David Mansfield is an independent socio-economist

David Mansfield currently works as an independent consultant, advising a range of bilateral, multilateral and non-government organisations, including the UK Government, the EC, the World Bank, GTZ, as well as various NGOs on both policy and operational issues with regard to illicit drugs in Afghanistan and on ‘alternative livelihoods’ in particular.

He has fourteen years experience in overseas drugs and development issues, working in each of the major drug producing regions of South and South East Asia, and Latin America. David Mansfield has worked in the design, appraisal, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation, of development and control projects.

Throughout his career he has taken a pro-active approach to the drugs issue, seeking to inform policy development through generating a clearer understanding of the dynamics of the illicit drugs industry and documenting the overlap between conventional development and drug control agendas. He has also undertaken pioneering work in Afghanistan in defining the role of opium poppy in rural livelihood strategies and the dynamics of the farmgate trade in opium since 1997.

His published work has sought to contextualise drugs as a development issue, and in particular has focused on developing pro-poor approaches to alternative development.