Guatemala City, Guatemala, May 2026 — Sara Sywulka has started a new position as Chief Operations Officer at Food For The Poor, bringing with her more than two decades of global leadership experience across humanitarian relief, development operations, emergency response, and strategic program management. In her new role, she will oversee operational leadership and help strengthen the organization’s mission-driven initiatives focused on serving vulnerable communities across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Prior to joining Food For The Poor, Sara served at World Vision Guatemala, where she spent more than seven years in key leadership roles. Most recently, she was the Country Director, leading a country program with more than 400 staff and overseeing an average annual budget of $23 million. During her tenure, she played a critical role in developing the organization’s 2025–2030 country strategy, strengthening partnerships with local and international stakeholders, and integrating innovative program frameworks to maximize community impact.
Earlier at World Vision Guatemala, she served as Chief of Party, Puentes Project, where she directed a large workforce development initiative valued at $65 million that benefited more than 34,000 youth. She successfully led consortium operations, expanded cross-sector partnerships, and secured additional funding to scale community initiatives and sustainability programs.
Before that, Sara worked with Tearfund UK as Deputy Country Director, managing multi-donor portfolios and leading development initiatives in complex environments across South Sudan and the Central African Republic. She also held leadership responsibilities with Integral Alliance, where she coordinated recovery efforts following Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and supported resilience-building initiatives with faith-based organizations and local communities.
Sara also spent nearly a decade with Food for the Hungry, where she held multiple senior humanitarian and development roles including Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist, Director of Emergency Response Programs, and Developmental Relief Coordinator. During this period, she led global emergency response initiatives, developed resilience-building frameworks, coordinated disaster recovery operations, and managed programs across several countries including Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, India, Sudan, Mozambique, and Uganda. Her earlier career also included research and analytical work at Cornell University focused on nutrition, child welfare, and food security studies.
About Food For The Poor
Food For The Poor is one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the United States. The organization supports millions of children and families living in poverty throughout Latin America and the Caribbean through emergency relief assistance, housing, clean water initiatives, healthcare support, educational programs, care for vulnerable children and the elderly, as well as skills training and micro-enterprise development programs.
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