Karen Del Biondo is a policy officer at the European Commission's Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development. She focuses on Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. Karen has worked for more than ten years on international development cooperation, both as an academic researcher and as a practitioner. As a researcher, she specialised in democracy promotion and political conditionality, focusing on the EU and the US in sub-Saharan Africa. She completed her PhD at Ghent University and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University and the Free University of Berlin. As a practitioner, prior to joining the European Commission in 2017, she advised civil society organizations in Peru and Malawi. In Peru, she worked for 11.11.11 and advised a local NGO that focused on the fight against climate change. In Malawi, she was a development advisor for GIZ in a programme on strengthening public finance and economic management, focusing on civil society, youth and investigative journalism.
Selected presentations international conferences:
“Multiple principals, multiple agents: EU and US democracy assistance in sub-Saharan Africa”, EADI General Conference, Bonn, 24 June 2014.
“Democracy promoter, developmental donor or self-interested actor? Instrumental variation in EU democracy promotion in sub-Saharan Africa”, EUSA Conference, Baltimore, 9-11 May 2013.
“Political or developmental? Comparing the approach and substance of EU and US democracy assistance in Ethiopia”, ISA Annual Convention, San Francisco, 3-6 April 2013.
“Linking security, development and democracy: The European Union in Chad”, "The EU in international affairs", Brussels, 3-5 May 2012.
“Between conditionality and partnership: EU budget support and the Governance Incentive Tranche in Ethiopia”, EADI/DSA Conference, York, 19-22 September 2011.
“Conflicting Objectives: The EU’s development-democracy-security triangle in Ethiopia”, ISA Annual Convention, Montreal, 16-18 March 2011.
“The EU as a promoter of democratic governance in Sub-Saharan Africa”, UACES conference, Bruges, 6-8 September 2010.
Other presentations
“Moving beyond a donor-recipient relationship? Assessing ‘partnership’ in the Joint Africa-EU Strategy.” Free University of Berlin, June 4th, 2014.
“Should American democracy assistance become more European?” Stanford University, April 22nd, 2013