USGLC

Carla Koppell is the Biden Administration nominee for Assistant Administrator for Development, Democracy, and Innovation of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Currently, Koppell is a Senior Advisor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and a distinguished fellow with the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. Previously, she served in government as USAID Chief Strategy Officer; inaugural USAID Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment; Deputy Assistant Secretary of International Affairs for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and USAID climate change program director. Koppell was also a Vice President with the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Past statements on development, diplomacy, and gender equity:

On Diplomacy, Development and Defense: “The US government needs to better adapt to a world in which defense, diplomatic and development programs are increasingly undertaken in the same locations at the same time. Enabling greater coordination and collaboration will pay dividends for stability and security.” (source)

On Gender Equity: “The drive towards gender equity ought to be mainstreamed and recognized as fundamental to good governance and sustained economic growth.” (source)

On Development: “[W]hat we need to remember when we are talking about the nexus between water, conflict, and women, and I would say both women and gender issues as well, is that if we do a better job at building this into all of the interventions we’re working in…we will see better development results.” (source)

On Women and Girls: “We need to think about both the needs, opportunities, and obligations we have to women and girls on three levels: We need to deal with their specific vulnerabilities, we need to make sure that we are elevating their voice because they bring distinct expertise, and we need to make sure we are thinking about how we prevent retrenchment and permanent losses in the status of women and girls, because that’s the risk we face.” (source)

 On International Cooperation: “Despite the ever-increasing struggle to balance sovereignty with the need for collective action, many emerging threats to stability do not respect borders; they will only be overcome through international cooperation.” (source)

On Women’s Participation: “We know that women’s participation broadens the scope of peace agreements and increases the likelihood that gender-based violence will be addressed in transitional justice, constitutional drafting, security sector reform, reconstruction, and other activities that are happening in transitional societies.” (source)

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