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This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
TOWN HALL
In this section:
Town Hall Highlights Agency Priorities, Natsios
Farewell
Town Hall Highlights Agency Priorities, Natsios Farewell
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Acting Administrator Frederick W. Schieck, right, presents
Agency logo to outgoing Administrator Andrew S. Natsios
during Jan. 9 town hall meeting.
Robert J. Rourke/LightPoint Images
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A “severely reduced” operating expenses budget
for 2006 led the list of employee challenges presented by
Acting Administrator Frederick W. Schieck during a Jan. 9
town hall meeting in Washington. The event also served as
an Agency-wide farewell to former Administrator Andrew S.
Natsios.
Congress appropriated $630 million (operating expenses),
which was about $50 million below the Agency’s request.
USAID’s overall appropriation for 2006—$4.3 billion—is
$93 million below what the Agency received for 2005.
The less than expected funding is particularly problematic
for field missions, said Schieck, who is working with staff
to transfer some programming funds to the operating expenses
budget.
Schieck also knocked down rumors of a RIF, or reduction
in force, and a takeover by the State Department.
“We are continuing an ongoing discussion with the State
Department on how best to try to get a better handle on joint
programming and budgeting and strategic development,”
he said, adding consolidating the two entities was not part
of those discussions.
The Agency’s work in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, and
eastern and southern Africa will continue to be priorities
as well as the increasingly high-profile efforts to combat
avian flu and malaria, Schieck said.
Natsios, whose last day at USAID came three days after the
town hall, used the venue to review the Agency’s accomplishments
during his watch. He applauded the response to both the tsunami
and preparations for a potential avian flu pandemic. He noted
several papers, including the White Paper, Fragile States
Strategy, and Foreign Aid in the National Interest.
He also pointed out that new offices were helping expand
the circle of Agency partners. And, he said the Agency’s
work, particularly in Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, was enhancing
the Bush Administration’s foreign and development policy
agendas.
Natsios announced in early December 2005 that he would leave
USAID for a position on the faculty of Georgetown University’s
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. In addition to
addressing the town hall meeting in his final week on the
job, Natsios opened the new George C. Marshall Hall in the
14th Street entryway to USAID’s headquarters in Washington
(see article below) and released two new reports on Agency
initiatives.
Natsios, who said his five years leading the Agency had
been the best years of his professional career, told the town
hall audience: “There is a reason that USAID is the premier
development agency in the world and that is all of you.”
“What remains so impressive to me is that we have had
so many successes given the operating environment we work
in,” he said.
“USAID is more like a venture capital firm than any
other U.S. government agency. Some of our investments are
spectacular successes, and sometimes they fail.… Taking
risks and trying new ideas is part of what has made this Agency
so great.”
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