Silvia Hidalgo

In a world where we learn the hard way that things can go terribly wrong for people who deserve so much better we have to constantly challenge ourselves and improve response. We must seek positive change and strive to do better. I have learned that good intentions alone are never enough and that we must be accountable for what we set out to achieve but continue to believe and strive to think big.

Good intentions alone are never enough

Silvia Hidalgo is a FRIDE trustee and one of the founders of DARA (Development Assistant Research Associates), an organisation focused on the evaluation and improvement of policy and practice in the area of humanitarian action and development. In an effort to bring innovation to the humanitarian sector and apply practices from other fields to her own, she developed the Humanitarian Response Index in 2007 with the team who developed the Global Competitiveness Index for the World Economic Forum.

She was Head of the ECHO (European Commission Humanitarian Office) sub-office in Sarajevo (1996-1998) and regional Coordinator for the Spanish Red Cross in Central America in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch. Prior to that, she was Desk-officer for Bosnia Herzegovina at ECHO in Brussels (1993-1995).

She has also worked as a Consultant in vulnerability surveys, studies on the domestic violence, rural development, participatory management, disaster prevention and mitigation, and new tools in development assistance.

She has been a member of the European Evaluation Society and the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP).

Areas of expertise: humanitarian action; problems related to migration; and return evaluation of development aid.

Team-Silvia-Hidalgo

We have to constantly challenge ourselves and improve response