Lead Policy and Technical Advisor to the Associate Vice President

Bettina Prato

Bettina Prato is the Lead Policy and Technical Advisor to the Associate Vice President for the Programme Management Department.

Until the end on 2021 she was the  Senior Coordinator for the Smallholder and Agri-SME Finance and Investment Network (SAFIN). In this capacity, she leads the network’s Secretariat as well as the community of around 50 institutions that it comprises.

In a previous role, she was a Senior Global Engagement Specialist for several years, with responsibilities spanning policy engagement planning, implementation, and reporting. She is a co-author of the IFAD Rural Poverty Report 2011 and has contributed to the preparation of a number of IFAD corporate strategies and policies. She has also worked as a gender and post-conflict consultant in IFAD’s Programme Management Department.

Before joining IFAD in 2008, Prato worked as Project Coordinator for a non-profit organization operating in Darfur, Sudan, and earlier as Programme Associate in a policy research institution based in Washington, D.C. Her professional experience also includes private sector consulting and academic research and teaching.

Prato holds a PhD in political science from the University of California at Berkeley, a master’s degree in international affairs from George Washington University, and a master’s degree in oriental languages from the University of Venice, Italy. She is a former Fulbright scholar.