Azza El Abd - USAID/Kosovo Acting Mission Director

Ms. Azza El-Abd arrived in Kosovo in June, 2010 as Deputy Mission Director, and as of January 2011 is Acting Mission Director. Prior to arriving in Kosovo, she was in Washington heading the Office of Central America and Mexico Affairs in the Latin America and Caribbean Bureau.

An engineer by profession, Ms. El-Abd has worked for USAID for over 20 years in various capacities; managing infrastructure projects, multi-sector portfolios, and conflict and post-conflict programs in Central America, Africa, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe and South Asia. Her overseas assignments include Uganda, Hungary, Nepal, Indonesia and Pakistan.

Ms. El-Abd holds a BSc. in Electrical Engineering and a MSc. in National Resource Strategy.

Message from Mission Director

The first thing that strikes any visitor to Kosovo is the very strong relationship that exists between Kosovo and the United States. This mutual respect has helped USAID engage with the communities and accomplish much in a short period of time. We have worked closely with community groups, municipalities and local businesses throughout Kosovo. Through local engagement, we are able to identify genuine needs, engender matching contributions, and help ensure sustainability of the development results. The people of Kosovo have been through a lot, but I have seen a great determination to work together to shape the future of their country.

USAID have invested over $640 million in Kosovo over the last 11 years, helping to build the institutions of Kosovo's government and society; encourage a democratic process that includes all of the country's citizens; ensure that society and government are firmly grounded in the rule of law; and promote economic development. The private sector has also been a focus from the start, and over the last ten years USAID programs have created more than 11,000 new jobs and assisted more than 7,000 businesses.

Improving infrastructure has been an area of major emphasis including some 80 road rehabilitation and 100 water and sanitation projects where we continue to expand the supply of potable water in partnership with the municipalities. Over 100 schools have been rehabilitated or expanded in order to assist the Ministry of Education and the municipalities achieve their goal of reducing school shifts from four to two. We are also proponents of promoting private sector investment in public infrastructure so that scarce public resources can be directed to the highest priority needs.

Nation building is hard work, but the great people of Kosovo can transform this new nation into a modern and prosperous country with a bright European future. We are proud to be your partners in your efforts to realize this future.