Rajiv Shah serves as Administrator at USAID.

Earlier this year, in the State of the Union address, President Obama called upon us to join the world in ending extreme poverty in the next two decades. It was an extraordinary moment, as the President set forth a vision for one of the greatest contributions to human progress in history.

The truth is that many people don’t realize that this goal is within our reach. I often find myself battling the perception that politics today cannot support great moral aspirations or that government cannot usher in innovative, cost-effective ways of achieving those goals.

But in my last three years as Administrator, I’ve seen just the opposite. From a church in inner-city Detroit that looks after an orphanage in Ghana to the nationwide response after the Haiti earthquake, I’ve seen the depth of passion and support that Americans have for our work. And at a time of seemingly uncompromising politics, I’ve seen leaders from both sides of the aisle stand together as champions for this global task.

Today, I am pleased to share with you our third annual letter about the work our Agency does around the world to help answer President Obama’s call.

From the Afghanistan to Ethiopia, we are building on this support and a foundation of reform to pioneer a new model of development that engages talent and innovation everywhere to achieve extraordinary goals. So for this year’s letter, we’ve gathered a few examples that focus on the capacity of partnerships to maximize our impact and scale meaningful results. From partnering with small community banks in the Philippines to local imams in northern Nigeria to multinational agriculture companies in Tanzania, we are trying to change the way development works to achieve extraordinary goals.

We’re excited about our progress, but we also know we have far to go to make this model a defining part of the way we work. I am eager to hear your thoughts and reactions, and I look forward to working with you to advance our mission and realize the end of extreme poverty.