Owen Barder: Curriculum Vitae

Career history

aidinfo, Development Initiatives; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (May 2008 - present)

Leading an international team working to make aid more transparent and so more effective and accountable.

UK Department for International Development (DFID) - London, UK
Director of International Finance and Development Effectiveness (September 2006 - May 2008)

Managing an annual budget of $2 billion a year. Leading teams responsible for the World Bank; regional development banks; global funds; development finance institutions; the IMF; debt relief; the international development architecture; coordination with other donors; the G8 and Nordic Plus; improving aid effectiveness; scaling up and innovative financing; improving financial accountability in developing countries; fighting corruption; and measuring results.

Center for Global Development (2004-2006) - Berkeley, USA.
& Visiting Scholar, University of California at Berkeley

Global health, aid effectiveness, technical assistance and knowledge sharing, global public goods, and international macroeconomics.  I led work which helped persuade donor governments to agree a new policy to accelerate the development of vaccines for neglected diseases, by making billion-dollar commitments to buy vaccines if they are developed.  My work included technical analysis, policy development, consensus building and outreach. I also worked on improving technical assistance and knowledge sharing with developing countries and published papers on the economics of pharmaceuticals, reforming foreign aid and the World Bank. I also lectured at Berkeley & at MIT.

UK Department for International Development (DFID)
Director of Information, Communications and Knowledge (2002-2004)

Leading 290 staff and managing an annual budget of $200 million, I was responsible for external communications and press relations; promoting development awareness in the UK; managing DFID relationships with NGOs and funding civil society organisations; and promoting the role of knowledge sharing, information and communications in developing countries.  I was a member of the UN Secretary General’s Task Force on Information and Communication Technology in Development. I made a significant personal contribution to developing a new performance framework for funding of development NGOs; collaboration with The Rough Guide to produce the Rough Guide to a Better World.

Head of Africa Policy, leader of the Imfundo Project and the Prime Minister's Africa Partnership Initiative (2000-2002)

Responsible for DFID strategy on Africa, including prioritization & performance management for the region; coordination with other donors; regional institutions; New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD); G8 Africa Action Plan; HIV/AIDS; trade policy; the environment; reducing conflict and peacekeeping; and aid effectiveness.  I was also Chief Economist for the Africa in DFID, providing professional guidance for the network of economists across Africa.  I was simultaneously co-Chair of the Strategic Partnership with Africa (SPA), an international group of donors, international financial institutions and recipient countries. I made a personal contribution to leading multi-donor (SPA) missions to harmonize aid to developing countries; which foreshadowed the Paris agenda for aid effectiveness; a joined-up Government-wide fund for conflict reduction in Africa; an the introduction of a new strategy and organizational structure for the Strategic Partnership for Africa.  I set up and led the Africa Partnership Initiative, an interdisciplinary group to advise Tony Blair on how the UK should forge a new partnership with African leaders. Our work contributed directly to the New Partnership for African Development, and to the G8 Africa Action Plan. I also set up and led the Imfundo Project, a partnership launched by Tony Blair and John Chambers (Cisco) which developed a program to use distance learning in teacher training.

Private Secretary to the Prime Minister (Economic Affairs)
at Number 10 Downing Street (1999-2000)

Responsible for providing domestic economic policy advice to the Prime Minister, leadership across Government and liaison with the private sector, on the economy, trade, industrial and competition policy, the information society and knowledge economy, the environment, education, employment, transport, culture, regional policy, deregulation and modernizing government.  My achievements include significant contributions to the Government’s approach to the knowledge economy, a strategy for modernizing government, and improvements in the transparency of competition policy.

South African Treasury (1997-1999)

Seconded to the South African Treasury in Pretoria to support the post-apartheid government. I led the Treasury’s strategy on budget reform, medium term fiscal policy, public sector management. I made a significant personal contribution to the reform of the Department's structures and policies, introduction of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, and a new system of local and provincial government finance. An independent evaluation of technical assistance in Africa in 2006 concluded that my individual work had “made a significant contribution to South Africa’s impressive macro-economic performance in recent years.”

UK Treasury (1988-1996)

I held a variety of positions, including Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (the British Finance Minister). Other posts included overall coordination of UK public expenditure policy; secretary to the Cabinet Committee on public spending; international economic forecasting; domestic forecasting; and modeling of macroeconomic policy and medium term prospects.  I wrote and published the first UK Government estimates of the cyclically adjusted fiscal balance; and contributed to the design of a new framework for the management of public spending and the design of the private finance initiative.

Education

  • London School of Economics (1991)
    MSc Economics (Distinction; top marks in year)

  • Oxford University (1988)
    BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (First Class honours)

Interests and skills

  • Non-executive Director of OneWorld International (2000-2004)
    OneWorld is a not-for-profit with a mission to harness the power of the internet to tackle poverty in developing countries. OneWorld's website, www.oneworld.net, is the leading web portal for international development.
  • Information technology
    I am highly tech-literate. In the early nineties, I designed and built the UK Government's first website, for the UK Treasury. I have designed and built websites on running: www.runningforfitness.org to accompany my book and the award-winning www.serpentine.org.uk.
  • Running and other sports
    I am a keen runner, and I have run marathons in London, Boston, Paris, Berlin, Davos, Copenhagen, Soweto, Pretoria and the Himalayas. I am the author Running for Fitness and Get Fit: Running. I also enjoy cycling, swimming, triathlon and hiking.
  • International development
    My passion is tackling the injustice of world poverty. I have given lectures and seminars at the London Business School, the University of California at Berkeley, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Cape Town and at the World Bank.

Recent publications

Personal details & contact information

Nationality: British
Date of birth: 20 February 1967
Email: o-barder@dfid.gov.uk
Website: www.owen.org