Executive Director, African Development Solutions
Degan Ali is an internationally-renowned humanitarian leader who has been at the forefront of shifting power for decades. She is a Rockefeller Foundation Global Fellow for Social Innovation, a contributor to the Overseas Development Institute/Humanitarian Policy Group and the Global Food Security Journal. She is also the co-founder of the first Global South civil society network for local and national humanitarian organizations, the Network for Empowered Aid Response (NEAR). She is an innovator, translating ground-breaking ideas into action, such as pioneering the first large-scale cash transfer, in 2003 in Somalia, leading the transition to global acceptance of cash assistance. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Al Jazeera &The Guardian. Her key achievements include leading Adeso in pioneering cash transfers; setting up the 25% localization target as part of the Grand Bargain Commitment. She lives in Kenya and works with organizations & philanthropists across the world.
