USAID was founded in 1961 to distribute assistance, or foreign aid, from the U.S. government to other countries. Today the organization administers a wide variety of assistance programs intended to help countries reduce poverty, establish and strengthen democratic institutions, improve education and health, address the effects of climate change, and promote gender equality, among many other objectives. The agency often works in post-crisis and post-conflict areas to deliver emergency assistance and encourage economic opportunity and peace.

The USAID administrator’s goals are to

-advise the president on issues involving economic, social, and political development and USAID’s efforts to advance related objectives; and
-describe the potential role and contributions of USAID, and foreign assistance more broadly, as part of the potential U.S. policy response.