Sara L. Taylor (Bangladesh) | Asia Foundation representative in Mongolia

Sara L. Taylor (Bangladesh 2001-02)

Sara L. Taylor is the Asia Foundation’s country new representative in Mongolia. She formerly served as country representative and deputy country representative in Bangladesh.

The Foundation, with headquarters in San Francisco, is a nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia.

Prior to rejoining the Foundation in 2023, she had more than two decades of experience in the field of international development in complex, fragile, and post-conflict contexts in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, with particular focus on women’s leadership and empowerment, civic engagement and citizen participation, and governance.

Sara was the country director and legal representative in Colombia for Partners of the Americas during a period of historic political transition. From 2009 to 2014, she served as a democracy and governance officer at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she worked across a broad range of governance issues and critical political processes in Sudan and South Sudan, including 2010 nationwide elections in Sudan, the 2011 Southern Sudan Self-Determination Referendum, and South Sudan’s independence. Sara also previously managed the Bangladesh and Malaysia programs at the International Republican Institute, where she cultivated relationships with local partners, civil society groups, political parties, and elected officials and managed international observation of 2008 parliamentary elections in Bangladesh. In addition, she was an international observer of 2008 parliamentary elections in Mongolia, as well as 1998 parliamentary and 1999 presidential elections in Slovakia.

Sara was a Peace Corps volunteer in Bangladesh from 2001 to 2002, where she trained primary school teachers at the Natore Primary Training Institute and established relationships with local leaders.

She holds a master’s degree in Sustainable Development from the Graduate Program in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management at the School for International Training, and a bachelor’s degree in Russian Studies and English from the College of William and Mary.