Helping Create Change that Matters

Passionate about promoting social justice and fostering a fairer, more compassionate society, George is an economist with particular expertise in the area of behavioural economics.  Based in Berlin, he is experienced in working for multilaterals within the UN System and beyond, including the World Bank where he has worked on a range of Country Management Unit products mostly in Africa. He played a central role in the recent, highly successful, strategic review of the World Resources Institute, as well as previous assignments with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and Irish Aid.

George has additional experience and skills in regional and national socio-economic profiling and impact assessment; Geographical Information System (GIS) data mapping; quantitative econometric analysis; qualitative data analysis and mixed methods research; and primary research method. Comfortable working in French, including a strong reading ability.

Prior to joining OpenCities, George worked for London-based Volterra Economics where he produced a report for Transport for London in which the external costs of car use in Greater London were estimated, including emissions costs. The report influences the design of a next generation road pricing system to replace the Congestion Charge. He has also provided socio-economic reporting and impact assessments on development projects in Greater London, such as the residential regeneration of Nine Elms, and he contributed to the design of London Borough of Lambeth’s Employment and Skills Strategy and Affordable Workspace Strategy using socio-economic analysis of labour market trends

George has a First Class Honours degree in Economics from the University of Bristol and received his Master’s in Behavioural Economics from the University of Amsterdam with a final score of 8.5 (equivalent to a Distinction). 

David Norman is a senior associate of OpenCities Ltd and the Director of Global Insight Consulting Ltd. He specialises in helping NGOs and companies to strengthen strategy and partnerships for sustainable development. Additional roles include facilitating the development of strategy, evaluations, policy briefings, speech writing and leadership coaching.  Recent assignments include: a strategic review of The Elders’ first decade, running the process to produce their new 5-year strategy; an independent review of Save the Children’s global partnership with GlaxoSmithKline; and running SABMiller’s contributions at Davos and the World Economic Forum on Latin America (Mexico) and Africa (Cape Town). 

Previously David was a Non-Executive Director at Saferworld and Senior Manager for Sustainable Development Policy at SABMiller plc. He also held senior posts at WWF-UK and worked as Global Education Adviser at Save the Children UK.  He has a BSc (first class) in Natural Science (OU) and an MPhil in Sociology and Politics of Developing Countries (Cambridge).

Claudette Forbes - Senior Associate

Claudette Forbes is a senior associate of OpenCIties Ltd and the Director of CAF Consulting.  She has successfully led the development and implementation of city development, economic development, and holistic local area regeneration programmes and is an adviser to local authorities, central government, non-profits and partnerships. She led work at the Royal Borough of Kingston on developing an employment and skills plan to respond to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the local economy and was academic peer reviewer for the recent Independent Commission on Aid Impact report on UK support for Sustainable Cities. 

Claudette herself grew up in inner city Bristol,  an area of Britain which was the subject of regeneration following race riots in the early 1980s.   Her international experience includes working with the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil to support the development of the City of Salvador’s first City Strategy and serving as peer reviewer for the Independent Commission for Aid Impact's review of Sustainable Cities.

Claudette is an award-winning ceramist as well as an executive coach specialising in leadership.

Elizabeth Molloy  - Senior Associate

Elizabeth Molloy has two decades of international experience in gender, education, social inclusion and organizational reform across Africa, South Asia, and Europe. Her work with OpenCities has included strategic reviews of P4G Partnerships for Growth, the Global Resilience Partnership and the Global Green Growth Institute.

An Irish national, Elizabeth is based in Malawi where she is a director at C12 Consultants. She has advised governments, NGOs, international agencies, and the private sector in The Gambia, Ethiopia, Lao PDR, Malawi, Nepal, South Korea, Fiji, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Sierra Leone. With a strong background in research, evaluation, and technical assistance, she has led multidisciplinary teams on assignments for major donors including FCDO, GIZ, Irish Aid, ILO, UNESCO, the EU, the World Bank, and international finance institutions including IFC.

She is especially skilled in stakeholder engagement, participatory research, training and capacity building, and facilitating organisational change processes.

Elizabeth holds an MA (Distinction) in Education, Gender and International Development from UCL’s Institute of Education and a First-Class Honours B.Ed. from St. Patrick's College, Dublin City University.

She is an film actor and children's storybook narrator in her spare time.