Last month, I was privileged to join colleagues from across the reproductive health community to celebrate Ellen Starbird’s retirement from USAID. It was a joyous affair — full of speeches and even a poem. And despite the collective plea by a chorus of co-workers to put in “just one more year” (sung to the music of Abba’s Take a Chance on Me) it was an opportunity to thank Ellen and to celebrate her remarkable 30-year career at USAID.
I was not among the chosen few to share parting thoughts or reflections, but on hearing the words of others, I came to realize just how profound a difference Ellen had made — to me, to the organization I directed, and indeed to the community as a whole.
Ellen joined our Executive Committee, the governing body of the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC), in 2012, following the retirement of her predecessor at USAID, Scott Radloff. The trajectory of our decade together was marked, as one might expect, by the many ups and downs of US politics. If I remember correctly, our first meeting of the Executive, held on the margins of the 2013 Delhi General Membership Meeting, she could not attend because of some funding freeze within the US Government.
As I reflect on those early days, I could never have imagined how the RHSC’s history in the years ahead would be so influenced by Ellen’s presence, and in particular by the stability she provided amidst the unprecedented turbulence that coincided with my return to the US in 2016. For those of us whose careers extend back decades, political interests have always hung like Damocles’ sword above our heads. This was especially true for us in the Coalition as we depended heavily on the financial support of USAID, but after 2014, were also actively engaged in efforts to secure the availability of a range of affordable quality-assured abortion supplies. During those delicate days, Ellen, to her credit, did not cajole or strong-arm us into going back on our principles. She was a straight-shooter, to use an old-fashioned term, not a masked purveyor of the party-line. What it must have been like for her to carry out her duties with integrity while remaining transparent and accountable to her employer, I will never know. But her presence and her ability to keep calm and carry on assured us and indeed the community that we would get through this. And we did.
Ellen was also hugely generous with her time. Many members of our Executive limit their roles to activities associated with our semi-annual meetings. And truth be told, rarely do we ask much more of them. Ellen’s engagement, however, went far beyond that. She was a Coalition champion and ambassador. She was actively involved in the formulation of our 2015–2025 Strategy and its M&E framework by which we measured our progress and accomplishments. Given our fundamental role as a membership organization, Ellen never lost sight of the importance in striking the right balance between the RHSC as managed by an international technical Secretariat, and the contribution of what we called our implementing mechanisms (IM) — our working groups, regional forums, and caucuses. Through her guidance and her support, she served as a constant reminder of the need to ensure that our IMs contributed actively to the achievement of our strategic goals and that that those goals truly shaped and informed the work of the IMs.
Life often has a funny way of working out. Who would have guessed, 10 years ago, that Ellen’s retirement would coincide — to the month — with my own? Such a turn of events means I will never be in a position to miss her presence on the Executive (though I’m certain my successor will); or be comforted by her reassuring advice in the face of another crisis. I will, however, take with me the fond memories of a truly remarkable individual — an individual who contributed enormously to my career and to a Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition that will forever remain close to my heart.