Ishac Diwan is Lecturer in Public Policy and the director for Africa and the Middle East at the growth lab of the Center for International Development. Diwan received his PhD in economics from the University of California at Berkeley. He taught international finance at NYUs Business School from 1984-87. In 1987, he joined the World Bank in the Research Complex, where he focused on international finance, trade, and macroeconomics. In 1992, with the coming of the Oslo Agreements, Diwan joined the Banks Middle East department, first as the country economist for the West Bank and Gaza and later as a regional economist. He contributed to the Economic Research Forum and the Mediterranean Development Forum. Most recently, Diwan lived in Addis Abeba (2002-07) and Accra (2007-11), as the Banks Country Director for Ethiopia and Sudan first, and then for Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, and Guinea. Diwan led several ambitious initiatives, such as Ethiopias Productive Safety Net, Ethiopias Protection of Basic Services Program, and in West Africa, initiatives to support commercial agriculture, natural resources development, and jobs for the youth. Diwan will be directing the Africa Growth Project from the CID, and the Economic and Political Transformation group at the ERF.
