We are delighted to welcome three new trustees to the board of Publish What You Fund. Michael Jarvis, Karolina Olofsson and Jenna Slotin Bring a wealth of experiences and specialisms in governance and democracy, accountability and participation, policy and research, data and programme design, aid effectiveness and transparency.

Michael Jarvis

Michael Jarvis is an expert in good governance and multi-stakeholder approaches and a champion of impactful funding for these issues. He leads the Transparency and Accountability Initiative – a collaborative of funders supporting transparency, participation and accountability related efforts around the globe via over $500 million in active grants. In past roles, notably at the World Bank, he incubated new initiatives ranging from collective action against corruption to a business alliance against malnutrition to the Open Contracting Partnership that promotes better outcomes from $9.5 trillion in public-private contracts globally. With deep expertise on natural resource governance issues, Michael was the World Bank’s Global Lead for Extractives Governance.

Michael told us:

“With so many pressures on international aid and live debates on scaling funds through international finance institutions, the mission of Publish What You Fund is more important than ever. I’m excited to support efforts to assure effectiveness and accountability of aid spending, especially of much needed climate finance.”

Jenna Slotin

Jenna Slotin is Senior Director of Policy at the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, a global network of over 700 partners from the public, private and civil society sectors committed to using data and technology to reduce inequality and drive sustainability. At the Global Partnership, she leads on policy engagement and oversees the data values agenda. Jenna has nearly 20 years’ experience in the development sector specialising in political analysis and influencing, research and thought leadership, and programme design and implementation. She has led programmes that aimed to influence public sector decision-making on data and technology, sustainable development, and peacebuilding.

Jenna explained why she is joining the board:

“From my earliest career experience with the United Nations in Kosovo, I’ve seen the promises and pitfalls of aid and how it’s delivered. I’ve witnessed firsthand how aid transparency (or the lack of it) can shift incentives, at best leading to greater donor accountability, national ownership, and civil society empowerment, and at worst resulting in duplication, waste, and corruption. I greatly admire Publish What You Fund’s mission and I’m honoured to help advance it as a board trustee.”

Karolina Olofsson

Karolina Olofsson is a democracy and governance expert with a strong record working in multilateral, governmental and non-profit organisations. She has over 15 years of experience working on citizen participation, accountability mechanisms and aid effectiveness. Karolina has held leadership positions to support democratisation initiatives, such as being the Executive Director for the Oslo Center in Norway and the Director for Advocacy and Communications at Integrity Watch Afghanistan. She has also served as an adviser to the Ministry of Finance in Afghanistan and the Presidenza del Consiglio Dei Ministri in Italy on accountability and anti-corruption initiatives to strengthen institutional capacity to reduce abuse of power and misuse of resources.

Karolina commented on her new role:

“I believe there needs to be joint responsibility for the vision, process and methods applied in development work. I want to support Publish What You Fund in its commitment to transparency, accountability and equity to contribute to a more balanced and represented world where human flourishing and equality can be at its core.”

Gary Forster, CEO of Publish What You Fund, commented:

“We are very excited by these appointments and the additional expertise, experience and perspectives they bring to our board. Jenna, Karolina and Michael have vision and energy that will complement the skills and passion of our existing board members. They will help to lead the future direction of Publish What You Fund and ensure we remain a well-run, transparent organisation, focused on the issues that matter. The team and board are looking forward to working with our new trustees.”