About the Wolfensohn Center for Development

The Wolfensohn Center for Development was founded in July 2006 by James D. Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank and a member of the Brookings Board of Trustees.

The Center analyzes how resources, knowledge and implementation capabilities can be combined toward broad-based economic and social change in a four-speed world.

The following principles guide our work:

  • A focus on impact, scaling-up and sustainability of development interventions
  • Bridging the gap between development theory and practice to bring about action
  • Giving voice to developing countries, with high-level policy engagement and broad networking
  • A rigorous, independent research approach that draws from multiple disciplines
  • Working in partnership with others

Read the Center's brochure »

The Wolfensohn Center is currently engaged in three major areas:

Aid Effectiveness: New Realities and New Players  

Rich countries have recently raised aid volumes, but the effectiveness of aid remains a serious challenge. In addition, aid flows have become much more fragmented. Bilateral donors from the second tier of countries, private foundations, NGOs and religious groups have joined in to reduce global poverty. Taking the perspective of recipient countries, the Wolfensohn Center examines trends in today’s aid, analyzes the players, their incentives and effectiveness, and engages in high-level dialogue with key donors and recipients.

Early Child Development: Turning Analysis into Action  

Academic research has shown that early child development programs are essential to positive health, learning and behavior throughout later life. But application of this important lesson in development policy and practice has lagged behind. The Wolfensohn Center examines how better to translate theory into practice by engaging policy makers, academics and development practitioners in a process that will explore barriers to, and propose solutions for, funding and implementing sustainable early child development programs in the developing world.

Middle East Youth: Tapping a Demographic Gift  

With more than half of its population under age 24 and the potential for a young, vibrant workforce, the Middle East could benefit from a huge economic windfall but most

countries in the region are not creating enough jobs for their young people. The Wolfensohn Center and the Dubai School of Government have partnered in the Middle

East Youth Initiative which brings together youth leaders, academics, policy makers, the private sector and civil society. Together, we seek to learn more about the obstacles youth face as they move from education to employment, marriage, family and adulthood, and work towards more effective policies and programs based on this knowledge.

Additional Research Initiatives

Other research and advisory initiatives of the Center include research on scaling up anti-poverty programs and on social protection systems in Mexico; work with the Roma Education Fund on scaling up its activities in South-East Europe; a fellowship program under which experts from the Middle East will study regional water development and management issues; advisory work with the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program (CAREC) and the Asian Development Bank on regional cooperation and integration in Central Asia; and research on global governance reform.

View information on the Brookings/CIGI Global Governance Seminar Series >>

Meeting the Challenge of Development: The Four-speed World

Today, about one billion people live on less than a dollar a day. By 2050, three billion more people will be added to the world’s population, almost all of them in the developing countries. At the same time, our inter-connected world is breaking into four tiers of countries with differing levels of prosperity, prospects and challenges for the future.

  • A first tier covers rich countries with high and steadily rising living standards, but with a need to face new global realities, including their decreasing economic weight in the world.
  • A second tier includes rapidly growing developing countries, such as China and India. They are fast reducing poverty at home, contribute greatly to global economic growth and are becoming significant aid donors. But they need to address rising inequality and environmental damage that may put their long-term prospects at risk.
  • A third tier of middle-income countries, mostly in Latin America and the Middle East, need to break out of their low or highly volatile growth path.
  • In a fourth group are poor countries, many of them in Africa, with stagnant or regressing economies and with little prospect of achieving sustained poverty reduction, unless they drastically improve their development policies and institutions.

For all countries, combating global poverty, preserving the earth’s natural resources and creating a hopeful, healthy and inclusive society for future generations is an urgent and complex task.

To meet this challenge of development requires fresh analysis, effective dialogue and new partnerships among and between public and private actors. We need to learn how the impact of development policies and interventions can be strengthened and scaled up for sustainable growth and poverty reduction, at the global level.

Wolfensohn Center Staff

Center Staff

Michael Acton, Staff Assistant
Reem Alamiri, Research Assistant and Project Coordinator
Laurence Chandy, Research Associate
Samantha Constant, Associate Director, Middle East Youth Initiative
Amina Fahmy, Research Analyst, Middle East Youth Initiative
Eileen Gallagher, Communications Associate
Geoff Gertz, Senior Research Assistant
Diana Greenwald, Research Assistant, Middle East Youth Initiative
Sara Hommel, Associate Director, Early Child Development Initiative
Mary Kraetsch, Research Analyst, Middle East Youth Initiative
Steven Most, Assistant Director

Global Economy & Development Program Staff Affiliates

Amanda Armah, Senior Financial Manager
Carla dal Cais, Online Communications Specialist 

To find out more about the Center’s activities and research, please contact us at wolfensohncenter@brookings.edu or 202-797-6000.