Cynthia Smith is the Director of Global Initiatives at Humentum. She started out as Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy. Cynthia is a seasoned advocate with over 25 years of legal, public policy, and global development leadership. She has specific issue expertise in the areas of risk and compliance, governance, access to justice, civil society engagement, participatory program design and evaluation, and network and coalition building. During the course of her career, Cynthia has successfully mobilized and supported civil society advocacy through the Organization of American States (OAS), Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), global development policy fora, the US Congress, and US Executive Branch agencies. Cynthia holds an MA in Spanish/Latin American Studies with an Area Focus in International Development from American University, and a JD from American University’s Washington College of Law. She is a member of the Maryland Bar.

Published content:
Operationalizing Locally-Led Development: Cultivating a Healthy Global Development Ecosystem (April, 2024)
Opinion: Equitable development — aspiration or actuality? (Devex, 2023)
How localization efforts are ‘missing the mark’ — and what to do next (March, 2023)
From Operations to Outcomes: A Policy Blueprint for Locally-Led Development (March, 2023)
50,000 companies on hold because of GSA’s UEI validation problems (November, 2022)
Operationalizing Locally-Led Development: What We Learned (November, 2022)
How identity numbers have caused chaos for USAID overseas partners (October, 2022)
Understanding the 2022 USAID Risk Appetite Statement (October, 2022)
Growing frustrations puts GSA on hot seat to fix the transition to UEI (July 15, 2022)
Operationalizing Locally-Led Development: De-Bunking the Myths (March 2022)
Humentum Advocacy Advisor: Final Update of 2021 (December, 2021)
Section 889: US Chinese telecoms clause causing chaos for NGOs (Devex, 2021)
Operationalizing USAID’s New Vision for Global Development (November 29, 2021)
What Implementing Partners Need to Know About The USAID Office of Inspector General (November 17, 2021)
SEAH Safeguarding: Operationalizing Preventative Measures (September 20, 2021)
Humentum US Advocacy: The State of Play (December 17, 2020)
Why We’re Called Upon To Be ‘Trust Keepers (Devex, 2019)