2022 Annual Dinner

2022 Annual Dinner

Honoring United States Congresswoman Barbara Lee 

Thursday, November 17, 2022 | 5:00 PM EST

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center | 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20004 

Thank you for joining us in Washington, DC. Click here to view the recording.

Congresswoman Lee has been a long-standing champion for international development and has advanced the sector through her work advocating for the world’s most vulnerable populations. She has served in the US Congress for 24 years and is the highest ranking African American woman in Democratic Leadership, serving as Co-Chair of the Policy and Steering Committee. Congresswoman Lee has long advocated for legislative action to end poverty and has also been a fierce advocate for ending HIV and ensuring an AIDS-free generation. She was instrumental in the legislative frameworks for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as well as legislation establishing a USAID special advisor for orphans and vulnerable children. Learn more about Congresswoman Barbara Lee here.

Currently, Congresswoman Lee serves on the Budget Committee and the powerful Appropriations Committee, which oversees all federal government spending. She also serves as Chair, of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee and was the first African-American to do so. Her work supports the work our members engage in every day and we are very grateful to her for the role she has played for many years making much of what we do feasible. See the press release here and check out our list of previous Honorees here.

At the Dinner, we will also be presenting the Andrew E. Rice Award for Leadership and Innovation by a Young Professional in International Development. Established in 2003 by Andrew E. Rice and Robert Berg, the Rice Award recognizes the achievements of an exceptional young professional committed to advancing the field of international development. This year, we are pleased to present the Rice Award to Nasrat Khalid.

Nasrat was raised an Afghan refugee in Pakistan until he was 16 years old when he returned to his hometown, Kabul, Afghanistan. He grew up working with international development organizations starting with AED (now FHI 360), then EDC, followed by Chemonics, and later, the World Bank in Afghanistan, South Asia, and later, in DC.

In 2017, he left the World Bank and founded the Aseel platform, a US tech startup striving to create a massive impact by supporting global humanitarian and artisan efforts using technology. Nasrat is passionate about the inclusion of countries in the Global South and global talent in the digital economy. He has helped over half a million people through his platform with emergency support items in the Afghanistan crisis, and his platform, Aseel, has also helped sell over ten thousand handmade items from Afghanistan and Turkey in international markets. 

We are extremely pleased that Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Nasrat Khalid can join us at our Annual Dinner on November 17th to accept our Awards and we look forward to hearing their remarks for the community.

Thank you to our Sponsors!

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