IN PERSON: For some citizens, the topic of U.S. foreign aid is contentious, yet many people are unclear how foreign assistance works and what it achieves. This lecture-style course explains the foundations of development assistance and its management by foreign service officers in U.S. embassies around the world. Participants will gain a rich understanding of the importance of U.S. assistance at both the humanitarian and political levels. Our emphasis will be on USAID program areas such as disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, health promotion, democracy, the environment, counternarcotics, education and economic development. Using concrete examples from the instructor’s experience, such as her work in Zambia that cut maternal mortality by 55% and dramatically reduced malaria, students will gain a reality-based appreciation of how U.S. investments achieve results and benefit the U.S. | Lecture + Q&A.
Max enrollment: 30.
Location: Judea Reform Congregation, 1933 W. Cornwallis Rd, Durham NC 27705
Susan Brems is a retired senior foreign service officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development. She spent 25 years in USAID missions in Latin America, Africa and Asia, as well as in senior management at USAID headquarters. Entering USAID as a health officer, she rose to lead USAID missions in three countries, overseeing programs in all development sectors. She has two Ph.D.s from Johns Hopkins University, in social change and development and in sociocultural anthropology.