Professional Experience:
David Burton is completing an assignment as a Senior Adviser in Agriculture, Food and Blue Economy with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), in the Global Economic Growth Team. This role involves high level policy advice to Governments of various countries. His recent assignments include feeding a family on a 0.5-hectare plot in Zambia and Angola, Blue Economy Policy advice in Ghana, assistance with a $500M+ agri investment in Ethiopia, Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Timor Leste and Agricultural Innovation Centre implementation in Ukraine.
In December 2024 he completed a role with the UK Department of Business and Trade (DBT, formally Department of International Trade), as Sector Director for Agriculture, Food and Drink and Blue Economy, in Africa. In this role he managed the work of experts in 20 African countries, who promoted UK investment and export of goods. He worked with these teams at post, to develop trade deals, tackle barriers to trade and promote investment. He has assisted the achievement of several large high-profile investment and export wins and has helped the DBT staff working in this sector considerably increase their impact and profile.
David has spent over 30 years working in international development, in which time he implemented 91 substantive assignments, and worked in 57 countries. This includes 40 projects implemented for various EU funding mechanisms, and 27 projects for FCDO/DFID UK Government. During this time, he spent a total of 7 years resident overseas as Team Leader and has held the position of Project Director on 63 occasions.
He has significant operational experience and has held senior Board positions in five development consultancies. David is also a highly qualified and experienced international team leader in addition to having considerable experience in land management, agricultural production, high yielding dairy cow production, trade, food security, and rural and community development.
During his career he has successfully led 110 winning bids for consultancy projects totalling over £227M. This includes projects financed by FCDO (DFID), the EU, ADB, AfDB, IrishAid, World Bank, NEFCO, UNICEF, GIZ, World Food Programme, The Nike Foundation, The Ford Foundation, USAID, Global Affairs Canada, UNDP, MCC, ILO, Oxfam, EBRD and the Governments of South Africa, Kenya, Finland, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan.