The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) has been selected by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to implement the five-year PACE project, which focuses on ensuring that family planning and population issues are central to development policies, programs, and commitments in countries where USAID is active.
“We are delighted to be able to complete 2015 with a major award that expands our long and successful partnership with USAID,” said Jeffrey Jordan, president and CEO of PRB. He added: “The project will benefit from PRB’s core strengths in analysis, synthesis, and dissemination of data and research; communicating with policy decisionmakers; and strengthening the capacity of others to use data and research to inform policy.”
The $35 million PACE (Policy, Advocacy, and Communication Enhanced for Population and Reproductive Health) project arrives at a critical moment as countries prepare to integrate population and family planning indicators from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into national development plans. PRB will work closely with global actors, national and local governments, and nongovernmental partners to strengthen capacities in advocacy, policy communication, and negotiation; increase commitments to integrated population, health, environment, climate change, resilience, food security, livelihoods, and security programs; and analyze, synthesize, and disseminate information and data to engage policy and advocacy audiences to act.
“Policymakers have made commitments to expanding access to family planning and reproductive health information and services. Ensuring these commitments are met is critical to helping the 225 million women globally with unmet need for family planning to prevent unintended pregnancies,” said Barbara Seligman, PRB vice president for International Programs.
New PRB Trustees, CFO
Separately, PRB announced the addition of two members to its Board of Trustees, David Finn and Jamie Herring.
David Finn is executive director and associate general counsel of the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit, where he leads a team of approximately 100 people located in more than 30 countries around the world. Before joining Microsoft in 1999, Finn was an assistant United States attorney in New York City. Finn is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
Jamie Herring is the founder and president of HabitatSeven, a new media lab dedicated to broadening the impact of science research and education. Herring has worked on projects for a diverse range of partners including Cornell University, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, NASA, the White House, and the United Nations. He holds a doctorate from Cornell University, where he studied Natural Resources, Information Sciences, and Development Sociology.
Finn and Herring join several other recently arrived Trustees who bring a broad range of skills and experience to PRB. They include: Dr. Marta Tienda, the Maurice P. During ’22 professor of Demographic Studies and a professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University; Dr. Alaka Basu, a professor of Development Sociology at Cornell University and currently a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation; Amanda Glassman, director of Global Health Policy and senior fellow at the Center for Global Development; Scott McDonald, former senior vice president for Research and Insights at Condé Nast; and Elizabeth Schoenecker, former chief of the Policy, Evaluation, and Communication division of the Office of Population and Reproductive Health at USAID.
PRB also announced that Viresh Desai has joined the organization as chief financial officer (CFO), completing the roster of PRB’s senior management team. Desai comes to PRB after serving in senior financial management positions at both nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Most recently, he was vice president of Finance at Development & Training Services, a government contractor that provides technical assistance to USAID in the areas of monitoring and evaluation, capacity development and learning, and gender and social inclusion. He holds a master of business administration with a specialization in Finance and Investments from George Washington University.
