Noam Unger

Director, Sustainable Development and Resilience Initiative and Senior Fellow, Project on Prosperity and Development
Noam Unger

Noam Unger is the director of the Sustainable Development and Resilience Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and a senior fellow with the Project on Prosperity and Development. Previously, he served on the executive team and as a vice president at InterAction, the largest U.S.-based coalition of nongovernmental organizations focused on international development, humanitarian action, peacebuilding, global health, and democracy. Among other things, he oversaw InterAction’s work on public policy, advocacy, civil society, and the NGO Climate Compact. Unger also served in leadership positions at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as the director of the Policy Office, acting deputy assistant administrator, and the agency’s acting chief strategy officer. Other government roles included working as a USAID country desk officer, and as a U.S. Department of State humanitarian analyst and foreign affairs officer. He was also a vice president for Global Citizen Year. From 2007 to 2012, he worked at Brookings, where, as a global economy and development fellow, he directed the Foreign Aid Reform Project, cofounded the Development Assistance and Governance Initiative, and managed the annual Brookings Blum Roundtable. Unger earned a patent as a coinventor while working for StreamSage, a private sector software company. He holds a master’s degree in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University. He graduated from Swarthmore College with honors before spending a formative year on a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in Central America, South America, West Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

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Resilience at Scale: A New Paradigm for Infrastructure Investments

With a focus on climate-resilient infrastructure, join CSIS to discuss the “Resilience at Scale: A Systems Approach to Climate-Resilient Infrastructure Planning” report co-authored by USAID and MCC in support of the President’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience. 

Event — October 10, 2024

Roadmap to Resilience: USAID's Updated Resilience Policy

Join the CSIS Global Food and Water Security Program for a discussion on USAID's updated Resilience Policy for improving the well-being of people, communities, and countries in the face of increased shocks and stresses.

Event — July 30, 2024

The Millennium Challenge Corporation at 20 Years

Join the CSIS Project on Prosperity and Development as we celebrate the Millennium Challenge Corporation's 20th anniversary and explore how the organization is responding and adapting to current global challenges.

Event — June 4, 2024

Building the Future: Freedom, Prosperity, and Foreign Policy with Dan Runde

Climate-Related Migration and Adaptation Funding with Sarah Bermeo and Kerilyn Schewel

In this episode of Building the Future, guest host Noam Unger is joined by Sarah Bermeo and Kerilyn Schewel, co-directors of the Duke Program on Climate-Related Migration, as they draw on their research in Central America and Ethiopia to discuss the effect of climate on migration, forecast models, adaptation funding, and aid allocation.
 



 

Podcast Episode by Noam Unger — April 3, 2024

CSIS Building the Future

The Contest for Leadership to Address Climate Change Impacts

The United States and China will increasingly find themselves in a scramble to support the Global South as it defends against climate change impacts with direct and costly implications for conflicts, economic shocks, global health crises, and other transnational threats.

Commentary by Noam Unger — February 7, 2024