At this public seminar Owen Barder will discuss the role of think tanks and development policy in tackling poverty. Aid is an important transfer which enhances the quality of millions of lives, but there are many other important ways in which wealthy countries affect prospects for development. Aid agencies and NGOs often pay too little attention to policies - such as on trade, investment, migration and the environment - which shape the context within which countries develop.

Think tanks and policy centres have an important role to play in providing policymakers with analysis and advice on how all their policies can improve the prospects for development. Owen Barder will reflect on his experience and that of the Center for Global Development (CBD), in developing policy proposals and working to get them implemented.

Owen Barder is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and the Director for Europe. Barder was a British civil servant from 1988 to 2010, during which time he worked in the UK Treasury, No.10 Downing Street and the Department for International Development. He was Private Secretary (Economic Affairs) to the Prime Minister and previously Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In the Department for International Development he was variously Director of International Finance and Development Effectiveness, Director of Communications and Information, and head of the Africa department. During 2005-2007 Barder was a Senior Program Associate at CGD, where he worked on the Advance Market Commitment. Barder has also worked in the South African Treasury on budget strategy, and was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.

This seminar is presented by the Development Policy Centre at the Crawford School of Public Policy.

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