Advocates for international aid are expressing their support for Barack Obama’s top two picks to lead his economic team, saying they are stout antipoverty leaders.

Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, is Mr. Obama’s choice for secretary of the U.S. Treasury, while Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury secretary during the Clinton administration and a former president of Harvard University, was tapped to lead the White House National Economic Council.

Both are board members of the Center for Global Development, a think tank in Washington and “are tremendously knowledgeable about the problems and challenges faced by the world’s poor and are committed to policies to help address those problems — both in the interests of the poor in the developing world and of the United States itself,” writes Nancy Birdsall, the center’s president, on its blog.

In addition, Mr. Geithner’s father directed the Ford Foundation’s Asia programs for a period, and the family lived in East Africa and Asia.

The One Campaign, an antipoverty advocacy group in Washington, on its blog praises Mr. Geithner’s support for vaccine and health programs and Mr. Summers work to spread education to African women.

Mr. Summers role as an advocate for women is somewhat in question, however, given his resignation from Harvard, which came in part because of comments he made that some said were sexist.

But Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook who used to work for Mr. Summers at the Treasury Department and the World Bank, defends her former boss on The Huffington Post.

Ms. Sandberg, who also helped shape Google’s charitable programs, called Mr. Summers a “tireless advocate for girls’ education.”

What do you think of Mr. Obama’s choices?