WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Acting Assistant Administrator for Africa, Earl Gast presided over the ceremony where Cheryl L. Anderson was sworn-in on August 6, 2009 as the new mission director for Ghana.

As the director, Anderson will manage programs that strengthen good governance, improve agricultural practices and food security, improve health care delivery, and enhance basic education. Initiatives such as Global Food Security; the President's Malaria Initiative; the President's Initiative for Expanding Education; and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief have increased Ghana's foreign assistance budget from $80 million in fiscal year 2008 to $115 million in fiscal year 2009.

"Cheryl has the experience, training and skill to do great things in Ghana. Under her leadership, the mission will flourish," say Gast.

Anderson, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana, is returning to the country as the USAID/Ghana Mission Director. She was the USAID/East Africa Regional Mission Director in Kenya since June, 2006 and joined USAID/East Africa in November 2004 as Deputy Director.

She has over 20 years of development experience, mostly in Africa. Her Africa experience began in Ghana as a Peace Corps volunteer, where she was a mathematics and French teacher at Archbishop Porter Girls Secondary School in Takoradi from 1981 to 1983.

Since joining USAID as a Foreign Service Officer in 1988, she has served in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sudan and Kenya. Also, she has served as the deputy director in the East Asia Office of the Asia and the Near East Bureau at USAID headquarters in Washington D.C.

Outside of government, Anderson has worked as the programs manager for Healthlink Worldwide, a UK-based non-governmental organization. Her education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from Colgate University and Master of Science in International Development Management from American University.

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