Maria E. Barrón currently serves as USAID's Mission Director in Niger. Ms. Barron is USAID/Niger’s second Mission Director after its 2020 transition from a USAID Representative Office to a Mission. USAID/Niger supports the Nigerien government and its people to recover from disasters, build resilience to shocks, increase resistance to violent extremism, strengthen health and education systems and democratic governance. Niger is a Feed the Future priority country, and a priority for USAID's resilience and countering violent extremism efforts.
Ms. Barrón brings over 20 years of USAID experience to USAID/Niger. As USAID/Mali’s Peace, Democracy, and Governance Office Director (2018-22) overseeing two teams – Humanitarian Assistance and Democracy, Human Rights and Governance – she supervised humanitarian aid, food security, democracy, governance, and peacebuilding portfolios to address Mali’s ongoing complex crisis and post-coup challenges. During her time as USAID/Nepal’s Democracy and Governance Office Director (2011-17), she adapted her portfolio in response to the 2015 earthquakes, a new constitution, and Nepal’s transition to federalism. As USAID/Afghanistan’s Office of Democracy and Governance Deputy Director and Acting Director (2010-11), she supervised four teams and worked closely with the U.S. and international armed forces for strategic coordination supporting reconstruction. In Mexico (2008-10), Ms. Barrón led USAID’s programmatic response to the bilateral security cooperation agreement, working closely with the Mexican government to counter the effects of drug cartels. She first joined USAID in 2001 as a Presidential Management Fellow and served in the Latin America and Caribbean Bureau (2001-05) and the Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance Bureau (2005-07), providing technical support in eleven countries of LAC and South Asia before joining as a New Entry Professional Foreign Service Officer in 2007.
Prior to USAID, Ms. Barrón worked with the UN, the Peruvian government, Allegheny county government, and non-profit organizations. She also served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo (1994-96), and evaluated Peace Corps’ USAID-funded Small Project Assistance (1997). Ms. Barrón is from El Paso, Texas, speaks Spanish and French, and holds a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Media Studies from Syracuse University.