Owen Barder to Lead Increased CGD Engagement with Europe

I am delighted to announce that Owen Barder has joined the Center for Global Development as Senior Fellow and as Director for Europe, with  responsibility for broadening and deepening CGD engagement with the European development community on policies and practices that matter for the world’s poor.Owen is well-known to many in the international development community. A British citizen, he has been living in Ethiopia for the last three years, where he was the director of the aidinfo , an organization that works to make development assistance more transparent and accountable.  Before that Owen worked for six years at DfID (the UK Department for International Development) where he served among other positions as the Director of International Finance and Development Effectiveness.  He has also worked in the Prime Minister’s office, as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister, and in the British Treasury.In 2004-06 Owen took two years off from DfID  to work at CGD, during which time he helped to develop the idea of an Advance Market Commitment and to get it on the G-8 agenda.  Many of our website readers, friends and supporters will also know him from his blog on development issues, and his Development Drums podcasts (both of which, I’m pleased to say, he will be continuing.)Owen is well-known in the aid community for his innovative thinking about how to make aid more effective.  He was my co-author in a 2006 paper titled Payments for Progress: A Hands-Off Approach to Foreign Aid which was the starting point for my own subsequent work with Bill Savedoff and others on Cash on Delivery Aid.In leading our work on European policies and practices, Owen will be responsible for deepening our effort to work with European institutions and individuals on practical policy ideas—not only on aid and aid effectiveness, but also on immigration, trade, climate and other actions of the European governments and the European Union that matter for development prospects around the world.In doing so he will be engaging with and learning from policymakers, civil society advocates, the private sector, researchers and academics there.  Owen will be consulting widely, including with many of you reading this post. If you have ideas to contribute, please drop him a line.(Owen explains his hopes for his new role and his reasons for joining CGD here).