Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn is a senior governance advisor within RTI’s International Development Group. Mr. Dunn is a seasoned technical expert with experience in multiple areas of international development. His recent work includes business development, technical development, program evaluation, project reporting, public-facing client communications (blogs, presentations, and industry events), mentoring, and capacity building, with a strong emphasis on writing for both internal and external audiences.

His career spans over 27 years across Africa; Asia; Europe and Eurasia; Latin American and the Caribbean; and the Middle East and includes implementing and managing projects funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the Swedish International Development Authority, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Open Society Institute. For USAID, he has served as both Rapid Start-up and Acting Chief of Party on large-scale local governance and education sector projects in Indonesia and Iraq.

Mr. Dunn rejoined RTI in 2022, having previously served as Vice President for Water and Economic Growth as well as Vice President for Conflict, Stabilization, Governance, and Growth in the International Development Group. He also served as Technical Director for Governance with Cardno Emerging Markets USA.

With years of industry experience in both project design and implementation, Mr. Dunn brings expertise in service delivery, governance, and resilience, as well as in evaluating, learning, and reporting project successes. A skilled communicator, he has worked to relay results to corporate and donor clients via comprehensive technical and final project reports, issue-specific briefs, and supporting presentations, in addition to authoring blogs for clients focusing on impact and business development.

His fieldwork has focused on technical assistance, capacity building, and the development and use of analytical and projection tools to support reform. As part of this work, he has led surveys, focus groups, and forum programs to promote stronger citizen and civil society organization (CSO) input into local government service prioritization. His sectoral governance work has included substantial emphasis on water, education, health, and other social services.

In addition to being a native English speaker, he speaks and reads basic Bahasa Indonesia and speaks conversational German and Italian.