Garth Willis
Visiting Fellow

Garth Willis joins Co-Develop as a visiting Fellow from USAID. Garth is a Foreign Service Officer at USAID based in the Bureau of Democracy Rights and Governance.  He served in Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and Ukraine in the sectors of Health, Education, and Anti-Corruption.

Prior to USAID he spent many years in Central Asia. In Tajikistan, he managed a program that brought internet connectivity for the first time to rural schools. In Kyrgyzstan, he founded the Alpine Fund, which for over a decade brought youth from an orphanage and a youth center to the mountains for education and adventure. He also climbed a couple of mountains in his spare time (or perhaps mostly climbed mountains and worked in his spare time).

Garth has a Master’s Degree in International Education from Boston University and a Ph.D. in Comparative and International Development Education from the University of Minnesota.

Garth has recently taken up running with two goals. First, to run his first-ever marathon at the 2024 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, and second, to keep up with his ten-year-old daughter who seems to run faster everyday.