Christopher Nelson
Christopher Nelson manages the evaluation portfolio for the Sustainable Development and Infrastructure Global Practices of the World Bank.
Christopher Nelson manages the evaluation portfolio for the Sustainable Development and Infrastructure Global Practices of the World Bank.
Christopher has worked in the development aid sector for over 20 years. An agricultural economist by training, he is an expert in evaluation methods with extensive experience with project evaluation, poverty research, learning through program cycles, and appropriate development strategies for fragile environments. Christopher's primary research interests are focused on community driven development, the applicability of learning theories to development aid, agriculture value chains, and working effectively in fragile situations.
Christopher joined the World Bank in 2014 as a Senior Evaluation Officer, responsible for the oversight and coordination of project completion reports for the Sustainable Development Vice-Presidency. Prior to joining IEG, he was the Director of Evaluation at AusAID (the Australian Government bilateral aid organization) where he was responsible for developing, implementing, and running the agency’s project self-evaluation system.
Christopher holds a Ph.D. in Sustainable Futures and Evaluation Research from the University of Technology Sydney and a Masters in Agricultural Development Economics from the University of Melbourne. His interest in evaluation extends to his time living and working in southern Africa where he was involved in development operations in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. This operational experience informed his Ph.D. research, where he looked at comparative models of evaluation and their impact on aid programs. He has since applied this research to building a variety of self-evaluation systems and models with various organizations in the development sector.