Kaya Adams

Kaya Adams has been with USAID since 1999. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, she has served in Rwanda, the Central Asia Regional Mission based in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia, Iraq, and the Southern Africa Regional Mission based in South Africa. 

The majority of her career has focused on advancing democracy, governance and humanitarian affairs in post-conflict settings. Prior to her posting as Mission Director in the Kyrgyz Republic, she served as Deputy Mission Director in the DRC. She also has worked in Washington, D.C. with USAID’s Bureaus for Asia and the Near East; Africa; and Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs. 

Ms. Adams hails from South Carolina. She holds a master’s degree in International Relations from Syracuse University – with a focus on conflict resolution and Africa - and a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in German – with minors in Russian Area Studies and History. She speaks (to varying degrees) English, French, German and Russian.