The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has appointed Delhi University graduate Jatinder Cheema as mission director for the West Africa Regional Program (WARP), perhaps the first such appointment of an Indian American at the agency.

Cheema, who was sworn in at the USAID headquarters here, will oversee a programme totalling about $40 million in development and humanitarian assistance.

Her department has been charged with implementing programmes promoting regional economic integration and trade, supporting the adoption of effective health policies, enhancing regional capacity to achieve food security, and improving conditions for peace and security.

A senior foreign service officer, Cheema has served for over 15 years at USAID in four overseas posts. Her most recent post was in the role of Mission Director to Eritrea, where she has served since September 2001. During 1999-2001, she served as USAID Deputy Director in Armenia where she was responsible for the U.S. assistance programme for the politically sensitive and disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In addition, Cheema served as supervisory general development officer for the Central Asia Republic mission during 1995-1999; health population officer for the mission in Burkina Faso during 1991-1995; and health specialist for the mission in Bangladesh in 1990-1991.

A native of Virginia, she has a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, as well as a master's degree in public health from the University of Michigan. She already held a master's degree from the University of Delhi when she came to this country. She has a working knowledge of French and Russian and is fluent in Hindi and Punjabi.