DIRECTOR | PROJECT FOR MODERN DEMOCRACY

What do you do as director at the Project for Modern Democracy?

I'm the director of the Global Development Challenge, a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We're taking a fresh look at fundamental issues in international aid policy: what’s worked, what hasn’t, what will need to change in future. We’re also trying to develop a new narrative around aid policy in the UK, as support for aid is falling in the public. The risk is that as a result, the political consensus will fall away too. We're trying to prevent that and back it up with the body of evidence. Plenty of NGOs and development think tanks have tried this before, but we’re taking the perspective of an outsider with fresh eyes looking at aid.

 ANALYST IN AFRICAN AFFAIRS | CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE

The following interview represents Alexis’s personal views and does not represent those of CRS or the Library of Congress.

You’re an analyst on Africa and Maghreb for the Congressional Research Service (CRS). What does it entail?

As a CRS analyst, my job is to provide Congress with independent, nonpartisan analysis on public policy issues related to my area of expertise – which is north/west/central Africa. CRS analysts produce written reports that are available to all Members of Congress and their staff. We are also genuinely a “service,” in that CRS analysts are available on a continuous basis to respond to direct congressional requests for information and analysis. It’s an interesting intersection of research and policy.