Bart Robertson

Bart Robertson is a seasoned socio-economic researcher with more than 13 years of experience conducting policy research and providing design and evaluation services to anti-human trafficking, social protection, and livelihoods programs in Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Africa, West Africa, and the MENA region. He is well versed in applying quantitative and qualitative social research methods across a diverse range of geographies with vulnerable, hidden, and hard-to-reach populations. He has consulted for NGOs, governments, and multilateral agencies including the World Bank, ILO, UNICEF, UNESCO, WFP, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Labor, GIZ, the Asia Foundation, and ActionAid.

Bart currently conducts research on forced labor and child labor in supply chains under an ICF project with the U.S. Department of Labor. Prior to that, Bart served as a senior MEL manager for the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery. In this capacity, he collaborated with 17 implementing partners to design and harmonize MEL activities for 11 anti-human trafficking projects across Kenya, Uganda, India, and Viet Nam.

Prior to his work in the anti-human trafficking space, Bart gained extensive experience designing and evaluating poverty reduction programs. This experience includes providing technical support to large NGOs and governments to implement large scale pilots of BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation Program (UPG).

Bart is currently based in the U.S., but previously lived and worked in Southeast Asia for seven years. During that time, he conducted extensive research on the livelihood and employment opportunities of marginalized ethnic minority groups living in Myanmar’s upland areas. Bart often mentions that while this experience never gave him all the answers to poverty reduction or anti-human trafficking, it did teach him how to ask great questions.

Bart has operated in office environments on four continents and worked with colleagues from a wide range of ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds. This has given him a wide worldview, a talent for finding common ground between multiple stakeholders, and the ability to forge strong working relationships with colleagues and partner organizations. Bart holds a Master of Science in Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Indiana State University.