By Pamela Tremont, U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe
Those are the familiar themes that will be beamed from the Washington National Cathedral around the globe today.
Here in Zimbabwe, the story is more personal. As Carter would recall years later, “What most people don’t realize is, I spent more time on Zimbabwe than I did the Middle East.” Historian Andrew DeRoche describes how Carter directed his future UN Ambassador, Andrew Young, on Inauguration Day to “go to Africa and get some sense of what African leadership expected.” Nearly four years later, President Carter would hear directly from Robert Mugabe himself when he visited the White House. The new Prime Minister of independent Zimbabwe appreciated the people of the United States “who in our hour of need came to our support” and thanked President Carter who “stood firm on a matter of principle.”
President Carter’s principled leadership is the legacy he leaves for us. As President Carter said, during Prime Minister Mugabe’s visit to the White House, “Today we stand with Zimbabwe’s efforts toward economic development and toward stability in your own country and the realization of the legitimate hopes and dreams of the people whom you lead.” Those words are as true today as they were 45 years ago.
Our commitment today to Zimbabwe’s economic development is rooted in President Carter’s principled leadership on human dignity. It is part of why last year we graduated more than 100 women from the Embassy’s Academy for Women Entrepreneurs, whose Zimbabwe alumnae now number more than 500 strong. These businesswomen, who own companies in security, agriculture, mining, and financial services – to name just a few – join a global network of entrepreneurs with increased knowledge and access to scale their successful ventures. Likewise, USAID’s Feed the Future programs trained nearly 3,200 young farmers last year to commercialize their farming businesses. On average, they tripled their annual incomes. The peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia turned president would be proud.
The legacy of President Carter’s principled leadership in public health contributes to Zimbabwe’s stability. His foundation – The Carter Center – championed the near elimination of the guinea worm disease, which afflicted 3.5 million people across 21 countries in 1986 but was reduced to just over a dozen cases in 2023. In that same spirit, we work every day with Zimbabwean partners on issues of clean water and sanitation. The United States continues to support Zimbabwe to strengthen water quality monitoring systems to prevent cholera outbreaks. In 2024, USAID helped improve water access for more than 97,000 people and nearly 37,000 livestock. Likewise, as The Carter Center battles malaria in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, U.S. initiatives through USAID and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention helped reduce the incidence of malaria in Zimbabwe by 40 percent in the last 15 years. Support from the American people makes available 800,000 mosquito nets, 1.2 million malaria rapid test kits, and nearly 100,000 life-saving antimalarial medications as our teams on the ground train health care workers and educate communities about malaria prevention and early treatment.
Finally, President Carter believed in the hopes and dreams of the people of Zimbabwe. His elevation of human rights as a foreign policy priority of the United States demonstrated his view that might did not make right. He believed, as we do, that countries that respect human rights are more stable, more secure, and more peaceful. In the economic sphere, President Carter signed into law the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that, to this day, remains a cornerstone in the global fight against corruption. He campaigned on the need for legislation to prohibit corporate bribery, which is both ethically repugnant and competitively unnecessary, erodes public confidence, and harms our relations with other countries. His support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States helped those institutions strengthen their academics, infrastructure, and research. Our EducationUSA and consular officers celebrate that legacy as we facilitate study and exchange in the United States for thousands of young Zimbabweans today and develop partnerships between institutions of higher learning in our two countries.
Jimmy Carter’s principled leadership and legacy encourage us all to think about how we can contribute to our communities and embody the idea that one principled person can make a positive change. As the first U.S. president to visit Sub-Saharan Africa and the only to visit Zimbabwe in his many trips to the continent post presidency, Jimmy Carter and his principles will continue to inspire our partnership with the people of Zimbabwe.
Post published in: Featured