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Global Resilience Partnership Announces Dr. Luca Alinovi as Executive Director

The Global Resilience Partnership announced today the appointment of Dr. Luca Alinovi as its Executive Director. This is a critical step in the Partnership’s ambitions to build the resilience of vulnerable people across the world. Dr. Alinovi brings over twenty years of experience to the role and joins the Partnership from the Food Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), where he served most recently as the Representative to Kenya and Eastern Africa Resilience Hub Director.

The Global Resilience Partnership is a public-private initiative of The Rockefeller Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) to scale up solutions to the toughest resilience challenges in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and South and Southeast Asia. As the El Niño phenomenon illustrates, these three regions are especially prone to interconnected risks—including droughts, floods and other natural hazards that exacerbate chronic stresses such as food insecurity and population growth—driving the poorest communities into recurrent humanitarian crises.

“To reduce humanitarian need and lock in development gains, we must shift how the global community responds to stresses and shocks that keep the world’s most vulnerable trapped in extreme poverty,” said Tom Staal, Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator of USAID. “Luca’s deep expertise and proven track record in the resilience community will be critical assets for the Global Resilience Partnership going forward. We are confident and excited by his vision for the Partnership as a leader in transforming the way donors approach these issues and in elevating resilience as a key requisite for ending extreme poverty.”

As Executive Director, Dr. Alinovi will drive strategy for the Partnership, assuming responsibility for its growth and development. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, he will focus on convening local, regional, and international actors across a range of sectors, and bringing together the private sector with traditional actors to tackle resilience challenges. In addition to his extensive experience at the FAO, he has held roles at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has published a number of journal articles. He has a PhD in Agricultural and Natural Resources Economics and a Laurea in tropical and sub-tropical agriculture, both from the University of Florence.

“By focusing on resilience, we can ensure that communities can prepare for, adapt to, and recover in the face of shocks and stresses,” said Luca Alinovi, Executive Director of the Global Resilience Partnership. “But in order to make a difference to the lives of people living in harm’s way, we have to engage more players from across a wide range of sectors and regions, including the private sector. The Partnership has a real opportunity to bring new thinking and massive scale to the most challenging resilience issues.”

“In his work at FAO, Luca has seen first-hand the devastating impacts of constant stresses, such as malnutrition, and catastrophic shocks, such as famine, on communities in the world’s most vulnerable places,” said Zia Khan, Vice President for Initiatives and Strategy from The Rockefeller Foundation. “These disruptions are only increasing, due to climate change and the effects of globalization. Under his leadership, the Global Resilience Partnership is poised to integrate the global community’s approach to development and humanitarian assistance so that disruptions no longer become disasters and communities can more quickly – and more effectively – rebound.”

Sida’s Marie Ottosson, Head of the Department for International Organisations and Policy Support, said, “Luca’s appointment marks a critical step in building the resilience of some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities. We know that by helping communities plan ahead for and adapt to inevitable risks, our development investments work even harder by enabling millions of people to lift themselves out of poverty and keep economies on a sustainable path. Luca can take the Partnership’s work to the next phase.”

Dr. Alinovi’s appointment comes shortly after the announcement of the winning teams of the Global Resilience Challenge, which awarded funding to eight organizations for their project submissions that will implement transformative resilience solutions to problems that threaten the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable populations.

More information about Executive Director Luca Alinovi and the Global Resilience Partnership can be found at www.globalresiliencepartnership.org.