On 3 November 1961, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was founded, bringing all existing aid work under one single agency. It closed in July 2025. One of its earliest proponents was Barbara Ward — a British economist and writer whose influence reached presidents and prime ministers. Thanks to her rapport with President John F. Kennedy, newly independent Ghana was one of the first countries to benefit, receiving funds to build the Volta River Project. Witness History