Mark Lowcock, Director General, Country Programmes, Department for International Development, UK

Mark Lowcock is one of the four executives on the DFID Management Board. He was appointed Director General, Country Programmes in April 2008 and is responsible for DFID’s programmes in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Latin America. This includes an annual budget of £2.7 billion, managed by 1500 staff in over 50 countries.

Mark began his career in DFID (formally the Overseas Development Administration) in 1985. From 1992-94, he was Private Secretary to Baroness Chalker, Minister for Overseas Development. From 1994-97, he was Deputy Head and latterly Head of the DFID Regional Office for Central Africa (based in Harare). He then became Head of European Union Department until 1999, before returning to Africa as Head of the DFID Regional Office for East Africa (based in Nairobi). In 2001 he was appointed Director, Finance and Corporate Performance, before being promoted to Director General, Corporate Performance and Knowledge Sharing in 2003. In April 2006 he was made Director General, Policy and International.

Mark Lowcock has a BA in economics and history from Oxford University. He gained a Masters in economics at Birkbeck College, London in 1988, and was then a Graduate Fellow at Boston University, USA, studying economics and business administration (1988-89). He is a qualified accountant and a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.