Claire Melamed
Director, Poverty and Inequality
Overseas Development Institute
203 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8NJ, UK
Tel: +44(0)20 7922 0359
Fax: +44(0)20 7922 0399
Nationality: British
Email: c.melamed@odi.org.uk
QUALIFICATIONS
2000
PhD Development Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK
Thesis: Impact of cotton sales on local economy in Northern Mozambique
1993
MA Development Studies (with distinction)
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK
Dissertation: Land tenure in Mozambique
1991
BA (Hons) Politics and Modern History (2:1)
University of Manchester, UK
CAREER
July 2014-present
Director – Poverty and Inequality, ODI
Leading a cluster of 4 teams and 50+ researchers and support
staff working on poverty and inequality.
September – December
2014
Head of Secretariat and Lead Author, UN Secretary General’s
Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution
(secondment), worked in UNSG’s office leading the IEAG which
produced ‘A World that Counts’ in November 2014.
April 2010 – July 2014
Head of Programme – Growth, Poverty & Inequality, ODI
Programme covers work on the post-2015 global development
agenda, growth, employment, poverty indicators and
measurement.
2008 - 2010
Head of Policy, Action Aid UK
Managed government relations and policy development. Led
project on impact of financial crisis on developing countries.
2007 - 2008
Head of Trade and Corporates Team, ActionAid UK
Managed a team of six doing research, policy analysis, advocacy
and campaigns on trade policy and private sector issues,
including, WTO and regional trade negotiations, supermarket
supply chains, corporate regulation.
2003 - 2006
Trade Policy Manager, Christian Aid
Responsible for management of Trade and Private Sector policy
unit, and for research, policy development and analysis, and
advocacy in area of trade and globalisation.
1998 - 2003
Policy Officer / Senior Policy Officer, Christian Aid
Policy research and advocacy in area of trade and globalisation.
RECENT PROJECTS AND ASSIGNMENTS
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Advisor to UNDP and UN Secretary General’s office during negotiation of SDGs
Co-lead on ‘MY World’ survey with UNDP. MY World is an innovative global survey
which brought people's voices directly to the negotiating process for the SDGS. It
gathered 8.6 million responses and was highly politically influential.
Leads research programme on poverty and inequality including high quality research,
innovative platforms for dissemination (e.g. post2015.org) and wide variety of
convening, ranging from the ‘Cartagena Data Festival’ to private consultations for the
UN Secretary General’s advisor on the SDGs.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Recent policy briefings:
Melamed, C, Leaving no one behind: how the SDGs can bring about real change, ODI briefing,
March 2015
Melamed, C & G. Bergh, Sustainable Development Goals and Targets: options for
differentiating between countries, ODI Briefing, June 2014
Keane, J & C. Melamed, Trade and the post-2015 agenda: from Millennium Development
Goals to Sustainable Development Goals’, ODI briefing, June 2014
Melamed, C & E. Samman, Defining ‘aspirational yet attainable targets’ for new goals post2015, ODI briefing, April 2014
Melamed, C, ‘Inequality in post-2015: focus on the targets, not the goals? January 2014
Melamed, C., ‘Economic growth and transformation in a post-2015 agreement’, ODI, 2013
Recent journalism/blogging:
Melamed, C, Describing poverty is no substitute for producing hard evidence to end it,
Guardian Global Development blog, October 2015
Melamed, C, What do they want? Aeon, September 2015
Melamed, C, Migration is capitalisms’ unfinished business, ODI blogs, May 2015
Melamed, C, The data revolution is coming and it will unlock the corridors of power, Guardian,
1 October 2014
Melamed, C., ‘The Other Half’, Aeon Magazine, 24 September 2014
Melamed, C, ‘Data Revolution: development’s next frontier’, World Politics Review, 28 January
2014
Melamed, C., ‘After Success: poverty beyond the MDGs, World Politics Review, 14 May 2013
Plus numerous blogs on websites including ODI’s website, the Guardian’s ‘poverty matters’
blog and on ‘Global Dashboard’
Official publications:
IEAG, ‘A World That Counts: Mobilising the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development,
November 2014
Melamed, C & P. Ladd, ‘Listening to one million voices: analysing the findings of the first one
million MY World Votes’, New York: UNMC, September 2013
Melamed, C. & E. Samman, ‘Equity, inequality and human development in a post-2015
framework’, New York: UNDP Human Development Report Office, April 2013
Research:
Melamed, C & P. Ladd, ‘How to build sustainable development goals: integrating human
development and environmental sustainability in a new global agenda’ ODI research report,
March 2013
Melamed, C., ‘Post-2015: the road ahead’, ODI, 2012
Bergh, G., Melamed, C., ‘Inclusive growth and a post-2015 framework’, ODI, 2012
Melamed, C., ‘Putting inequality in the post-2015 picture’, ODI, 2012
Melamed, C. Scott, A, Mitchell, T. ‘Separated at birth, reunited in Rio: A roadmap for putting
environment and development back together’, ODI, 2012
Melamed, C, Devlin, N., Appleby, J., ‘Valuing Development: could approaches to measuring
outcomes in health care help make development more accountable?’, ODI 2012
Melamed, C., ‘After 2015: contexts, politics and processes for a post-2015 global agreement
on development’, ODI, 2012
Melamed, C.,’ Creating consensus, political opportunities and barriers for a post-2015
agreement on development’, ODI 2011
Melamed, C. Sumner, A.,’ A post-2015 development agreement: why, what, who?’, ODI, 2011
Melamed, C., Hartwig, R., Grant, U., ‘Jobs, growth and poverty: what do we know, what don’t
we know, what should we know?’, ODI, 2011
Melamed, C., Scott, L., ‘After 2015: progress and challenges for development’, ODI, 2011
Melamed, C.,’ Does development give poor people what they want?’, ODI 2011
Melamed, C, ‘Economic Growth and the MDGs’ ODI Briefing Paper No.60, June 2010
Sumner, A & C. Melamed (eds.), ‘The MDGs and Beyond’, IDS Bulletin, Vol.41, No.1, Jan 2010
Melamed, C., ‘Global Redistribution as a Solution to Poverty’, IDS In Focus policy briefing 11.1,
2009
Melamed, C, ‘Caught in the Crossfire: The economic crisis and developing countries’, Public
Policy Research, Vol.16, Issue 1, March-May 2009
Melamed, C, ‘Briefing: Wrong Questions, Wrong Answers: Trade, trade talks and Africa’,
African Affairs, London, 2006, 105: 451-460
Melamed, C., ‘Doing Development at the WTO: The Doha Round and Special and Differential
Treatment’, IDS Bulletin, 1 April 2003, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 12-23
Melamed, C, ‘Cotton, Food and Work: Contract Farming, Food Security and the Labour Market
in Northern Mozambique’, in, Africa in Crisis: New Challenges and Possibilities, eds. Tunde
Zack-Williams, Diane Frost & Alex Thomson, London: Pluto Press, 2002
Melamed, C, Adjusting Africa: structural economic change and development in Africa, London:
Worldview publications, 1996
NGO policy briefings/reports:
ActionAid, ‘Where does it hurt?: The impact of the financial crisis on developing countries’,
March 2009
Christian Aid, ‘A rich seam: do developing countries benefit from rising commodity prices?’,
November 2006
Christian Aid, ‘The Economics of Failure: The real cost of ‘free trade’ to poor countries’, July
2005
Christian Aid, ‘Talking Trade: Communities making trade policy in Ghana’, November 2003
Melamed, C, ‘What is on the table? An analysis of proposals for changes to Special and
Differential treatment at the WTO’, Christian Aid, August 2003
Melamed, C., ‘What Works? Trade, policy and development’, Christian Aid, July 2002
Media:
Appearances on BBC TV, Al Jazeera, Sky News, BBC World Service, Radio 4.
Writes regularly for Guardian, World Politics Review and others.