Beth Dunford

Beth Dunford is vice president for agriculture, human and social development at the African Development Bank, where she is responsible for strategy, lending and other activities in agriculture, water and sanitation, education, and health, as well as bank-wide work on employment and gender equity. She also leads the bank’s multi-billion dollar response to the COVID pandemic in Africa. Dunford has held senior leadership positions in the U.S. government, has managed large programs working with the private sector, civil society and multilaterals, and has worked with African governments to deliver agricultural, social and human development impact at scale. She served as assistant to the administrator in USAID’s Bureau for Resilience and Food Security and as deputy coordinator for development for Feed the Future, the USG’s global hunger and food security initiative. Dunford previously served as director of USAID’s mission in Nepal, where she led the USG’s health, education, agriculture and environment programs as well as its contribution to Nepal’s massive earthquake recovery and reconstruction effort; she also has directed USAID programs in Afghanistan and Ethiopia.