The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project Foreign Assistance Series AARON WILLIAMS Interviewed by: Carol Peasley Initial Interview date: February 6, 2017 Copyright 2018 ADST This oral history transcription was made possible through support provided by U.S. Agency for International Development, under terms of Cooperative Agreement No. AID-OAA-F-16-00101. The opinions expressed herein are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. TABLE OF CONTENTS Childhood, Education, and Early Background Chicago, Illinois Chicago Teacher’s College Peace Corps Volunteer (Dominican Republic) and Staff (U.S.) 1967-1971 Training – San Diego State College Teacher Training Volunteer Relationship of Peace Corps with Dominican Population Teacher at Madre y Maestra University Marriage to Rosa Peace Corps Staff – U.S. – Coordinator for Minority Recruitment Post-Peace Corps – MBA and Private Sector Employment University of Wisconsin – MBA 1971-1973 General Mills – Brand/Marketing Manager 1973-1976 USAID/Honduras, Consultant to Direct Hire Project Manager 1976-1979 Short-term Consultant on Leave from General Mills Agri-business Project Partnership with United Brands From Personal Services Contractor to Mid-level Direct Hire LAC Bureau Project Review Process Learning by Doing – Managing Implementation Problems Learning from Great Leadership Team 1 USAID/Haiti, Project Development/Private Sector Officer 1979-1983 Progressive “Baby Doc” Cabinet and Sense of Optimism Trade preferences: Tariff Items 807 & 809, and the Caribbean Basin Initiative Private Enterprise Development and Export Processing Zones Trade Associations and Investment Promotion Haitian Development Finance Corporation Deteriorating Governance and Corruption USAID/Costa Rica, Director, Private Sector Office 1983-1986 Exceptional USAID Relationship with Host Country Arthur D. Little Consulting Team Impact Privatization and Export Finance CINDE – Costa Rican Coalition for Development Initiatives Local Currency Programming EARTH University Export and Investment Promotion AID/Washington, LAC Office of Private Sector Development – Director 1986-1989 Caribbean Basin Initiative/Enterprise for the Americas/NAFTA Caribbean – Central American-Action Association AA/LAC Dwight Ink – Management Systems and Influence Inter-Agency Challenges – Trade Policy and ESF Allocations Liaison with AID/Private Sector Bureau USAID Regional Mission for the Caribbean (RDO/C) – Mission Director 1989-1991 Managing Multiple Country Programs and Expectations Regional Institutions Inter-American Development Bank Agricultural Diversification and Banana Wars Tourism Hurricane Hugo – OFDA (Paul Bell) and Donor Coordination Congressional Hearing in the Caribbean Region AID/Washington, LAC, Deputy Assistant Administrator 1991-1993 Controversy Over USAID Export & Investment Promotion Programs in 1992 Election – 60 Minutes TV Program NAFTA Managing Transition to New Administration AID/Washington, Executive Secretariat 1993-1996 First USAID Career Appointee to Atwood Leadership Team Expanding Role of the Executive Secretariat (ES) Managing USAID’s Inter-Agency Roles Relations with State Department Saving USAID Senior Staff Training Operating Expense Reductions and USAID Mission Closures 2 The battle for an independent USAID USAID/South Africa, Mission Director 1996-1998 Bi-national (Gore-Mbeki) Commission Involvement Government of South Africa Donor Review Process USAID Strategic Choices: GoSA vs. Civil Society HIV/AIDS – GoSA Resistance Amy Biehl Foundation Truth and Reconciliation Commission African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) Historically Black College and Universities in South Africa Ethics Code for New Majority-led Government President Nelson Mandela U.S. Presidential and First Lady Visits to South Africa Post—USAID Career: Retirement from USAID 1998 International Youth Foundation (IYF) 1998-2002 Partnering with the Private Sector Research Triangle Institute – International (RTI) 2002-2009 Iraq Local Government Project – lessons learned Presidential Malaria Initiative Obama-Biden Transition Team 2009 U. S. Peace Corps Director 2009-2012 Research Triangle Institute – International 2012 onward Final Concluding Thoughts on Accomplishments and Lessons Learned Country-by-Country Summary Observations on Leadership Qualities Observations on Workforce Diversity INTERVIEW Q: So, thank you very much Aaron for participating in this program and maybe we can start out with where you were born, when you were born, some of your early childhood and background in education. Were there any unique things that helped push you in the direction of a career with USAID (United States Agency for International Development) on international development? Childhood, Education, and Early Background WILLIAMS: Well thanks Carol, I'm really delighted to participate in this project and contribute to the oral history of USAID officers. There’s nothing in my initial background from the time I was born, and my early years, that would have led me to a career in the Foreign Service, absolutely zero. I was born in Chicago to a working-class 3 family, my mother was from Chicago and she had been a dietician, a secretary, managed a dry-cleaners, really regular working class jobs. She had graduated top of her class in high school but never had a chance to go to college. But she was a very smart, hard- working woman. My father was born in Mississippi and then he was drafted and went on to serve in the US Army during World War II (WWII). He served in the Pacific theater, and after he came back he obviously could no longer live in Mississippi, it was intolerable. So, like so many black people of that era he moved to Chicago where he met my mother. And so, I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. My father worked at the US Post Office, at the huge downtown main post office, and he worked there for almost 30 years. And he, you know, rose up the ranks to be a mid-level manager at the post office, eventually becoming a district superintendent. Therefore, we lived on the South Side in a working class neighborhood, a very ordinary life, for my parents and my sister and brother. And although my father had gone to college on the GI Bill when he got back from WWII, he found that studying and living in the South was unbearable, and so he never went back to college after a couple of years. Thus, I was the first person in my family to graduate from college. Q: Did you go to public high school in South Side? WILLIAMS: At first, I went to catholic schools. -- which is not unusual for the black community on the South Side of Chicago At that time, if a black family could afford it, they sent their children to catholic schools. So, the first few years, I was in a catholic school. Which, you know, provided me with a really great, great, education. As a matter of fact, I have an interesting story about the nuns at my school, St. Elizabeth. The sisters, I learned later on in life, were from Alsace- Lorraine along the German-French border. And so, this was the 1950s, and you’ll remember that Sputnik was launched, and Americans became very, very concerned about the space race and competing with the Russians and how were we going to respond. So, President Eisenhower and the Congress passed a lot of legislation that emphasized what we now call STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education and foreign languages, you remember that. And so, one day Sister Agnes walked in to our second or third grade class, I can't remember what it was, and she says -- we are now going to study languages in this school. And we are going to study German -- and we're like -- ok, whatever you say! Her order was supreme here, so we studied German. I continued to study German from the time I was in second grade all the way through college. I became very proficient in German and never went to Germany – very handy – until I became an adult (laughs)… all because Sister Agnes decided we were going to study German! At the same time, we also increased our math and science classes. Turns out that my catholic school education was really good because when I transferred to public school, I did very well. I was usually at the top of my class and I graduated from elementary school in six years and graduated from high school in three years. I then went on to graduate from college in three years. So, I went through really fast. My goal in college was to spend as little money as possible on tuition and quickly graduate. Further, I loved learning and in both elementary school and high school I went to summer school every year, and also worked at part time jobs all the way through. 4 Q: And where did you go to college? WILLIAMS: Chicago State College, what was then named Chicago Teachers College. In Chicago. Q: By the way, Carol, where did you grow up? All over, but California mostly. WILLIAMS: Concerning my college, in most of the major cities in the U.S., LA (Los Angeles), Chicago, NY (New York), there was a city college that working-class kids could go to, due to the low tuition and flexible class scheduling. As a matter of fact, that’s the type of college where Colin Powell, Jonas Salk, and Henry Kissinger studied, in NY, CCNY (City College of New York). Chicago State was a similar college. We were trained to set one on a track to become a school teacher in the Chicago public school system. As far as teacher training was concerned, at that time Chicago Teacher’s College was considered the gold standard. If you graduated from CTC in those days, you automatically were considered to be a highly qualified candidate for a teaching position anywhere in the city of Chicago. I decided to study geography because there was a shortage of geography teachers at the time.