Dr. Beth Dunford, a national of the United States, is the African Development Bank’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development. She is responsible for the Bank’s strategy, lending, and other activities in the agriculture, water and sanitation, human capital, education, and health sectors. She covers Bank-wide work on employment, civil society, and gender equity.

Dr. Dunford’s portfolio includes managing implementation of the Dakar 2 Summit Food and Agriculture Delivery Compacts - that mobilized more than $70 billion of government resources, development partner and private sector financing to unleash Africa’s food production potential.

The vice president also oversees implementation of the $1.5 billion African Emergency Food Production Facility , the African Development Bank’s comprehensive initiative to support Africa’s smallholder farmers in the wake of disruption of food supplies arising from the Russia-Ukraine war. The Facility supports 20 million smallholder farmers in 37 countries with access to climate-smart seeds and affordable fertilizers.

Dr. Dunford also led technical expertise for the Bank’s multi-billion-dollar response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa.

Prior to joining the Bank, Dr. Dunford held senior-level leadership positions in the U.S. government where she managed large programs working with the private sector, civil society and multilateral institutions. She has worked with African governments to deliver agricultural, social and human development impact at scale.

Dr. Dunford also worked as Assistant to the Administrator in United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Bureau for Resilience and Food Security, and as Deputy Coordinator for Development for “Feed the Future,” the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative.