Dara - WHO WE ARE

Silvia Hidalgo is the Director of DARA. From 1993 to 1998, she worked for ECHO in the Direct Food Aid programme, was Desk Officer for Bosnia Herzegovina and was Head of the ECHO office in Sarajevo. Prior to this, she was the regional Coordinator for the Spanish Red Cross in Central America in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch and consultant in the Inter-American Development Bank, also in Central America. Ms. Hidalgo is a member of the European Evaluation Society and the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP). She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fundación para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior (FRIDE). She holds a BA in Economics and Political Science and an MA in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania.

Marta Marañon has been the Deputy Director of DARA since 2003. She is an evaluation expert with experience in the fields of international development, humanitarian action, capacity building and organisational performance. She has conducted evaluations in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Marruecos, Argelia, Mauritania, Niger, Kenya and Uzbekistan. Her areas of expertise include the fields of the environment, rural development and education, having worked for 5 years in a high school. She holds a BA in Geography and three MA degrees, in Landscape and Land Use Management, Cultural Management, and Evaluation of Public Policies and Programmes.

Ana Romero holds a BA in Agricultural Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and specialised in Economics and Rural Development in the École Nationale d’Agronomie de Montpellier. Ms. Romero holds an MA in Sustainable Development and Landscape Management from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Prior to joining DARA, she worked as the Programme Director for Africa and Asia in the company, INYPSA. She has also worked for the Spanish Ministry of Public Health and the European Commission in Equatorial Guinea, and for the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation in Tunez and Egypt.

Lucía Fernández joined DARA in 2005. Prior to DARA, Lucía worked at Grupo DEX planning, managing and evaluating co-funded projects of the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union. Also, she provided technical assistance for the institutional visits of the Government of the province of Asturias (Spain) to Chile, Uruguay, and Brazil in 2004, and China in 2005. She has worked for CARE International and the Delegation of the European Commission to the United Nations in New York, and Human Rights Watch in Washington D.C. Lucía holds a B.A. in Journalism from Universidad Complutense (Madrid), and a MA in International Affairs from Columbia University (New York).

Mr. Steen (Danish) joined DARA as an Evaluation Officer in September 2007. He holds a MA in International Development Studies and Education, and is currently working on a PhD in International Relations and Development at the Complutense University in Madrid. Mr. Steen has worked in the international development field since 1997 in Africa and Latin America for UNICEF and private consultancy firms. He has worked as a consultant for bilateral and multilateral organisations, as well as international NGOs, typically for assignments related to evaluations, reviews, programme formulation, appraisals, and thematic studies. Mr. Steen possesses solid experience, primarily in the education, governance and humanitarian assistance sectors.

PhD candidate, Advanced Studies Diploma in Peace and Security, Master in International Relations, and Maîtrise of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. Mr Polastro has worked during 15 years in humanitarian assistance and development aid in more than 40 countries for the International Movement of the Red Cross, the United Nations, NGOs and donors. He lectures in several universities masters on development related topics. Presently he heads the evaluation department of Development Assistance Research Associates. Main evaluations carried out: Tsunami Evaluation Coalition Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development Evaluation II, Inter-Agency Standing Committee Real Time Evaluation of the Humanitarian Response to the 2007 floods and cyclone, and multi country partnership evaluations such as ECHO/UNHCR and ECHO/IFRC. Memberships include EES, IDEAS, EHESS and ALNAP.

Philip Tamminga has over twenty years of practical and research experience in international development and humanitarian assistance issues. He specialises in governance and accountability issues, policy and strategy development, programme design, management and evaluation, and communications. He is the former Head of Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, and played a key role in shaping the strategic policy framework for the Federation. Prior to his involvement with the International Federation, he was Head of Delegation for the Canadian Red Cross in Nicaragua and Honduras, managing Hurricane Mitch recovery, housing reconstruction, and community health programmes in those countries, as well as carrying out extensive research on community development programmes in Latin America. He holds a BA in Latin American Studies and an MA in Communications and International Development from Simon Fraser University, and continues to do research and teach in the fields of development and humanitarian assistance.