Emma Walters

Emma provides support and guidance to ADB operations to engage with CSOs by building ADB’s institutional capacity to share knowledge and collaborate productively with CSOs. She is a management and participatory engagement consultant with 23 years of experience working with international organizations. Over the past decade, Emma worked with ADB on consulting assignments designed to increase civil society participation in ADB operations. This work provides her with a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities for increased ADB and civil society engagement. 

From 2012-2020, Emma worked with the University of Sydney as a project manager and skills trainer on Australian government-funded short-course programs on agricultural research in Africa. She was also executive officer for the Fresh Produce Safety Centre, a civil society organization in Australia focused on food safety. From 2007-2010, Emma was Development Manager, Research, then Deputy Director, Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific at the University of Sydney. Before this, she was Projects Director for the International Federation of Journalists Asia-Pacific, a global trade union federation. She graduated from the University of Sydney in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Industrial Relations. She gained a Master of Evaluation from the University of Melbourne in 2016.