WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality & Women's Empowerment Susan Markham will travel to Thailand and Bangladesh October 12-22. Her visit will focus on USAID's development assistance, specifically programs supporting gender integration and women's empowerment through public-private partnerships in the economic, democracy and governance, health, food security, and education sectors.

In Thailand, Markham will lead key training sessions for both internal staff and external partners on integrating gender issues into broader resilience programming to ensure positive outcomes for women and girls. Markham's training will underscore that approaches which systematically and visibly reduce key gender gaps and ensure that women are given the tools, resources, and opportunities to lead and participate are critical to the success of our efforts to achieve sustainable change.

In Bangladesh, Markham will meet with high-level government officials, implementing partners, and women leaders in business, politics, and non-governmental organizations to learn about the impact of USAID programs across Bangladesh and continue to promote women's empowerment. While in Dhaka and Khulna, Markham will visit USAID projects that support young women entrepreneurs, promote girls education and prevent child, early, and forced marriage, and improve food security, global health, labor rights, and resilience in the face of climate change.