Emily Akers

• Master's in International Development, Violence and Conflict, SOAS University
• BA, Journalism, Film and Media, Cardiff University

As Global Chief of Staff, Emily worked with the CEO, Executive and Governance leadership to develop and execute DA's global strategy and the DA Way, experience that now shapes her current role as Head of Knowledge, Learning & Development. She has been an inaugural Deliverology® Faculty member and led product development for the Delivery Institute work at DA. Emily has also contributed to DA's global response work on COVID-19, including the Global Pathfinder Report.

Prior to this, Emily spent many years as a consultant working across different regional teams and projects, most recently as a Partner and Associate Director in the Africa region. She has led teams providing delivery support to partners including the President's Delivery Unit (DU) in Zambia, the Prime Minister's DU in Uganda, the Premier's DU in Western Australia, and Ministerial Delivery Teams in Education (Ethiopia), Health (Nigeria, Central African Republic) and beyond. Across this work, Emily partnered with governments, philanthropies and international social impact funds (such as IFAD and the Islamic Development Bank), building the relationships and capability that turn funding into delivered partnerships.

Emily is an inaugural Advanced Regenerative Intelligence Fellow, qualifying in regenerative solutions through a program developed by the founders of Project Drawdown, strengthening her leadership in climate and sustainability.

Before joining DA, Emily established and scaled STIR Education, a systems-strengthening organisation designed to bring focus to the importance of intrinsic motivation at every level of Uganda and India’s education systems.