The involvement of private finance in infrastructure and services provision is not new. However, the focus on leverage private finance has increased in recent decades, particularly after the adoption of the 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), at the Third UN Conference on Financing for Development (FfD). Despite that, the initiatives promoted have proved to be far from what is needed, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seem increasingly out of reach. The current FfD process – as the only global space in which all countries have an equal voice – has the potential for transformational development in the global south. As the Fourth FfD Conference (FfD4) in Sevilla approaches, there is an opportunity for a thorough overhaul of private finance in development.
María José Romero
Policy and Advocacy Manager - Development Finance
- +32 2 894 46 47
- mromero[at]eurodad.org
- @ma_jose_romero
María José is Policy and Advocacy Manager for Eurodad's work on development finance. Her role involves research and analysis, advocacy and monitoring policy developments. She joined Eurodad in 2012 and before that she worked at the secretariat of the Latin American Network on Debt, Development and Rights (LATINDADD), based in Peru, on tax justice and development finance. She also worked at Eurodad as a maternity leave replacement on tax justice. While in Uruguay, her home country, she was for five years Coordinator of the IFIs Latin American Monitor project at the Third World Institute (ITeM), where her main roles were networking and policy monitoring at a regional and global level on IFI-related issues and development finance. María José has a bachelor and a master degree in political science from the University of the Republic of Uruguay. She is currently a PhD candidate in International Development at SOAS University of London, with a research project on the World Bank Group's role in promoting private finance in health and education. Her mother tongue is Spanish and she speaks fluent English.