Manila, September 7, 2012 --The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Counselor to the Administrator Dr. Maura O’Neill will visit the Philippines Sept. 9-12. She will discuss U.S. government initiatives with Philippine government officials and stakeholders to promote inclusive growth by expanding Filipino citizens’ access to financial services.
 
O’Neill will lead the launch of USAID’s Scaling Innovations in Mobile Money (SIMM) project, which aims to give Filipinos easier and more efficient access to banking and payment services through mobile phones.
 
She will also meet with local civil society organizations to enhance and strengthen USAID partnerships with local institutions, in line with the Agency’s priority of local capacity building. USAID’s reform initiative, USAID Forward, seeks to engage more local partners and emphasize innovation and results to attain high-impact development.
 
The series of activities to be attended by Dr. O’Neill are in support of the U.S.-Philippines Partnership for Growth (PFG) signed in November 2011 by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario. PFG seeks to help the country attain sustained inclusive high growth by addressing the most serious constraints. The Philippines is one of only four countries in the world where the U.S. government, through PFG, brings its federal agencies together to provide a whole-of-government approach to advance economic development in a country.
 
Background:
 
Dr. Maura O’Neill is the Senior Counselor to the Administrator and Chief Innovation Officer at the U.S. Agency for International Development. She has responsibility for driving innovation in development as well as public-private partnerships in the Agency. Maura has co-led USAID Forward, a worldwide reform effort within USAID begun in 2010. Breakthrough innovations in mobile, climate change, election fraud, maternal mortality, financial inclusion and disaster and reconstruction response have been hallmarks of this initiative.
 
Before joining USAID, O’Neill served as a Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor for Energy and Climate at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and earlier, as Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell.
 
O’Neill has started four companies in the field of energy, digital education, and high technology. She was named the Greater Seattle Business Person of the Year in 1989. In the public, private, and academic sectors, O’Neill has focused on creating entrepreneurial and public policy solutions for challenges in the fields of energy, education, infrastructure financing, and business development.
 
She earned her master’s degrees in Business Administration from Columbia University and University of California at Berkeley, and currently serves on the faculty of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UC Berkeley. She earned her doctorate from the University of Washington.
 
About USAID:


The American people, through the United States Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for over 50 years. In the Philippines, USAID works in partnership with the national government in creating a more stable, prosperous and well-governed country through programs that promote broad-based and inclusive economic growth, increase peace and stability in Mindanao, and reduce risks from natural disasters. For more information about USAID’s programs in the Philippines, please visit http://philippines.usaid.gov or contact USAID/Philippines Development Outreach and Communications via email: infoph@usaid.gov.