Astrid Haas
Astrid Haas is an Urban Economist at the African Development Bank. She previously served as a Policy Director of the IGC and as a Senior Country Economist for Cities and Head of the Cities that Work Initiative at the IGC. Her current research specialises in the area of municipal and infrastructure finance, in particular, but she also works on other areas such as urban mobility and urban land tenure more broadly. She works with various mayors, city managers and their teams in Africa and Asia to support research and evidence-based policy reform. In this capacity, Astrid has been invited to provide a peer review of the new Municipal Law of Afghanistan by the Acting Mayor of Kabul, to co-chair the Hargeisa municipal finance reform task force by the Minister of Interior of Somaliland as well as helping set up a research programme within the Kampala Capital City Authority.
Prior to joining the IGC, she worked for Innovations for Poverty Action as well as for Evidence Action, which included work in Uganda, Rwanda and Malawi. Astrid has also worked as an analyst on a large-scale agriculture project in South Sudan and as an Economist in the Ministry of East African Community in Kenya. She holds an MA in International Economics and International Development from Johns Hopkins University (in Italy and the USA). In 2016, she was nominated by the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town as one of Africa’s Young Leaders.
