Expanding Livelihood Opportunities for Poor Households

Team

William Smith

Program Officer Jakarta

William Smith works on poverty and economic development from the foundation's Jakarta office. His grant making focuses on helping poor rural communities generate sustainable increases in income and assets, and reduce their exposure to economic risk. His work also helps the rural poor gain access to financial services, including credit, savings and insurance.

William joined the Ford Foundation in 2005 as a program officer in Vietnam. His work there focused on development finance and rural development. He moved to the Jakarta office in 2009.

Previously, he worked on economic and rural development in Vietnam for 13 years. He was director of a World Council of Credit Unions project to strengthen community-based financial organizations, and also served as rural finance adviser to a Swedish-funded mountainous areas development program in Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. William, who speaks Vietnamese, also worked as assistant director of ActionAid Vietnam.

William holds a master's degree in Southeast Asian studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and is a graduate in history from the University of Cambridge.