CAMFED International Board - Member
Caroline brings over 30 years of leadership and management experience with humanitarian and development diplomacy. She is currently the Senior Adviser to the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), a Pan-African think tank influencing policy across Africa and globally to support Africa’s long-term growth through transformation. Prior to joining ACET, she was Secretary-General of CARE International from 2018 to 2019, providing humanitarian assistance and sustainable development with a focus on women and girls.
In 2017, she was the Chief Adviser to the Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown at the International Commission on Financing Education, and from 2011 to 2016, she was Executive Director of the Africa Progress Panel, where she worked closely with Kofi Annan, the foundation’s chair.
Caroline worked at the World Bank (1995-1999 and 2005-2011) as a senior manager for the Sustainable Development Network in the regions of Africa, Europe and Central Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific. Previously, she worked at the International Monetary Fund (1999-2005) where she was the first Social Development Advisor recruited to manage the introduction of a poverty and social perspective into the Fund’s macroeconomic programs and policy dialogue.
Caroline began her career in 1983 as a manager in the private sector with Marks and Spencer Plc. From 1989 to 1993, Caroline lived in The Gambia, working initially with the Gambian Government as a community development advisor on an artisanal fisheries development project, where she lived in the village of Tanji and learned to speak Mandinka. She later joined the UNDP as the manager of The Gambia’s Poverty Alleviation Program.
Caroline holds a MSc in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and BA honours degree in Geography from Liverpool University. She was a Council Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda and Future Councils on Africa (2011 – 2013), Justice (2013 – 2015), and Growth and Social Inclusion (2015 – 2017) and is currently a Board Director of Global Financial Integrity.