This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
Administrator J. Brian Atwood
Presenting the George C. Marshall Award
Washington, D.C., May 7, 1997
U.S. Agency for International Development
It is a great pleasure for me to join you in celebrating Civil
Service Day and Public Service Recognition Week, and to have a
chance to thank all of you. No one in our government is thanked
less often than career civil servants.
Civil Servants are not faceless bureaucrats, as some have
said. Indeed, the Civil Service is the backbone of government.
I started my government career as a G-7 in 1964. I have
been a part of the foreign service, and of the first Senior
Executive Corps. I know no one is more anxious to make
government responsive, effective and efficient than you are.
Probably no American gave more thought to both the
purposes and operations of government than Thomas Jefferson.
At the end of his Presidency, Jefferson summed up his
years of thought about government and his experience in
applying his principles to actually running a government:
"The care of human life and happiness...is the first and
only legitimate object of government."
You in the Civil Service at USAID have devoted your
careers to carrying out what Jefferson declared "the only
legitimate object of government."
You and your colleagues have provided caring hands in
times of crisis -- brought help and hope to victims of war,
disease, famine and natural disaster.
You have helped people begin to rebuild -- or build for the
first time -- an economic base on which to help themselves.
Your work has helped establish free elections, clean water
systems, pollution protection, public health services, laws and
policies that protect human rights.
You know that your work has changed millions and millions
of lives for the better. I want you to know that I know it, too.
At the Town Hall last week, one of our USAID employees
pointed her finger at those of us on the stage -- the Secretary of
State and agency heads -- and said, "It is the people at the
working level who make you look good."
She is absolutely right. It is the people in the Civil Service,
the Foreign Service and Foreign Service Nationals that make ME
look good. Far more important -- you make our country look
good.
I am aware of your daily sacrifices and hard work, whether
your job is to help someone get to a new assignment overseas,
prepare a budget, manage a mission or get the right supplies and
equipment to the field. Each of you is an important part of the
world's best team of professionals in development and
humanitarian response.
I am proud of you -- and proud of the work that you do.
The career Civil Service gives this agency continuity. You
provide our collective memory. Without your experience and
expertise -- and that of your colleagues in the Foreign Service and
the Foreign Service Nationals -- reinventing and refocusing this
agency over the past four years would not have been possible.
The process of change is not over. As the State Department
reengineers itself and integrates the USIA and ACDA more fully
into its operations, we will also be working more closely with our
colleagues at State.
You will again be on the front lines of change, with valuable
experience to offer. I believe the State Department
reorganization will result in a better appreciation of
development's role in American foreign policy.
Change has always been the underlying purpose of this
agency. We are working around the world to help people change
conditions so that they can have better lives.
The day before he was killed, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
said: "Whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity
and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity, it has worth."
Everyone in USAID is building for humanity. The future
peace and prosperity of our nation, and the world, depends on
how well you do your jobs.
The creation of the George C. Marshall award recognizes
the key role that Civil Servants play in carrying out the missions
of this agency, and in making our government work.
Our roots at USAID are in the Marshall Plan that sparked
the recovery of Europe. When he announced the plan for
American aid, Marshall laid out these principles:
"Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine
but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose
should be the revival of political and social conditions in which
free institutions can exist."
To these old enemies we have added newer threats --
pollution, rapid population growth, loss of biodiversity, global
climate change, emerging diseases. Yet our goal remains the
same: to produce -- sometimes for the first time in a particular
country -- the conditions in which free institutions can flourish.
We chose to name the highest award USAID can bestow on
a Civil Servant for George C. Marshall, not only because of his
greatness, but because of his insistence on excellence -- whatever
he was called upon to do for his country. He embodied the best
qualities of the career public servant -- in any job, at any level.
The patience, selflessness and dedication honed in long years
at obscure posts without promotion made George Marshall
unflappable and incorruptible when he achieved power and fame
-- and when he received unfair blame.
Marshall believed in staff work. He respected and trusted
the professionals at State to carry out the responsibilities he gave
them.
Under his leadership they created the framework -- the
Marshall Plan and the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance -- for
America's crucial role in rebuilding Western Europe, preventing
nuclear conflict, stopping the spread of Communism in Europe,
and ushering in a period of unprecedented peace and prosperity.
Like General Marshall, the recipient of this award today is
known for setting the highest standards -- especially for himself --
and for his innovative intellectual leadership. He has inspired his
colleagues both within the agency and in the developing world.
It is a great pleasure to announce that the first winner of the
George C. Marshall Award for Excellence in Government Service
is Dr. Jerry Wolgin, Director of the Office of Sustainable
Development in the Africa Bureau.
Dr. Wolgin has gained the respect of his fellow economists
and development professionals around the world. He has made
important contributions to the mission of USAID and to the
development of Africa.
His groundbreaking work on economic policy reform in the
mid-1980s pointed both USAID and African leaders toward the
successful reform efforts of Latin American and Asia. At a time
when few shared his vision, Jerry persuaded people Africa could
also become a continent of progress and hope.
That hope is now being translated into the Clinton
Administration's Africa Trade and Investment Initiative.
In 1985, working with then Deputy Assistant Administrator
Larry Saiers, Dr. Wolgin conceived of the African Economic
Policy Reform Program. An innovative mix of project and non-project assistance, this program created an annual fund of $50-75
million to support efforts by African countries to move toward
market economies.
Dr. Wolgin also encouraged USAID field missions to
become actively involved in the critically important policy debate
that was just beginning in Africa.
Ghana and Uganda were emerging from terrible crises, but
Jerry realized their new leaders were committed to real reform,
and pushed for their inclusion in the program. Jerry saw their
potential and helped turn that potential into concrete progress.
Now both countries are prime targets for the new Africa Trade
and Investment Initiative.
Jerry also designed a large, multi-country study to analyze
the impact of structural adjustments on poverty. Cornell
conducted the study, which demonstrated ways in which good
economic policies and market liberalization helped farmers and
alleviated poverty. Jerry then carried that message to Africans,
non-governmental organizations and the American public.
Dr. Wolgin's work has helped build much stronger
commitment to good policies in many African countries. African
capacity-building has become the centerpiece of Bureau policy.
Jerry has fought hard to reverse the decline in funding for
agricultural research. He is now also pushing efforts to speed up
progress in fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa.
Dr. Jerry Wolgin personifies the vision, devotion to duty
and high standards of George C. Marshall. He has had a
profound impact over an extended period on development in
Africa, and on USAID as an institution.
It gives me great pleasure to present this first George C.
Marshall award -- the highest award USAID can give to a
member of the Civil Service -- to Dr. Jerry Wolgin for his
outstanding service in furthering the mission of USAID.
Jerry, you are a credit to the Civil Service and to USAID.
In making you the first recipient of this award, we are setting a
standard of excellence for future Marshall awards. You are an
inspiration to your bureau, to the people of Africa, and to me.
Congratulations, Jerry, and thank you.
This is an archived USAID document retained on this web site as a matter of public record.
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Last Updated on: July 18, 2001
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