Robert Rhodes

Background

About Robert Rhodes

Award winning international development executive with extensive experience in foreign assistance management, strategic planning, project design and partnership development at field and headquarters levels. Expertise in democracy and governance, rule of law, youth, human rights, and social justice programing. Expert donor coordination and resource mobilization skills. Impactful leader of complex programs, tasks and diverse staff. Strong personnel management, interpersonal, budget, analytical and language skills. Accomplished team leader with demonstrated success building coalitions; advancing high visibility initiatives; fostering innovation; strengthening resilience and delivering critical community services in challenging environments. INITIATIVES CHAMPIONED Peacebuilding: Established US government partnership with Colombian presidency to accelerate 2016 Peace Accord, creating first comprehensive strategy for ethnic community investment, and launch of 12 donor,$100M, 220 initiative framework for reconciliation and development in conflict affected Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities. Conflict: Led emergency reprogramming of USAID/Afghanistan democracy portfolio from institution building to rapid response and crisis stabilization, resulting in successful third-country safe-havens for project staff, provision of emergency cash, food, and psychosocial support to displaced Afghans, and launch of $90M two-year human rights and gender strategy. Youth: Developed public–private partnership to harness machine learning and Artificial Intelligence to increase job placement for marginalized South African youth, investing $3.5M and mobilizing 100 SA businesses, plus $41M in local private sector funding, and adopted as national model training youth and placing Energy: Developed strategic alliance with US Power Africa Initiative to strengthen women’s leadership and empowerment in the energy sector creating $4.5M, 240 person, Africa-wide Women in African Power cohort under Young African Leaders Initiative. Education: Convened non-traditional resource partners to strengthen basic education advocacy and service delivery through social entrepreneurship resulting in strategic alliance with Trevor Noah Foundation and 150-person cohort of Southern African Education Changemakers, mobilizing $1.2M funds.