Jason Olson

Adjunct Fellow

Expertise: Governance reform in developing countries, especially in fragile and conflict affected environments.  In particular areas around citizen empowerment, advocacy, government accountability, improved governance and service delivery in relation to stabilization and security policy, social inclusion and gender.

Jason Olson is Director of Government Reform for GRM International.  He is responsible for the oversight and technical delivery of all GRM governance sector projects globally.  This covers projects throughout Africa, Asia and the Pacific region and includes institutional reform, decentralisation, civil society support, elections and political processes, voice and accountability, legislative reform, rule of law and justice sector reform.  Jason also has considerable experience working in fragile and conflict affected environments.

He is a policy and institutional reform specialist with experience in public administration reform; policy development; capacity building; developing budget systems; and legal reforms.   He has designed and implemented reforms for DFID, USAID, the World Bank, the EC and several other multilateral and bi-lateral donors.

He specializes in fragile, conflict affected and transitional states.

In South Africa he worked with Parliamentary leaders to establish the institutions and mechanisms enabling Parliament’s greater participation and oversight of the national budget, which concluded in a new legislative budget process and the granting Parliament the power to amend the budget.  Since 2004, Jason has worked extensively in fragile states, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan where is oversaw projects focusing on centre of government reform, public financial management, economic policy, humanitarian relief, security sector reform and counter narcotics policy.

Jason is also a qualified lawyer and practiced government reform and administrative law for three years in the United States.  Jason graduated the University of California at Berkeley with high honours in 1996, and continued at Berkeley to complete his Juris Doctor in 2000.  He also earned his Master in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.