
Alina Rocha Menocal
Over the course of her career, Alina has been involved in a series of projects and assignments that seek to bridge the gap between research and policy in thinking about governance, as well as to inform more effective engagement and ways of working among international development actors in developing country settings. Alina has done extensive work on political economy, and on how the international development community can think and work in more politically aware ways, through both the Thinking and Working Community of Practice, and other fora, including as Senior Democracy Fellow on Applied Political Economy at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) (2016-2020). As a Senior Research Fellow of the Developmental Leadership Program at the University of Birmingham (2014-2016), Alina conceptualised, developed and led a programme of research and policy engagement on political settlements and the politics of inclusion. She also has considerable experience designing and facilitating trainings on these different themes for both academic and policy oriented audiences, and she has published extensively on these issues. She holds a BA from Yale University in political science, and a MIA on Economic and Political Development and a MPhil in Political Science/Comparative Politics from Columbia University.
Media coverage
Alina has published blogs and opinion pieces extensively. Her pieces have appeared in Foreign Policy, Prospect Magazine, Financial Times and Open Democracy. She has also been interviewed widely, featuring in Devex and Dhaka Tribune among others.
Latest tweets from @arochamenocal
- 24 FebSo delighted to be part of @AfricaDemocracy's series on Decoding Digital #Democracy in Africa, alongside others inc… https://t.co/vmrOzauQ6M
- 20 Feb@five_books This by @isabelallende is a beautiful read about love, exile, identity and belonging https://t.co/mWdrfX3sqV
- 14 Feb"Foreign Aid Is Having a Reckoning" -- aid sector needs to be decolonised & genuinely localised argues @fstockman… https://t.co/Ur5c80vIMg
- 12 FebCan US still be beacon of #democracy? Absolutely. US may be fragile in diff ways but in @TheAmandaGorman's wise wor… https://t.co/Tj4IJ3Lk1B
- 11 FebRT @carolina_rocha_: El trumpismo perdió en las urnas pero es un riesgo vivo y latente que pone a prueba la democracia de Estados Unidos. U…
- 11 FebRT @ODIdev: "Democracy is a work in progress that must be fought for and nourished". Read new reflections from @arochamenocal on the #USEle…
- 10 Feb"Change of guard in the US: the good, the bad -- & the hopeful". My take on the US elections, challenges of Trumpis… https://t.co/uI7VsxBKO6
- 09 Feb
- 01 FebRT @davidwatson_m: The new US Global Fragility Strategy could be transformational for the world's most fragile regions and help to reset th…
- 28 JanRT @JedBadley: Excited new FCDO research project underway, picking up where the 2018 Elite Bargains work left off. Working with @DominikZa…
- 27 JanKey insight from @ODIdev @hellobrink work w @FCDOGovUK on #LearnAdapt is the urgent need to rethink how accountabil… https://t.co/hQYXxL5qQR
- 27 JanShowing results of aid is clearly essential. But this is less straightforward than it sounds bc processes of change… https://t.co/3tFQCzjOdg
- 27 JanThis aligns closely w @USAIDDRG guidance on thinking & working politically & @USAIDLearning's Collaborating Learnin… https://t.co/bv2kb3sx9W
- 27 JanAmong other things, strategy commits US to better understand context & identify opportunities to engage based on in… https://t.co/JDv51H6jzJ
- 23 JanRT @_hudsonc: Horrific new accounts coming out of the camps in Sudan from Trigrayan refugees. Where are the calls for a formal investigat…