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Speaker

David Thompson has been in the Foreign Service with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) since 2003. Prior to arriving in Pretoria in August 2020, David completed four years as USAID Deputy Mission Director in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. David was Chief of the Policy, Outreach, Strategy and Evaluation Unit, Office of Development Planning, in the Bureau for Africa (2013-2015); Senior Policy Analyst in the Office of Strategic and Program Planning, Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning (2012-2013); Director of the Office of Democracy and Governance in both Afghanistan (2011-2012) and Honduras (2008-2011); and Director of the Program Office in Albania (2004-2007). Before joining USAID, David lived and worked in Brazil and was South Africa Country Director for CHF International (now Global Communities), where he helped advance US government-funded economic and housing initiatives in the Eastern Cape. From 1996 to 1998, David led US government and UNHCR-funded initiatives to support the return of displaced persons with the reconstruction of housing, schools, clinics, and infrastructure in Bosnia-Herzegovina. David has a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in International Development Policy from Duke University, and an M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College.