Sarah K. Thontwa joined IPIS as a researcher focusing on natural resource governance, sustainable development, and conflict-sensitive analysis in Sub-Saharan Africa. A development economist and applied researcher with over 12 years of experience, Sarah has conducted extensive desk and field research on agricultural value chains, investment due diligence, and inclusive growth in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. She has produced structured analyses, policy briefs, and evidence-based recommendations for multilateral stakeholders, governments and local partners across Africa.
She has worked with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), where she supported agricultural policy development at the national level, the design and launch of a large-scale data unit collecting development data and analytics across 145 territories in the DRC, and supported agribusiness initiatives in partnership with the private sector, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the International Institute on Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
She has led international development programs and project evaluations in over six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and in Southeast Asia.
Her recent work includes end-to-end investment due diligence and readiness assessments for the UNCDF-sponsored Blue Peace Financing Readiness Index across eight Sub-Saharan African countries, with a focus on transboundary natural resource governance with Economist Impact (The Economist Group).
Sarah is completing her PhD in Applied Economics at the University of Antwerp, with a dissertation on evidence-based findings and policy making in agricultural value chains, market dynamics and security policies in the DRC. She holds a Master of International Affairs in Economic and Political Development from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) in New York City. She is fluent in English, French, Lingala, with moderate proficiency in Swahili. She enjoys reading, running , and is an aviation enthusiast.
