Dr. Shah welcomed some of the brightest minds and most impressive leaders working at the frontiers of development, to engage in constructive discussion about the past, present and future of development. As the forum progressed, there was wide sharing of ideas and lessons learned on poverty eradication and mobilizing collective action. As countries and other global development actors come together to shape the post-2015 Development Agenda, a new set of time-bound targets to succeed the Millennium Development Goals, the forum helped define a path to achieve something truly remarkable — the end of extreme poverty by 2030.

Quotes

The truth is that the poverty, instability, and the sheer human need we are witnessing today challenge us to bring greater—not less—commitment to this mission. Time and again, we’ve seen the intersection of extreme corruption, extreme poverty, and extreme climate push millions to the edge of survival and challenge our own sense of security and prosperity.

We still as Americans need to stand for something special. And so when our President stands up in the State of the Union or anywhere else and calls on us to lead a fight to end extreme poverty, we have to recognize that that is our responsibility, it is our opportunity, it is in our national security and economic interest, but it also speaks volumes about who we are.

Our effort to end extreme poverty will largely fail or succeed based on whether we can all work together with those nations to help make the right choices.

In a world of fierce competition, we have to earn the right to lead every single day. And unless we seek to evolve and get better, many of our partners—including the countries we celebrate today—will simply look elsewhere for solutions and partnership.

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Biography

Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator, USAID

Dr. Rajiv Shah serves as the 16th Administrator of USAID and leads the efforts of more than 9,600 professionals in 80 missions around the world. Before becoming USAID's Administrator, Dr. Shah served as undersecretary for research, education and economics, and as chief scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Prior to joining the Obama administration, Shah served for seven years with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, including as director of agricultural development in the Global Development Program, and as director of strategic opportunities. Dr. Shah earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and his master's in health economics from the Wharton School of Business. He attended the London School of Economics and is a graduate of the University of Michigan.