Prof. Nicholas Awortwi has been the Director of the Institute since 3rd June 2019. He holds a PhD Cum Laude (with Distinction) in Development Studies from the Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University in the Netherlands. He is a professional development planner and an expert in local governance with 20 years of experience in research, teaching and advisory services on decentralization and local governance, public policy and development management, social protection and inclusive development.

From 2012 to 2016, Prof. Awortwi was the Director of Research at the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) in Nairobi, Kenya. He has led international studies on decentralization, public services provision, empowerment and accountability, urban governance, inclusive growth and employment creation in many African countries including Botswana, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, Mozambique, Benin, and Uganda.

Hon. Akwasi Darko Boateng

Mad. Agnes Talata Chiravira

Rev. Mrs. Eva Asare Bediako

Mr. Samuel Seth Passah

Dr. Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa is a Professional Development Planner and Economist by training and in practice. He has 28 years of professional policy practice, lecturing, and research experience at the international level in Development Planning, Macroeconomics, Public Finance, and Project Management, as well as highly-rated professional consultancy work in Monitoring and Evaluation. Working as a Senior Technical Adviser to the Ministry of Planning in Ghana, he worked in facilitating the development of the Coordinated Programme of the President (2017-2024) and led the dissemination team. As the UNDP global policy advisor for local development and urbanization, he was responsible for providing technical policy guidance for UNDP in the sector globally and also responsible for the technical quality of country programs on local development governance and urbanization. 
Prior to this position Kojo was the Deputy Head of Region and Regional Technical Adviser for Local Development for the UN Capital Development Fund from July 2007 to March 2012 and was responsible for 21 elite development planning programs in fourteen countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, and the Arab States. The scope included initiating, advising, advocating, mobilizing, and managing capital for local development in Africa. He also worked for two years as a Senior Governance Adviser to SNV, working with CSOs and leading a team to develop the Local Governance Barometer for Africa. He further worked for four years as the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Project funded by the African Development Bank, World Bank, OPEC Fund, and UNDP. He lectured and researched for ten years at KNUST and facilitated the coordination of one of the most successful joint academic and research programs in Africa – the SPRING Programme, which was responsible for the training of more than 500 development planners and 120 research publications for Africa and Asia on decentralization and development planning.
 

Mr. Kokro Amankwah

Mrs. Evelyn Arthur

Eng. Dr. Stephen Nana Ato Arthur

Prof. Imoro Braimah

Mr. David Osei-Wusu