Speaker Series – Anne Pfitzer: A Small Pointer’s Take on Foreign Assistance and the US Role in the World

After pursuing a degree in public health, Anne has worked in development for over 30 years, with 90% of her work funded by USAID (and was abruptly terminated this year). She will tell stories of how she came to do this work, some professional experiences, and debunk some of the narratives circulating. She will also provide her perspectives on what is emerging in terms of the impacts of the defunding of foreign assistance programs. The idea is to have a conversation with the bulk of the time in discussion about how assistance programs came to be characterized as soft power in geo-politics.