Warren Krafchik is the Executive Director of the International Budget Partnership (IBP), where for 20 years he has led IBP’s work to support and collaborate with civil society organizations in Africa, Latin America and Asia to ensure governments are held accountable as stewards of public resources. IBP works with independent organizations in over 120 countries by providing financial assistance, training and technical support and designing collaborative research and networking programs.

In addition to directing IBP, Krafchik is a co-founder and steering committee member of the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency, and he was a founding co-chair of the Open Government Partnership.

Krafchik joined the IBP in 2001 after nine years at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa), where he founded the Budget Information Service (BIS). Idasa’s BIS was one of the first organizations in developing countries to pioneer a role for civil society organizations in budget processes, and its work and methods have been adapted by civil society and governments around the world. Krafchik serves on the board of the Natural Resource Governance Institute and was a founding board member of the Impumelelo Innovations Program and Topsy AIDS Foundation.

Krafchik is the author of numerous publications and a frequent speaker on fiscal processes, equity and accountability. He received a Masters in Economics from the University of Cape Town.

David Nussbaum has led several high-profile international organizations, including The Elders, WWF-UK and Transparency International. He brings wide expertise in the accountability field, as well as strategic visioning and planning that will help us evolve organizationally and connect the relevance of open budget work to other global development actors, including the environmental, anticorruption and humanitarian communities. Watch David in action talking about one of his passions: climate change.

Jane Ellison is a consultant who works from London, advising cultural institutions and higher education on public engagement, editorial strategies, partnerships and collaboration. A former senior executive at the BBC, she headed the broadcaster’s work to build partnerships and deliver ambitious creative projects with arts organisations, museums, libraries and universities.Past roles include TV producer, financial journalist, programme maker and commissioner for factual programmes at Radio 4, the BBC’s flagship speech radio network. Jane is a Trustee of Libraries Connected, a sector support organisation for public libraries in England. She holds advisory roles at the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Royal Opera House and Transparency International UK. She has written on partnerships and collaboration in the creative industries.

Malado Kaba is the Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society at the African Development Bank. She is an accomplished leader in international development and finance with more than 25 years of experience. She combines her high-level experience in public- and private-sector organizations to deliver measurable impact. Her knowledge of government, global institutions, and NGOs gives her a unique insight into the requirements for successfully navigating complex organizational structures. Malado Kaba produces positive results for Africa and its citizens at the local, national, and international level.

Before joining the African Development Bank, Malado Kaba was the managing director of Falémé Conseil, a consultancy that provided advisory services to public and private sector organisations. She also served as the first female Economy and Finance minister of the Republic of Guinea. During her time as Minister, she reached record macroeconomic results and led successful actions to increase fiscal transparency, fight corruption and promote good governance. Prior to her ministerial position, she was country head for the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in Guinea, advising leaders and senior officials in government on both public policies and project implementation. Before that, she worked as an economist for the European Commission in different countries and led a large portfolio of programs focusing on public, economic and government policy. She holds a master’s degree in development economics.

Malado is certified as a non-executive independent director of the Institute of Directors in London and sits on the Advisory Board of the African Women Investment Fund (AWIF) of the Economic Commission for Africa. She also sat as a Board trustee at International Budget Partnership and as the chairwoman of Orabank Guinea. A strong advocate for promoting women’s rights and leadership, Ms. Kaba mentors promising African women across the continent. She also advocates against gender-based violence.

In 2020, Malado was named as a member of the inaugural cohort of Amujae Leaders, the flagship initiative of the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development. She was also the recipient of the AllAfrica Women Leadership Award for Good Governance and Public Administration in November 2019. In addition, in December 2017, she was named amongst the 10 Best Finance Ministers in Africa by FinancialAfrik.

Malado has written extensively about the need for greater transparency, cooperation across Africa’s public and private sectors, and women’s leadership.

Thoko Moyo is a leadership and communications expert. She has advised C-suite executives in Africa, Europe and the US.

Her corporate governance experience includes serving on the Boards of both listed and private companies, and as a trustee of global not-for-profit organizations. Her studies in governance include time at Harvard University’s Corporate Responsibility Initiative where she explored the intersection of corporate responsibility, public policy, and international development.

She is currently Global Communications Director at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foudation, where she leads the foundation’s strategy to build and protect its brand and reputation.

Before joining the Gates foundation, Thoko served as associate dean for communications and public affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She also spent nearly a decade at the World Bank Group in Washington, D.C. and several years at the Ford Foundation in New York. It was at the Ford Foundation that she conceived and launched Africa No Filter, a research, grantmaking, and advocacy donor collaborative that supports the development of nuanced stories that shift stereotypical and harmful narratives about Africa.

Thoko has undergraduate and post graduate degrees from Harvard University and the University of Zimbabwe.

Lysa is Secretary-General of CIVICUS and lives in South Africa. She has championed human rights and international mobilisation for two decades. She started her career working for grassroots organisations fighting to end urban poverty in India, and subsequently spearheaded trans-national campaigns calling for government accountability.

Before joining CIVICUS, she worked as Head of Outreach for the UN High-Level Panel that drafted the blueprint for the Sustainable Development Goals, and as Global Campaigns Director at Save the Children. These roles have shaped a deep interest in and understanding of grassroots-to-global activism, which continues to drive and inform her work.