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On Think Tanks was founded in mid 2010. It has evolved from a blog into a global platform dedicated to study and support policy research and policy research centres, or think tanks. The members of the On Think Tanks Team and its Advisory Board are spread out across 6 continents!


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series

Latin American Executive Directors

These interviews deal with issues of governance and management, communications, and research from the unique perspective of Latin American think tank leaders. They illustrate the diversity of think tanks and thinktankers in Latin America.
  1. 1

    Nicolás Ducoté, Executive Director at CIPPEC (Part 1 of 2)

    This is the first part of a two-part  interview Nicolás Ducoté (CIPPEC’s co-founder and former Executive Director and General Director). Continuing our effort to keep the knowledge and experience within the organization and to share that experience with other think tanks through our... Read full article
  2. 2

    Nicolás Ducoté, Executive Director at CIPPEC (Part 2 of 2)

    This is the first part of a two-part  interview Nicolás Ducoté (CIPPEC’s co-founder and former Executive Director and General Director). You can read the first part here. A think tank is a pulley for transmission: it takes the raw material from the world of knowledge and intentionally... Read full article
  3. 3

    Laura Zommer, Director of Communications at CIPPEC (Part 1 of 3)

    The most complicated thing about communications in a think tank is changing cultures and practices, designing and implementing processes that work and allow overcoming the dichotomy between the seriousness and importance of knowledge and its dissemination. In an effort to keep the knowledge... Read full article
  4. 4

    Laura Zommer, Director of Communications at CIPPEC (Part 2 of 3)

    Supposedly a think tank does not produce knowledge for the pleasure of it, but to modify reality and impact on it. With this objective, not investing in communication is a contradiction Leandro Echt: What do you think are the main opportunities that think tanks currently have to transmit their... Read full article
  5. 5

    Laura Zommer, Director of Communications at CIPPEC (Part 3 of 3)

    There can’t be effective research without communication Leandro Echt: What is the value of evaluating policy impact from a communications point of view? LZ: The value is quite high. At the same time, it’s also a weak point that many think tanks have. Since we do not have all the... Read full article
  6. 6

    A Latin American policy entrepreneur: Orazio Bellettini, Executive Director of Grupo FARO

    Orazio Bellettini is the Executive Director of Grupo FARO, an Ecuadorian think tank, which he co-founded. He is a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Mason Fellow (2004), Ashoka Fellow, and, since 2008, a member of AVINA's sustainable development leaders network for Latin... Read full article
  7. 7

    Raquel Zelaya Rosales, President of the Board of Directors and former Executive Secretary of ASIES

    Raquel Zelaya is the President of the Board and former Executive Secretary at Asociación de Investigación y Estudios Sociales (ASIES) in Guatemala. offers a candid look at over 20 years of public life at the helm of one of the leading think tanks in Central America. She talks about the relationship between boards and managers, the importance of diversity and promoting women in think tanks, and how to manage and effective leadership transition. The interview is also in Spanish. Read full article
  8. 8

    Javier Portocarrero, Executive Director, CIES (Peru)

    Javier Portocarrero is the Executive Director for the Economic and Social Research Consortium (CIES). He is an economics graduate from Universidad Católica del Perú, where he also studied sociology studies and completed his Master’s studies in economics. He has been Head of the Support... Read full article
  9. 9

    Miguel Pulido, former Executive Director of FUNDAR in Mexico

    Miguel Pulido, former Executive Director of the Mexican think tank FUNDAR, talks to On Think Tanks’ Leandro Echt about his arrival to the executive direction, the initial challenges he faced in strengthening the think tank, the transition and how he intends to capitalize what he learned in for future plans. Miguel offers excellent advice to any current and future think tank director. Read full article
  10. 10

    Fernando Masi, Director and co-founder of CADEP (Paraguay)

    Fernando Masi, founder and director of CADEP, a Paraguayan think tank, talks to On Think Tanks' Leandro Echt about the origins of the centre and the challenges it faces today. Like many other founding directors, he has to steward CADEP into the hands of a new generation of think tank leaders. Read full article
  11. 11

    Martín Benavides, Executive Director of GRADE (Peru)

    Martin Benavides offers a brief yet thoughtful informal exit interview. He discusses his own career path to the top of GRADE, the challenges he faced as Executive Director, and the organisation's transition plans. He pays particular attention to the impact that the Think Tank Initiative has had on GRADE. Read full article
  12. 12

    Miguel Pulido, former Executive Director of FUNDAR in Mexico

    Miguel Pulido, former Executive Director of the Mexican think tank FUNDAR, talks to On Think Tanks’ Leandro Echt about his arrival to the executive direction, the initial challenges he faced in strengthening the think tank, the transition and how he intends to capitalize what he learned in for future plans. Miguel offers excellent advice to any current and future think tank director. Read full article
  13. 13

    Roxana Barrantes, Director of the IEP (Peru)

    Roxana Barrantes, Director at the Institutos de Estudios Peruanos spoke to Leandro Echt about IEP and the challenges that Peru's oldest functioning think tank faces. Read full article
  14. 14

    Roberto Fendt, Executive Director of CEBRI in Brazil

    Roberto Fendt, Executive Director of the Brazilian think tank CEBRI, talks to On Think Tanks' Leandro Echt about his professional career, his motivations to join a think tank, the initial managerial challenges he faced, and the differences with working in the public sector. Read full article
  15. 15

    Damien King, Executive Director at CaPRI (part 1 of 2)

    Part 1 of 2: On Research, Communications and Credibility. Read part 2. Damien King is the Executive Director at the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI), as well as one of its founders. CaPRI, based in Jamaica, is an economics focused think tank, a first for the Caribbean region, as well... Read full article
  16. 16

    Damien King, Executive Director at CaPRI (part 2 of 2)

    Part 2 of 2. Funding challenges and CaPRI´s private sector model. Read part 1. Damien King is the Executive Director at the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI), as well as one of its founders. CaPRI, based in Jamaica, is an economics focused think tank, a first for the Caribbean... Read full article
  17. 17

    Werner Hernani-Limarino and Paul Villaroel of Fundacion ARU

    Last month, I had the opportunity to travel to La Paz, Bolivia, and interview the directors and researchers of the think tanks belonging to the Think Tank Initiative: Fundacion ARU and the Instituto de Estudios Avanzados en Desarrollo (INESAD). With both institutions we discussed what it is... Read full article