Dr Willem van Eekelen

International Development Department
Honorary Associate Professor

Contact details

Telephone: +44 (0)79 3189 6359
Email: w.v.eekelen@bham.ac.uk

Address: International Development Department
School of Government
Muirhead Tower
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Van Eekelen is a development economist who built his experience in UN agencies, NGOs and donors. He works as an Honorary Associate Professor (10%) and independent evaluator (50%), and has a portfolio of other part-time engagements (40%, see biography).

Qualifications

PhD, rural socio-economic development, Erasmus University Rotterdam
MSc in Development Programming, Erasmus University Rotterdam and University of Sussex
MSc, Sociological Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Biography

Until 2010, Willem held policy and programming positions, mostly within the United Nations system. Since then he has worked as an independent evaluator for the international development and humanitarian sectors. He specialises in organisational performance assessments and donor portfolio reviews with values of £500 million and above. In addition to his consultancy work and role at the University of Birmingham, Willem holds occasional NGO trusteeship positions and co-owns Green Visions, the Balkans’ liveliest adventure tourism company. He also serves as an academic editor for Wiley and is a Senior Fellow at Agulhas Applied Knowledge and Associate Director at the Humanitarian Impact Institute. Willem authored two recent books in the Routledge’s “Rethinking Development” series, as well as books such a few travel guides, Bloomsbury’s “100 ideas for dads who love their kids but find them exhausting”, and the upcoming “Very Official Book of Hugs”.

Teaching

Van Eekelen supervises MSc dissertations and contributes to three modules that may or may not be taught in the current year:

NGOs in a Changing International Context
Rural Poverty and Development
Poverty and Inequality: Interventions and Approaches

Van Eekelen won the University of Birmingham’s ‘Outstanding Teaching Award’.

Postgraduate supervision

Civil society, civic space, global patterns in socio-economic development, humanitarian interventions

Research

Research interests

NGO performance, NGO relations, evaluation techniques, organisational capacity issues, humanitarian and development standards.

Other activities

Publications

Eekelen, W. van (2024), ICT and rural development in the Global South, Routledge.
MOPAN (2024) MOPAN assessment report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), MOPAN.
ICAI (2022), The UK’s approaches to peacebuilding, Independent Commission for Aid Impact, London.
MOPAN (2021) MOPAN assessment report of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), MOPAN.
Itad (2020), Final evaluation of the Dutch Good Growth Fund, Itad, Brighton.
Eekelen, W. van (2020), Rural development in practice, Routledge.
ICAI (2019), DFID’s partnerships with civil society organisations, Independent Commission for Aid Impact, London.
ICAI (2018), The Conflict, Stability and Security Fund’s aid spending, Independent Commission for Aid Impact, London.
ICAI (2017), The UK’s aid response to irregular migration in the Central Mediterranean; a rapid review, Independent Commission for Aid Impact, London.
ICAI (February 2017), The effects of DFID’s cash transfer programmes on poverty and vulnerability, an impact review, Independent Commission for Aid Impact, London.