James Wasserstrom is the Chief of Party for Democracy International in Afghanistan. He is a vocal anticorruption advocate and has successfully worked with the U.S. Congress to pass accountability legislation to protect whistleblowers in the United Nations. Prior to joining DI, he served for two years as Strategy Advisor and Team Lead for the report on corruption in Afghanistan, published recently by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). The report drew on his five years of experience at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul as a Senior Advisor on Anticorruption.

Before joining the U.S. Government, Mr. Wasserstrom served with the U.N. From 2002-2008, he was the head of oversight of public utilities for the U.N. Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), as well as its lead Anticorruption Officer. For most of this period, he was also Chief of Logistics for the 17,000 member U.N. peacekeeping operation. In addition, he has worked with the U.N. Capital Development Fund as a Senior Program Officer for decentralized public administration in a number of the Least Developed Countries as well as a Chief of Finance and Resource Mobilization. Mr. Wasserstrom also worked with the U.N. Development Programme in its field offices in Papua New Guinea, South Korea, and Pakistan.

Mr. Wasserstrom holds a B.A. in History and German from Tufts University, a Certificate in East Asian Languages and Literature from Harvard College, and an M.A. in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is proficient in French, German, and Italian and speaks some Chinese, Swahili, and Neo-Melanesian Tokpisin.