Who we are
ALINe is currently made up of staff from two partner organisations, the Institute of Development Studies and Keystone Accountability, with financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As ALINe takes shape we hope additional partners will join, adding their own expertise.
Find out more below about ALINe core team:
Yvonne Pinto
Job title: Director of ALINe, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Email address: yvonne@aline.org.uk; y.pinto@ids.ac.uk
ALINe area of responsibility: Director of ALINe
Background: Yvonne joined ALINe as the new Director in January 2010. Until recently, she was also the Programme Manager organising and delivering the Global Conference Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) in March 2010. GCARD was organised by the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) with support from the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research Centres (CGIAR) and Agropolis International.
Yvonne was, until the end of 2009, based in Seattle as a Program Officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She worked with the largest strategic intermediary of the Foundation and its first African-led one based in Kenya: the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). She also worked with other initiatives in seed systems, integrated pest management and horticulture. For 9 years, she worked as the Africa Executive at the Gatsby Charitable Programme, directing the grant making initiatives in 9 African countries in enterprise, microfinance, agriculture and education and creating 3 new institutions and overseeing another 4.
Yvonne invested 7 years in a scientific career, leading a research team at the John Innes Centre with the Plant Sciences Program funded by the UK Department for International Development, working on African rice systems and did her postdoctoral work on plant/virus interactions in African crops at the Sainsbury Laboratory. She also collaborated, through EU support, with the newly independent states on epitope presentation systems using plant virus vectors towards the future development of edible vaccines.
Yvonne did her BSc at the University of Reading and MSc and PhDs at Imperial College at Wye. She has worked in the Philippines, India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Barbados, the USA and the UK through a career in agricultural development spanning twenty years.
Lawrence Haddad
Job title: Director of Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Email address: c/o p.menzies@ids.ac.uk
ALINe area of responsibility: Senior advisor to ALINe
Background: Lawrence Haddad is the Director of the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, and the current President of the UK and Ireland's Development Studies Association. His main research interests are at the intersection of poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition - including poverty dynamics, social capital, HIV&AIDS, social protection, agriculture and poverty, and women's empowerment. He was formerly Director of the International Food Policy Research Institute’s Food Consumption and Nutrition Division and Lecturer in Development Economics at the University of Warwick. His field research has been in the Philippines, India and South Africa. He has a PhD from Stanford University. He currently provides executive oversight to ALINe.
David Bonbright
Job title: CEO, Keystone Accountability
Email address: david@keystoneaccountability.org
ALINe area of responsibility: Senior advisor to ALINe
Background: David Bonbright is founder and Chief Executive of Keystone, which works to improve the effectiveness of organisations working for public benefit through new ways of planning, measuring and communicating social change that are practical and include the voices of beneficiaries and other primary constituents. A lawyer by training, he has extensive experience in international development as a grantmaker for institutions like the Ford Foundation, Ashoka, and the Aga Khan Foundation and as an innovator in civil society strengthening. In the 1990s,he founded and led two South African citizen sector resource centres. David is a regular contributor to Alliance Magazine and has authored and co-authored a number of report and books on philanthropy, accountability and constituency voice. David sits on a number of the boards, advisory councils and knowledge networks, including the governing board of CIVICUS Global Alliance for Citizen Participation, where he is Vice Chair. He currently provides executive oversight to ALINe.
Alex Jacobs
Job title: Director of Research, Keystone Accountability
Email address: alex@keystoneaccountability.org
ALINe area of responsibility: Farmer Voice Initiative and feedback systems pilots
Background: Alex joined Keystone in 2009 to work on the ALINe project. Previously, he was the founding Director of Mango, a prize-winning charity working on financial management and accountability for NGOs. Alex has worked with many different NGOs, conducting research with Concern and major evaluations for ActionAid and the DEC. Alex previously worked in sub Saharan Africa with Oxfam and other organisations. He started his career as a management consultant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Alex has a degree in Social Anthropology and is a qualified Chartered Management Accountant. He is a trustee of Bond and has previously sat on Oxfam GB's audit committee and Link Community Development's board. He has taught on Masters courses at universities and previously held a visiting fellowship at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University. In 2007, Alex was shortlisted for a Beacon Fellowship for his contribution to charitable and social causes. Alex has overall responsibility for the Farmer Voice Initiative and the pilot activities for the design of farmer feedback systems.
Caroline Davies
Job title: ALINe Project Manager, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Email address: c.davies@ids.ac.uk
ALINe area of responsibility: Operational management and general queries
Background: Caroline joined IDS from VSO (an international development charity that works through volunteers) where she worked as Operations Manager for VSO’s Global Xchange programme. She has extensive programme and financial management experience coupled with significant experience of partnership working. She has a Masters in Social Development. Caroline is the Project Manager for ALINe, working closely with the Director to deliver on ALINe objectives and develop the ALINe strategy going forward.
Johanna Lindstrom
Job title: Research Officer, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Email address: j.lindstrom@ids.ac.uk
ALINe area of responsibility: Johanna is responsible for ALINe background analysis and stakeholder consultations and for the synthesis of ALINe research outputs. She is also involved in ALINe evaluation activities.
Background: Johanna is a social scientist with main research interests in the areas of monitoring and evaluation; agricultural development, food security and nutrition; pro-poor policy processes, policy influence and the research-policy interface; and public awareness of aid and international development. She has a Masters in Environment, Development and Policy.
Richard Ponsford
Job title: Project Administrator, Keystone Accountability
Email address: Richard@keystoneaccountability.org
ALINe area of responsibility: Administration of Farmer Voice Awards and feedback systems pilots
Background: Richard joined Keystone after a year working with both a rural NGO and VSO in Bangladesh where he focused on capacity building, rights and participation. Richard has a Masters in International Development with a focus on governance, civil society and participation and has experience of NGO work in West Africa and managing overseas development projects from the UK. Richard provides general support to the Farmer Voice Awards and the feedback systems pilot activities.
Shanti Mahendra
Job title: Research Officer, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Email address: S.Mahendra2@ids.ac.uk [Please note Shanti is currently on extended leave. Please direct enquiries to info@aline.org.uk]
ALINe area of responsibility: Rapid Response M&E Helpdesk
Background: Shanti has fourteen years of experience in the development sector. Prior to joining ALINe, she has worked at IDS, in the area of research communications, contextualising new thinking within contemporary development debates for practitioners and the policy influencing community. Prior to that she worked in India as a researcher, with NGOs and has worked in the areas of infant nutrition, maternal and child health and adolescent sexuality and health. Within these broad areas, she has been involved in projects that explored issues around poverty, gender and household level dynamics - using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Shanti also holds an M.Phil Degree in Development Studies from the IDS, University of Sussex.
