Karen Brooks is Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets, a position she has held since August 2012. Before joining CGIAR, she worked for the World Bank for 20 years. For the last 10 years of her tenure there, she managed analytical and operational programs in agriculture and rural development for the Africa region. She is a contributing author of D. Filmer and L Fox, Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa (AFD and The World Bank, 2014). Brooks also worked extensively in Europe and Central Asia on issues related to the transition from central planning. Prior to joining the World Bank, she was Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. Brooks received both her PhD and Master’s degrees in Economics from the University of Chicago.
