He has also served as the Executive Secretary of the Netherlands' National Advisory Council for Development Co-operation, and as the Head of the special program for research of Dutch development cooperation.  From 1995 to the end of 1997 he was responsible for development cooperation in the Dutch embassy in Suriname.  In Brussels he advised the European Commission on setting up a policy for supporting research in partner countries.

He has co-edited three books on development cooperation and has published more than 20 articles on various aspects of policy formulation, evaluation, research and development cooperation, and the historical dimension of development, among other subjects. He has given numerous lectures and presentations and is a member of faculty of the International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET) since 2000.

Mr. Claudio Volonté, Chief Evaluation Officer

Mr. Volonté has 15 years of experience in multilateral development assistance as an environmental scientist, evaluation specialist and project manager.

As an environmental scientist, he completed some of the first national vulnerability assessments of climate change impacts along the coastal areas of Uruguay, Brazil and Venezuela, co-authored a methodology to conduct these types of assessments and actively participated in the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change.  Mr. Volonté also conducted extensive research on planning and mitigating natural disasters, co-authoring a primer on this subject.  As an evaluation specialist, Mr. Volonté worked in the first evaluation of the GEF following its pilot phase, and completed evaluations of the World Bank's urban lending in Indonesia, Brazil and Morocco, and participated in OED's assessment of National Environmental Action Plans and its annual portfolio reviews.  As a project manager, he was the project manager and technical coordinator for the first GEF funded project on adaptation to climate change impacts, in the Caribbean region.  Mr. Volonté has worked for the Organization of American States as an environmental specialist and project manager, for the government of Uruguay as an environmental specialist and for the World Bank's Operation Evaluation Department as an evaluations specialist.  He completed undergraduate and graduate degrees in environmental planning with concentrations on coastal zone management and climate change impacts.

Dr. David Michael Todd, Senior Evaluation Officer

Dr. David Todd studied Social Anthropology at Cambridge University and Kent University in the United Kingdom. He has 30 years experience of applied social science and development work with UK Government Departments, multilateral, bilateral, NGO, private sector and academic institutions in more than 20 countries in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, South and South-East  Asia.

Prior to joining the GEF in 2002, Dr. Todd was Social Development Adviser in the Evaluation Department of DFID from 2000 to 2002 and was the first ever Social Development Adviser in a European Commission Delegation, covering Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean from 1997 to 2000. Earlier, he was lead consultant to the Netherlands' Government evaluation of  its assistance to NGOs in Bangladesh since Independence and Team Leader of the World Bank's Participatory Poverty Assessment of Nigeria. He also conducted a major published policy study for the Government of the United Kingdom's Department of the Environment on Gypsy Site Policy and Provision, and managed one of the largest public consultation exercises ever held in the UK. Dr. Todd has produced over 35 published journal articles and books and more than 100 consultancy documents, research and conference papers and is a former member of the Postgraduate Training Board of the Economic and Social Research Council of the United Kingdom. He has expertise in poverty focused policies and programs, evaluation and monitoring, program and project development and management, stakeholder analysis and participation, social and gender analysis.

Ms. Siv Tokle, Senior Evaluation Officer

Ms. Tokle is an economist by training and has over 15 years of development experience.  Prior to joining the GEF in 2003, she worked as Evaluation Advisor in UNDP in New York, where she was responsible for revising the UNDP monitoring and evaluation framework. She has managed many UNDP evaluations and developed innovative M&E tools. She also worked as a Policy Advisor in the office of the UNDP Administrator in New York, where she covered inter-agency harmonization and program / project management procedures of UNDP.  Ms. Tokle has been stationed for UNDP and UNIDO in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Vienna. Her experience with program management in the field includes a broad range of subjects, including environment, ndustry, rural development and agriculture. 

Prior to her work in the United Nations, Ms. Tokle worked in the private sector in Norway and India. She graduated with a Masters in Economics and Business Administration from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration in 1986, with a specialization in international economics and strategic planning.

Dr. Aaron Zazueta, Senior Evaluation Officer

Dr. Zazueta, a social anthropologist, has worked on issues related to civil society participation, governance and environmental policy for over 20 years, with a specific focus on Latin America.

Prior to joining the GEF, Dr. Zazueta was a consultant to the Operations and Evaluation Department of the World Bank. He was a member of teams that evaluated the World Bank's 1991 Forest Policy and the application of the Bank's Indigenous People's Safeguard. He has conducted many project evaluations, with specific focus on stakeholder participation.  He played a key role in helping to develop the Inter American Development Bank's (IADB) "Strategy for Citizen Participation".  Between 1992 and 1996, Dr. Zazueta was Regional Director for Latin America at the World Resources Institute, where he led a team of professionals that carried out innovative work with community groups, NGOs and governments in the formulation of environmental policies in Latin America.  He served as the strategic and policy advisor to the Central American Commission for Environment and Development, the Tropical Forest Action Program in Mexico, Ecuador and Guatemala, the Ministry of Sustainable Development in Bolivia and the National Commission of the Environment in Chile, Peru and Ecuador.  Subsequently, he was appointed by Vice President Al Gore on to a Special Commission to assist the Bolivian President to incorporate sustainable development into the policies and programs carried out during his administration.  He co-chaired the technical commission that drafted the Hemispheric Agenda for Sustainable Development, ultimately adopted by thirty two heads of state of the Americas in December 1996.  Dr. Zazueta has published more than 20 books and articles on issues related to citizen participation, environmental policy and sustainable development.

Dr. Lee Alexander Risby, Evaluation Officer

Dr. Risby has been a consultant to GEF Secretariat and more recently the GEF Evaluation Office since 2001. He is trained in social anthropology, sociology and geography with degrees from the Universities of Cambridge and Keele in the United Kingdom. His Doctoral research investigated local livelihood impacts and community participation in a World Bank - GEF project in Uganda. He has also conducted extensive research on the social aspects of conservation policies and practices with a particular interest in governance, alternative livelihoods, resource conflict and resolution strategies, impacts of resettlement, and restriction of access.

Dr. Risby has worked in East Africa, Caribbean and South Asia undertaking research and contracts for multilateral, bilateral agencies, NGOs, research councils and the private sector. He has expertise and interests in social development, community-based natural resource management, beneficiary / social (impact) assessment, stakeholder involvement in project design, implementation and monitoring, qualitative and quantitative methods for project / program evaluation. He is a Fellow of The Royal Geographical Society and Institute of British Geographers, member of The Royal African Society, IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy working groups on Collaborative Management and Sustainable Livelihoods and the International Development Evaluation Association.

Mr. Juan Portillo, Operations Evaluation Officer

Mr. Portillo joined the GEF in 2002. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from Universidad Del Zulia in Venezuela and a Masters in Public Policy from American University in the United States.

Prior to joining the GEF, Mr. Portillo worked at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Resource Management Advisory Services and at the Organization of American States in the Inter American Committee on Ports.

Ms. Divya Nair, Evaluation Analyst

Ms. Nair joined the Evaluation Office as through the Junior Professional Associate program in July 2006. Her previous work experience has related primarily to international governance and its effects on the poor. She has worked with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington DC, the International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD) in Rome and the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) in New Delhi. Ms Nair recently completed a Master in Public Affairs degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School, with a specialization in International Development. As recipient of the British Commonwealth (Chevening) Scholarship, she has completed another MA in International Law and Politics at the University of Hull UK.

Ms. Elizabeth George, Program Assistant

Ms. Viggh has been a consultant to the GEF Evaluation Office since late 2003. She studied Environmental Management at Yale University and International Affairs at George Washington University. Ms. Viggh has more than 15 years of development and environment experience with GEF, UNDP, the World Bank and several NGO's.

Prior to joining the GEF, Ms. Viggh was a consultant to the UNDP/GEF Regional Coordination Office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Mexico and designed an innovative monitoring tool for oversight of projects in the region. She has held different positions at UNDP, where she developed resource management and planning policies playing an integral role in the landmark legislation on a results based resource allocation system. She was also stationed in Sierra Leone managing the development and implementation of the UNDP Country Program. Earlier, Ms. Viggh was a member of the core 1990 World Development Report team on Poverty.

Mr. Neeraj Kumar Negi, Evaluation Specialist, Consultant

Mr. Negi is a natural resource economist by training and has more than six years of experience in natural resource management and rural livelihood issues. He is skilled in research methods, program and policy evaluation, and economic analysis. He has been working with the Evaluation Office since August 2005.