Paula Reed Lynch is an occasional lecturer on humanitarian assistance and advisor to various humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Growing up in Bloomington, IN, she took great advantage of the “new” IU library, IU cultural and sporting events, and took IU classes before graduating from Vanderbilt University. She “married the Department of State” at age 21 and from 1975 – 2023 served as a Foreign Service wife, Foreign Service officer, civil servant, and, for fourteen years, as a member of the Senior Executive Service.
Paula’s career paralleled the creation and growth of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), where she worked to develop U.S. foreign policy related to refugee children (focusing on unaccompanied children), refugee women, international migration, cash assistance (vs. in-kind), and coordinating development and humanitarian assistance during all phases of armed conflict. She developed PRM budgets to fund international organization and NGOs – the annual level surpassed $4 billion by the time of her retirement.
The Secretary of State’s Office of Conflict and Stabilization Operations as well as the Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance were each established with Paula in charge of integrating humanitarian strategies of PRM with development and humanitarian strategies of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other foreign assistance programs.
Paula was the first American to serve as the Rapporteur of the Executive Committee of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, conducting international negotiations on international refugee protection, budgets, and policy on sexual abuse. In the lead up to the UN World Conference Against Racism (2001), Paula led the work to develop the progressive language adopted on international migration. In another international effort, she met with sector experts on health, nutrition, and other sectors in the international effort known as the SPHERE Standards. In PRM, Paula established its Orientation and Monitoring and Evaluation courses; realizing that there were no guidelines for monitoring refugee protection, she led a team to visit four African countries to ask how workers on the ground evaluate protection requirements.
The Secretary’s Career Achievement Award noted Paula’s humanitarianism and fostering colleagues that are “smart, funny, and kind” as especially memorable. She is grateful for the opportunity now to contribute to the institution that provided her brother, parents, grandfather, aunts, uncles, and cousins important and motivational college educations.