa], for always being a part of these ceremonies and putting your heart into each of them. It’s reflective of the team spirit you bring to the office every day; I love working with you.
I want to welcome a few people specifically by name: Janean’s sister, Joslyn [Stewart]; her husband, Derrick [Davis]; and their daughters, Faith and Sekai, all here in the room with us. Faith and Sekai tried, unsuccessfully, to explain, once and for all, Roblox, and why it has taken over the hearts of, particularly, young women and young girls all around the world. I will go back to my daughter with slightly more comprehension, but I think Janean [Davis] and I are as lost as ever with this mystifying phenomenon. To Aniya [Davis], thank you for joining from university, where we gather you are thriving. Congratulations to you and we look forward to watching what you do in this world of ours. And welcome to friends and family joining from all over the world. I had a feeling, knowing Janean just a little bit, that this would be a packed house and full of energy, and I’m told we have at least one watch party from Rwanda supporting Janean, and a whole host of others joining from Ghana, from Tanzania, from South Africa. That is really fantastic, it’s a tribute to you who have gathered, in some cases almost after hours, but above all it’s a tribute to the loyalty, Janean, and the sisterhood, and the familial spirit that you’ve brought to all of your postings. So that is just awesome. Janean has a legendary knack for building relationships wherever she goes, and for making a lasting impact on the people that she encounters.
She grew up in a small farm town in New Jersey. She was the baby among three siblings, and was raised in a loving family surrounded by big crowds of cousins, aunts, and uncles – many of whom are on the screen here with us today. Their home was full of the smell of freshly baked rolls, and the sounds of loud laughter, singing by the piano, and rambunctious conversation – all of which Janean has carried with her into adulthood, as an avid baker, a talented musician – although her husband quibbles just how talented – and an engaging storyteller, famous for her infectious laugh.
Janean’s parents were models of excellence and service. In 1965, Janean’s mother marched with Martin Luther King from Selma to Montgomery, and as an adult, she remained a deeply engaged advocate and volunteer in her community while serving as a high school teacher for over 30 years – the most valuable role of all. Her father was a remarkable mathematician who, at the age of just 23, led the development of the Ranger VII television system, which beamed the United States’ first successful pictures of the moon’s surface back to earth, paving the way for the successful landing of Apollo 7. In 1964, her dad was featured in Ebony magazine under the headline “Moonshot Technician,” and was soon after sent to Washington DC to brief President Johnson on his achievement.
Janean inherited both her parents’ standard of excellence and their commitment to service, making high grades and thriving particularly in math, like her dad, while also serving as a volunteer tutor. After earning degrees in mathematics and industrial engineering from Spelman College and Georgia Institute of Technology, Janean joined the Peace Corps as a mathematics teacher in Tanzania. There, she discovered a love of international development – so she returned to the U.S. for graduate degrees in international health and development at Johns Hopkins and joined USAID right upon graduation as a Presidential Management Fellow.
Not long into Janean’s USAID career, she had a moment by the metro that changed her life. This requires a little backstory. Back in high school, Janean seemingly took a page out of a rom com by falling for Derrick, the captain of the football team at a rival neighboring school. The pair immediately clicked and courted, remaining connected well into their college years, but when Janean left for the Peace Corps, they completely lost touch.
Then, 13 years later, Derrick – now a sophisticated businessman – stepped off the Federal Triangle metro, on his way to an interview, and was gobsmacked. There before him was none other than Janean, having lunch in the plaza with her USAID colleagues. The two reunited and married in 2008 – destiny!
Shortly after reuniting with Derrick, Janean joined the Foreign Service, and set off for what would become a 15-year set of stints overseas. The journey took them across Africa together, from Rwanda to Tanzania to Ghana.
In every posting, Janean brought her talent, her thoughtfulness, and her spirit of service in abundance. Her math background proved useful in crafting budgets and tracking economic trends. Her iron work ethic and knack for learning propelled her to learn French and – very uncommonly – Twi and become fluent in Swahili. Her organizational skills inspired her to create a color-coded, alphabetized, categorized spreadsheet for everything – which has earned her the title of “the Queen of Spreadsheets.” And her natural ability to lead helped her mentor others with patience and with great grace.
The testimonies of her colleagues say it all. One colleague said, “If I’m having an off day, she’s the person who can tell me, with a smile, ‘Girl, get it together’ – and it works! She is a natural leader, it’s something she was born to do.” Another colleague reflected, “Janean is that teacher you loved in high school that actually cares about you, but also straightens you out.” Another offered, “Janean is always thinking about others and putting them first. She makes you feel open, and she really cultivates relationships and makes it a priority.”
Under difficult circumstances, Janean provided calm and steady leadership to her team. She reached out to the Minister of Health, a connection from her time in the Peace Corps, and through artful diplomacy, was able to negotiate to a point of consensus that kept the Mission’s health program operating and on track. And in Ghana, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and left the country’s health system in disarray, Janean harnessed the close ties she had forged with key government leaders to mobilize a rapid vaccination campaign, and the trust she had built in the community to successfully encourage widespread participation. In every posting, Janean relied on the invaluable expertise of FSNs [foreign service nationals], and in Ghana, she was absolutely instrumental in advocating for the addition of an FSN-13 leadership position that empowered one of our many talented FSNs as a key policy advisor at the equivalent rank of a Deputy Mission Director, bringing the FSN perspective to the forefront of the Mission's decision-making.
When asked to describe Janean, one of her mentors, Ambassador Sharon Cromer, evoked Alice Walker’s Pulitzer prize winning novel, The Color Purple. And this just really says it all. She recalled the conversation between the characters Nellie and Shug, in which Shug asserts that she believes it makes God angry, “if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it,” and if you fail to appreciate the beauty of the world. “Janean,” Ambassador Cromer stated, “is the color purple. She is such a light, such a warm person… She exudes warmth and people are drawn to her because she cares.” There are so many nods here – I can see people on the screen nodding. Janean’s longtime colleague and dear friend, Keisha [Effiom], echoed these sentiments, reflecting, “Janean is absolutely someone you cannot miss. Her laugh is a language of its own: it is endearing, it is embracing, it is hilarious, it is just warm.”
And we know Janean will be an invaluable partner and a force for good as she takes the helm of our USAID Zimbabwe Mission, forges relationships with the Zimbabwean people, and joins with them to advance their country’s development.
Janean assumes leadership of our Mission in Zimbabwe at a critical time. On the heels of an election that was neither free nor fair, with severe economic challenges and a government that uses violence and intimidation to stifle dissent, Zimbabwe will either continue its downward trajectory or take steps to end two decades of international isolation and achieve the progress that its citizens so deserve.
Zimbabweans are incredible. They have demonstrated extraordinary resilience living under a government that, of course, Freedom House rates as “Not Free.” While former President Mugabe’s resignation in 2017 brought about the end of a 37-year dictatorship, we’ve unfortunately seen little progress toward democratic reform. Deteriorating rule of law long ago scared off responsible foreign investment, fiscal mismanagement has led to foreign currency shortages and astronomical inflation rates, and state corruption has tragically siphoned off funds for critical infrastructure and social development. This leaves nearly half of Zimbabweans living in extreme poverty, and the country has sunk further and further into debt.
We know the way out of this crisis is for the Zimbabwean government to genuinely embrace democratic and economic reforms, to root out endemic corruption, to stop excessive force and intimidation of its citizens, and embark on a process of transitional justice to address the legacy of violence. Zimbabwe has an abundance of young talent – it’s one of the things that Janean is most excited about tapping – talent that is ready to drive progress, 67 percent of the population is under 35, one of the youngest populations in the entire world. But to reach their potential to unlock all of that talent, Zimbabweans need access to healthcare, to education, to jobs, and to freedom from government repression.
So USAID is partnering with Zimbabweans to drive progress. We are joining local private sector partners to support innovation, to bolster job opportunities, and to invest in promising young entrepreneurs, of whom there are many. We are supporting farmers with better tools to increase crop yields and improve their resilience to recurrent climatic shocks and economic stresses. We’re helping to strengthen health systems to better support this growing population. We are supporting those who are fighting corruption, expanding democratic freedoms, and supporting those protecting brave Zimbabwean human rights defenders. And we are empowering the local leaders – particularly young leaders and women leaders – who are pushing to improve governance, strengthen public integrity, and build a more transparent and inclusive Zimbabwe. In fact, our Zimbabwe Mission is a leader in directly funding local organizations – with 52 percent of funds going directly to local partners, and that trajectory is on the rise.
Janean is an ideal champion for these efforts, and I know will forge the same kinds of partnerships in Zimbabwe that she has everywhere she has served, including during her time right here in D.C. Her deep knowledge; this, again, preternatural ability to build strong relationships; her commitment to strengthening her teams and opening up new avenues for partnership; her profound commitment, lifelong commitment, to service will be absolutely critical as we work together, even through what are difficult and uncertain times, towards helping Zimbabweans build a more prosperous, inclusive, and democratic future that they so crave.
With that, Janean, let me thank you and your family for making the leap together. But thanks, Derrick, to you and all of you for taking on this new family adventure together. Derrick, he’s a music producer and records music in the countries to which he deploys. Often recording – in Rwanda, I gather, recorded Rwandan musicians who have never been recorded, in fact. So such a gift to the culture of the countries that this great family deploys to. But there’s nothing like the Zimbabwean music scene, so it is really, really exciting to imagine that tandem there. And Janean, everywhere the call of service comes, you salute, you deploy, and you throw body and soul into building relationships and making a difference. So thanks to you for taking this on, thanks to your family for joining you, and we can’t wait to see the good that you all do together.
Thank you.