Olaf J. de Groot

Senior Economist at the UN RCO for Bhutan, temporarily RCO Bangladesh

Dhaka, Bangladesh

About

Economist at the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office for Bhutan. PhD-educated economist contributing to the socioeconomic development of Bhutan in several ways: - Providing support to the UN agencies active in this area - Supporting Government to achieve its own development objectives - Liaising with development partners in order to optimize the support to the country Specialties: economics, trade, foreign direct investment, value chains, development economics, political economics, economics of conflict, macroeconomics, empirical research, insecurity.

Experience

  • United Nations (6 yrs)
    • Senior Economist
      Jun 2026 - Present · 1 mo

      Temporary analytical support to the UNRCO in Dhaka, in particular around the development of the new Country Analysis, issues related to LDC graduation and the response to the Middle East crisis

    • Senior Economist
      Feb 2024 - Present · 2 yrs 5 mos

      Providing support to the UN Resident Coordinator in Bhutan and to the UN Country Team as a whole, with the objective of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

    • Senior Economist
      May 2022 - Jan 2024 · 1 yr 9 mos

      Providing support to the Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, as the office liaison in Amman, building up relations with key International Development Partners as well as donor governments. Also, providing support to UN DCO for the Arab States throughout the network of regional economists.

  • ECLAC (7 yrs 7 mos)
    • Economic Affairs Officer
      Jun 2016 - Jul 2020 · 4 yrs 2 mos

      As an Economic Affairs Officer at the International Trade and Industry Unit of the Subregional Office for Mexico and Central America of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, I worked on different topics, such as: - Analyzing and strengthening regional value chains in Central America - Researching trade and investment trends in Mexico and Central America - Supporting governments in the development of trade and investment policies - Support international cooperation with regional and global partners

    • Associate Economic Affairs Officer
      Jan 2013 - May 2016 · 3 yrs 5 mos

      At the Division for Production, Productivity and Management of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago (Chile), I worked on themes related to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This involved in particular: - Contributing to ECLAC's flagship annual publication "Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean" - Contributing to various projects, such as one on mining in Colombia funded by GIZ - Working with governments directly to answer requests for technical cooperation, for example with the governments of Saint Lucia and Grenada - Performing research on various themes relevant to the outputs of the division and the organization.

  • Senior Researcher at German Institute for Economic Research
    Apr 2009 - Dec 2012 · 3 yrs 9 mos

    From Jan 2012: Project Leader in project funded by Federal Ministry of Education and Research, looking at the objectively measured level of security (budget>1M€) 2011: Senior Researcher in project funded by the European Commission, looking at European Security Economics. 2009-2011: Project Leader in project funded by German Foundation for Peace Research, estimating the global economic impact of violent conflict (budget>200k€)

  • Bocconi University (Greater Milan Metropolitan Area)
    • PhD Candidate
      Sep 2005 - May 2009 · 3 yrs 9 mos

      PhD Candidate in Economics, having specialised in Political and Development Economics.

    • Research Assistant, Teaching Assistant
      Nov 2006 - Jan 2009 · 2 yrs 3 mos

  • Research Assistant at University of Groningen
    Jan 2002 - Aug 2005 · 3 yrs 8 mos