Why do policy commitments so often fail to reach the people they are meant to serve?

I am MaryAnne Iwara, a policy and governance advisor and PhD candidate at the University of Leipzig, working on peace, security, development and institutional transformation in Africa. I am based in Addis Ababa.

Research

My research asks why policy commitments so often fail to reach the people they are meant to serve. My doctoral thesis examines Nigeria’s National Social Investment Programmes (2016–2020) and argues that the explanation lies less in a general lack of capacity than in how programmes are designed and authority is distributed. Who holds authority at each stage of delivery shapes which communities programmes reach and how reliably benefits arrive. Expanding a state’s ability to see its vulnerable citizens, I argue, is not the same as building a social right they can depend on.

In practice

I have spent more than 14 years working with governments, regional institutions, the UN, civil society and the private sector to connect political and institutional analysis to partnership, financing and delivery decisions. That has included serving as a Mo Ibrahim African Leaders Fellow at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, researching the reintegration of women and children associated with Boko Haram as a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, and working on peacebuilding and governance at Nigeria’s Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution. I now advise UNDP in Ethiopia on SDG investment financing and strategic partnerships.

This site brings together my research, essays and policy analysis. Explore my work, or get in touch about research collaborations, policy advice and strategic partnerships.