U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Friday, October 9, the appointment of Dr. Monde Muyangwa as deputy administrator of the Africa Bureau of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. government agency responsible for economic development and humanitarian assistance around the world. The agency works under the supervision of the U.S. President, the State Department and the National Security Council.
Originally from Zambia, where she was born and attended college, Dr. Monde Muyangwa has more than 23 years of high-level experience on Africa and U.S.-Africa relations. She currently serves as the Director of the Africa Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a position she has held since 2014. In this role, she leads the Center’s programs designed to analyze and offer practical and actionable options for addressing some of Africa’s most critical, current, and long-term issues; foster policy-driven dialogue and options for stronger, mutually beneficial U.S.-Africa relations; and challenge the dominant narrative on Africa by enhancing knowledge and understanding of the continent in the United States. The Africa Program’s areas of focus are inclusive governance and leadership; conflict management and peacebuilding; trade, investment, and sustainable development; and Africa’s evolving role on the global stage.
Program Management in Security and Counterterrorism Studies
Prior to joining the Wilson Center, she served as academic dean of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS) at the National Defense University from 2002 to 2013, where she directed and managed the center’s programs on security studies, counterterrorism and transnational threats, civil-military relations, defense economics, and conflict management. She was also a professor of civil-military relations at ACSS from 2000 to 2003.
From 1997 to 2000, she worked as Director of Research and then Vice President for Research and Policy at the National Summit on Africa, where she led a policy-driven national dialogue on Africa that resulted in a national policy action plan for U.S.-Africa relations. From 1996 to 1997, she worked as Director of International Education Programs at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico. She was also a member of the Advisory Board of the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, a project of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.
Development and Gender Consultant
Dr. Monde Muyangwa has also worked as a development and gender consultant on a wide range of development projects in Southern Africa in the areas of education, housing, health and nutrition. She currently serves on the board of Freedom House and the board of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF).
Dr. Monde Muyangwa holds a Ph.D. in International Relations and a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University, England, and a B.A. in Public Administration and Economics from the University of Zambia. She was a Rhodes Scholar, Wingate Scholar, and University of Zambia valedictorian speaker for her graduating class. Dr. Monde is a long-time resident of Bowie, Prince George’s County, Maryland, USA.
