LINNEA MILLS
Researcher/consultant
ABOUT
I’m Linnea (I also go by the names of Dr Mills and Mamma). Thank you for visiting my Website.
Greetings from beautiful Cumbria, England where I live with my husband, three children, dog and cat.
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I have worked as an independent researcher/consultant for the past 17 years for a range of organisations (including international organisations, NGOs, academia and think tanks) on a variety of themes under the umbrella of good governance (including anti-corruption, open government, social accountability, public financial management, and development cooperation effectiveness).
My interest lies in understanding, measuring, and communicating how change happens; from the personal level to the level of organisations, systems, countries, and international institutions and platforms. What motivates change? How are these motivations acted upon? How does the change in behaviour of one actor in a system lead to broader systems change? How can external actors support and catalyse change processes? Finally, how do we measure and communicate the change we achieve? These are the kinds of questions and research angles I’m passionate about.
In my current role as the lead for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) at the GPSA (World Bank’s Global Partnership for Social Accountability), I support evaluators and researchers from across the world to monitor and evaluate change processes that are happening through social accountability. In another role, I’m working with the European Representative to Palestine to help improve the processes through which EU development cooperation agencies work to support the Palestinian Authority.
I’m always open to collaborations and I embrace the chance to work with organisations and people from all over the world.
Apart from offering my thematic expertise, I wish to contribute to making the world a better place through my expertise in policy-relevant research and research design, including policy analysis, project/programme evaluations, evidence assessments, political economy analysis, theory of change, and M&E system development. I'm skilled in a variety of quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods research methodologies and their application.
Education-wise, I have an M.Sc. in development studies and a Ph.D. on the subject of political corruption, both from the London School of Economics, as well as a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. in international economics and politics from Jönköping International Business School, Sweden.
Research portfolio
I specialise in policy-relevant research, including policy analysis, project/programme evaluations, literature reviews, and evidence assessments. I have expertise in a range of topics related to governance and international development, in particular: transparency & accountability, corruption/anti-corruption, public financial management, illicit financial flows, asset recovery, political finance, and development co-operation. Below is an illustration of my experiences per research topic and client followed by a list of my publications.
Research reports
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Florez, J. and Mills, L. (forthcoming) Implementation Gaps in the Transparency, Accountability and Participation Policy Context. Washington, D.C. Brookings Institution.
Davies, N. Mancebo, E. Mills, L., Bhebe, B., Mentor, S. (2023). Midterm Evaluation of Integrity Action’s Sida Grant. Cape Town: Southern Hemisphere.
Mills, L. with Thindwa, J. (2022) Social Accountability for a Strong COVID-19 Recovery. A Review and Analysis of the Role of Civil Society. Global Partnership for Social Accountability. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099545209302225981/pdf/IDU04a5e75580e593044b10bfff054c9280410d5.pdf
Barroy, H., Mills, L. Sparkes, S. and Kutzin, J. (2022). “Budget formulation reforms in health in LMICs”. In H. Barroy, M. Blecher & J. Lakin (Eds.) How to make budgets work for health? A practical guide to designing, managing and monitoring programme budgets in the health sector. Geneva: World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240049666
Lakin, J., Barroy, H., Dale, E., and Mills, L. (2022). “Designing programme budgets in health”. In H. Barroy, M. Blecher & J. Lakin (Eds.) How to make budgets work for health? A practical guide to designing, managing and monitoring programme budgets in the health sector. Geneva: World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240049666
de Jong, M. and Mills, L. (2022). “Monitoring programme budgets in health”. In H. Barroy, M. Blecher & J. Lakin (Eds.) How to make budgets work for health? A practical guide to designing, managing and monitoring programme budgets in the health sector. Geneva: World Health Organization. www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240049666
Pande, S. and Mills, L. (2022). Promoting Transparency, Oversight and Participation in Budgeting during Emergencies. International Budget Partnership. https://internationalbudget.org/wp-content/uploads/Covid-Good-Practices-Synthesis-1.pdf
Datta, A. Lah, J, Mills, L and Tembo, F. (2021). Transparency, Participation and Accountability Landscape Scan. Lima: On Think Tanks. https://hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/TPA_LandscapeScan_English.pdf
Wehner, J. and Mills, L. (2021). Cabinet Size and Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa. Governance 35 (1): 123-141. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12575
International Budget Partnership and INTOSAI Development Initiative (2020). All hands on deck: Harnessing accountability through external public audits An assessment of national oversight systems. Washington, D.C. and Oslo. https://www.internationalbudget.org/wp-content/uploads/ibp-idi-harnessing-accountability-november-2020.pdf
Mills, L. (2019). Making the Budget Work for Ghana: Final evaluation. Washington, D.C.: The Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA). https://gpsaknowledge.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Making-the-Budget-Work-for-Ghana.pdf
Gulrajani, N. and Mills, L. (2019). Fit for Fragility? An Exploration of Risk Stakeholders and Systems Inside Sida. Stockholm: Expert Group for Aid Studies. https://eba.se/en/rapporter/fit-for-fragility-an-exploration-of-risk-stakeholders-and-systems-inside-sida/10816/
Mills, L. (2019). Law vs. Practice: A Review of the Implementation Gap. London: Natural Resources Governance Institute.
Mills, L. (2019). Transparency of loans to Uganda. K4D Helpdesk Report 592. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/123456789/14700
Florez, J., Guerzovich, F., Mills, L., Tonn, J. (2018). From Grievance to Engagement — How People Decide to Act Against Corruption. Unpacking context and causal mechanisms that determine how and why individuals choose to engage in anti-corruption mechanisms. Global Integrity and Transparency International. https://www.globalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/From-Grievance-to-Engagement-How-Citizens-Decide-to-Act-Against-Corruption_Reduced-1.pdf
Mills, L. (2018). Donor support to strengthen public financial management in partner countries: Outcomes, experiences, and ways forward. K4D Helpdesk Report 380. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b6c522f40f0b640b9b9e9c7/Donor_support_in_Public_financial_management.pdf
Mills, L. (2017). Catching the ‘Big fish’: The (ab)use of corruption-related prosecutions across sub-Saharan Africa. Development Policy Review 35(S2).
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dpr.12326/abstract
Mills, L. (2017). Parliamentary transparency and accountability. K4D Helpdesk Report. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.
Mills, L. (2017). Transparency and performance. K4D Helpdesk Report. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies. http://www.gsdrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/083-Transparency-and-performance.pdf
Mills, L. (2017). Barriers to improving tax capacity. K4D Helpdesk Report. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies. https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/123456789/13053
Mills, L. (2016). Decentralisation of Budgeting Processes. London and Birmingham: Department for International Development and University of Birmingham. http://www.gsdrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/decentralisation-of-budgeting-REA.pdf
Mills, L. & de Lay, S. (2016). Legislative Oversight in Public Financial Management. London and Birmingham: Department for International Development and University of Birmingham.
Mills, L. & Wescott, C.G. (2016). Evaluating World Bank Support to Budget Analysis and Transparency. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2846041 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2846041
De Lay, S. Mills, L., Jadeja, K. & Lucas, B. (2015). Public Financial Management Evidence Mapping. Birmingham, UK: GSDRC, University of Birmingham. https://gsdrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/PFMEvidenceMapping.pdf
OECD. (2014). Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: Measuring OECD Responses. Paris: OECD. www.oecd.org/corruption/Illicit_Financial_Flows_from_Developing_Countries.pdf
Gray, L., Hansen, K., Recica-Kirkbride, P. & Mills, L. (2014). Few and Far: The Hard Facts on Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR Initiative).
www.amazon.com/Few-Far-Stolen-Recovery-Initiative/dp/1464802742
Mills. L. (2012). Questionable Assumptions and Unintended Consequences: A Critical Assessment of the International Donor Community’s Fight against Corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa. PhD thesis, Government Department, London School of Economics and Political Science. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/9340516.pdf
Mills, L. (2012). Foreign Assistance and Fiscal Transparency: The Impact of the Open Budget Initiative on Donor Policies and Practices. https://www.internationalbudget.org/wp-content/uploads/Foreign-Assistance-and-Fiscal-Transparency-Final-Report.pdf
Mills, L. (2012). Annotated bibliography on aid transparency. London: Publish What You Fund.
http://www.publishwhatyoufund.org/files/Annotated-bibliography-on-aid-transparency.pdf
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© 2018 Linnea Mills.
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