In 2016, CGD Europe established and had the first meeting of its European Advisory Group. This Group consists of UK and international high-profile policy makers, academics and thought leaders on international development who advise the CEO and staff of CGD Europe, provide inspiration and challenge to its ideas, identify future priorities, expand the reach of CGD Europe’s work, boost its profile, and convene useful partnerships for CGD Europe.
The current members of the Advisory Group are:
Andrew Mitchell is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) since 2001. He served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from 2010 to 2012. Before university, he served for several months as a United Nations military peacekeeper in Cyprus. He has extensive pre-government experience of the developing world, and is the founder of Project Umubano, a Conservative Party social action project in Rwanda and Sierra Leone in central and west Africa, launched in 2007.
Diego Hidalgo Schnur is a Spanish philanthropist, intellectual and businessman. Hidalgo worked at the World Bank from 1968 to 1977 where he was upgraded and in 1974 became Chief of Division, with responsibilities over the projects of the World Bank in the 45 Sub-Saharan African countries. He is the founder of FRIDA (Fund for Research and Investment for the Development of Africa) and President of DFC (Development Finance Corporation), from 1977.
Jakob Svensson is Professor of Economics at the Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES) at Stockholm University, Sweden. He is also a Visiting Professor at The Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) – a business school situated in Bergen, Norway, HH, Bergen and is affiliated with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), the European Development Research Network (EUDN), the Bureau for research and Economics Analysis of Development, J-PAL Europe and the Association of Swedish Development Economics.
Helle Thorning Schmidt is CEO of Save the Children International (SCI). She joined SCI after a career of public service. As the Prime Minister of Denmark, she led a coalition government from 2011 until 2015, successfully steering Denmark through a difficult period of transition after the global financial crisis. Prior to her time as Prime Minister, Helle was member of Danish Parliament and the Leader of the Social Democratic Party for 10 years. She was a member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004, and previously worked as an international adviser to the Confederation of Trade Unions. Throughout her career Helle has been deeply engaged with a range of significant national, European and global issues. She now contributes her insights and expertise, as a board member to several influential international advisory groups and think-tanks, including: The European Council for Foreign Relations, the International Crisis Group, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, the Every Woman, Every Child Global Strategy UN Advisory Group, the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, the Centre for Global Development European Advisory Group.
Michela Wrong is a journalist and author who spent six years as a foreign correspondent covering events across the African continent for Reuters, the BBC, and the Financial Times. Wrong writes regularly for the New Statesman magazine.
Gunilla Carlsson served as an elected member of the Swedish Parliament and Minister for International Development Cooperation from 2006 to 2013. She has extensive experience in domestic, European Union and international politics and negotiations. In addition, she has expertise in implementation of policy reforms and in mechanisms for ensuring both efficiency and accountability in complex organisations. During her political career, Ms Carlsson has worked on a range of issues including foreign policy, human rights, development, employment, research, security and defence. Previous positions include: 1st Vice Chair of the Conservative Party, Member of the European Parliament (1995–2002); Vice Chair of the European People’s Party; Member of the World Bank Gender Advisory Council; and Chair of the Swedish-led Commission on Climate Change and Development ahead of Copenhagen 2009. She was appointed by the then UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, to the high-level panel for global sustainability ahead of the 2012 conference in Rio de Janeiro and to the high-level panel for global development goals post-2015.
Nathalie Delapalme is Executive Director of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. She was previously a French senior civil servant. Her most recent position was Inspecteur General des Finances at the Ministry of Economy and Finance between 2007 and 2010. Prior to this, Nathalie served the French Government as an advisor for Africa and Development in the offices of various Foreign Affairs Ministers, between 1995-1997 and 2002-2007. She also served the French Senate as advisor for the Finance and Budgetary Commission, where she assessed fiscal and public expenditures and policies between 1984-1995 and 1997-2002. She sits on the Board of IFRI (Institut Francais des Relations Internationales). Nathalie is the recipient of a number of awards and honours. She is Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur.
Jamie Drummond co-founded the advocacy organization DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) with Bono, Bobby Shriver, and others in 2002 and ONE in 2004. The two entities merged in 2008 under the name ONE. DATA, ONE, and its partners have helped persuade the Bush Administration and bipartisan leadership in the US Congress to launch a series of initiatives for Africa including the Millennium Challenge Account, the President’s Emergency AIDS initiative, the Malaria Initiative, Multilateral Debt Relief, and the African Growth and Opportunity Act. Through the G8, DATA, with partners, helped negotiate and advocate for a new high-water mark of promises at the 2005 Summit, involving a doubling of aid promised for Africa by 2010, including improvements in aid quality. Jamie was formerly global strategist for Jubilee 2000 “drop the debt” and, prior to that, worked at Christian Aid. He has traveled widely in Africa and Asia and has a Masters in Development from the London School of Oriental and African Studies. In 2007, Jamie was elected a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Patrick Guillaumont is the President of the Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International (Ferdi). He is also Emeritus Professor at the Université d'Auvergne, member of CERDI (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International) that he founded in 1976, and director of the Revue d'Economie du Développement. He is a member of the European Development Network (EUDN) and Fellow of the Oxford Center for Studies on African Economies (CSAE).
Patrick also co-founded the Digital Humanitarian Network (DHN) with the UN, which has been described as one of the most innovative humanitarian initiatives in the past 10 years. In addition, he co-founded CrisisMappers and the award-winning Standby Task Force (SBTF), both early and notable pioneers of digital humanitarian action. Patrick also co-founded and co-curated the International Conference of CrisisMappers (ICCM) for five years, securing sponsorships from ESRI, Google, IBM, DigitalGlobe, USAID & World Bank amongst other donors.
Rt Hon Lord Mark Malloch-Brown KCMG is a former number two in the United Nations as well as having served in the British Cabinet and Foreign Office. He now sits in the House of Lords and is active both in business and in the non-‐profit world. He also remains deeply involved in international affairs. He is currently Chairman of SGO and its elections division Smartmatic, a leading elections technology company. He is on the Boards of Investec and Seplat, which are listed on the London as well as Johannesburg and Lagos stock markets respectively. He is also on the board of Kerogen, an oil and gas private equity fund. He is a senior adviser to FTI Consulting where he previously led its EMEA practice.
Patrick Meier is an internationally recognized expert and consultant on Humanitarian Technology and Innovation. Patrick presently serves as the Executive Director and Co-Founder of WeRobotics, which scales the positive impact of humanitarian aid, development and environmental projects through the use and localization of appropriate robotics solutions. On top of leading WeRobotics, Patrick presently serves as a consultant to Facebook, World Bank, Red Cross and Planet Labs.