Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou

Director of Politics and Governance at ODI

Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou is a political scientist with a doctorate in politics from Oxford University (Nuffield College). With a career in International Development spanning almost thirty years, she is currently Director of the Politics and Governance Programme at ODI, the leading global affairs think tank. Prior to that, she worked and consulted for NGOs, governments and several multilateral and bilateral agencies (including Oxfam, ACORD, OECD, UN Women, former UK Department of International Development, Department of Foreign Affairs in Ireland). Her expertise on business and human rights and corporate accountability and conflict in the extractives sector, particularly in Nigeria, has been the subject of numerous peer-reviewed publications and international research collaborations. Between 2019-2023, she chaired the Expert Working Group of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission which investigated the pollution crisis in one of Nigeria’s main oil-producing states. As well as speaking several African languages (Igbo, Wolof, Pidgin), she is bilingual in English and French, and has lived and worked extensively throughout French-speaking Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Senegal).