Renée Speijcken works as a researcher and consultant in the area of governance and accountability at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance of Maastricht University, the Netherlands. She holds a master degree in European Studies and is pursuing her Ph.D. degree. She is specialized in the political, institutional and socio-economic dimensions of development cooperation and aid processes with a focus on governance & accountability. She has been active in this area for more than 10 years, as a researcher, consultant, policy advisor, director and aid worker.

Speijcken’s professional experience comprises long and short term assignments in countries in Latin America, Sub Sahara Africa and in Europe. It includes the implementation of development projects; impact assessments and evaluations of large and small scale aid projects and programs; training & workshops; research & evidence based policy advice both to donors and different groups of recipients. Her current research and consultancy work concentrates on how different donors conceptualize, promote and operationalize or implement accountability as a policy objective in development cooperation (‘accountability promotion’), how this type of aid is conditioned, what incentives it creates, how it interacts with other forms and practices of accountability (formal & informal), how it affects the roles of the different local actors like for example recipient governments, political parties, civil society, formal democratic institutions, media and finally what the limitations and possibilities are for donors to operate in this field. This is also the focus of her Ph.D. research.