Margaret Sancho was sworn in as Mission Director for Sudan on August 5, 2024. A career Foreign Service Officer, she joined USAID in 2001. From 2001 to 2016, she oversaw health and education technical portfolios in Jamaica, Liberia, Indonesia, and Uganda. From 2017 to 2020, Ms. Sancho was the Director of USAID’s Global Health Bureau Office of Country Support in Washington, D.C., which coordinates health-related strategic planning, technical assistance, and communication between USAID’s headquarters in Washington and field missions in approximately 60 countries. In September 2020, she assumed the position of Deputy Mission Director for USAID/Egypt, overseeing an expansive $548 million portfolio focused on private-sector led growth, education, anti-corruption and governance, inclusive development, women’s empowerment, and health.
Prior to joining USAID, Ms. Sancho was a Program Officer for the USAID-funded Family Health and AIDS Project based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. In this capacity she monitored health social marketing activities implemented in Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Cameroon. Her other work experience includes positions as a Prevention Education Manager for the Long Island (New York) Association for AIDS Care, and a Management Intern with the Louisiana State Office of Public Health’s School-Based Health Program. She also served as a Teaching English as a Second Language (TEFL)-HIV/AIDS Education Volunteer with the U.S. Peace Corps in Cameroon.
Ms. Sancho completed a Master’s degree in Public Health from Tulane University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Cornell University. She is fluent in French, Italian, and Indonesian, and has elementary proficiency in German, Spanish, and Swedish.