TOR031: USAID with Nichole Graber-Simmons

Nichole Graber-Simmons is Director of the Office of Citizen Security for USAID in Kingston, Jamaica. The Office of Citizen Security is part of USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), which in turn is part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA). The OTI was established in 1994 to provide fast, flexible, short-term assistance to take advantage of windows of opportunity to build democracy and peace, seeking to lay the foundations for long-term development by promoting reconciliation, jump starting economies and helping stable democracy take hold. Prior to joining USAID nearly six years ago, Graber-Simmons worked for the American National Red Cross in its response to pandemic influenza, and before that she worked for the UNDP in Fiji, mainly on disaster preparedness projects. Graber-Simmons has a Master’s in International Development from Monash University and a Graduate Diploma in International Relations/Development from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University.