Leila is a political economist and governance expert who has spent 15 years working with numerous organizations to support more politically savvy and impactful work on investment governance, particularly related to extractive industries. She led the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment's (CCSI's) multi-year project grappling with the ways in which power, interests, incentives and characteristics of political systems shape how extractive industry projects are developed, their ultimate outcomes, and the fate of governance interventions designed to improve these. She is currently working on numerous projects related to supporting just energy transitions, and is advising CCSI's Land, Agriculture and Food Systems team on political economy concerns.

Leila's research, writing and program support covers a range of issues from green industrial policy to supporting good governance and development in authoritarian settings; from environmental impact assessment processes to community engagement. As a long-time independent consultant Leila has provided research, analysis, policy advice and program development support to a range of organizations including the World Bank, Natural Resource Governance Institute, Publish What You Pay, the Ford Foundation, Social Science Research Council, Foundation for the UN Global Compact, Purpose, Kofi Annan Foundation, and the Carbon War Room. 

Select experience

• Supporting various actors in integrating political economy concerns into the design and implementation of efforts to improve investment governance and to promote just energy transitions at global and country levels

• Analyzing the impact of political economy factors on a range of interventions designed to promote good governance and development practice in resource-rich countries

• Led CCSI's multi-year project on the Politics of Extractive Industries

Select publications

• Thinking and working politically on the governance of extractive industries, TWP Community of Practice, (2023)

• With Perrine Toledano and Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye, Tackling the EIA impact gap: Addressing political economy realities to bring good practice closer to best practice, chapter in Impact Assessment for Corridors: From Infrastructure to Development Corridor. Hobbs, J. and Juffe-Bignoli, D. (eds.), Cambridge: The Development Corridors Partnership (2022)

• With Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Supporting good governance of extractive industries in politically hostile settings: Strategies and approaches, CCSI (2022)

• Getting from ideas to reality: Building political support to translate good ideas into actual practice, CCSI and IIED (2021)

• With Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye, Free, prior and informed consent: Addressing political realities to improve impact, CCSI (2020)

• With Michael Jarvis, Getting the most out of extractive industries transparency: How a more explicit treatment of political considerations could strengthen the impact of transparency efforts, CCSI (2020)

Education

• Ph.D. (Political Science) – Columbia University 

• M.Sc. (International Relations) – London School of Economics 

• B.A. (Political Science) – Columbia University