What Center for Global Development does
The Center for Global Development (CGD) is an independent, nonpartisan nonprofit “think-and-do” tank focused on reducing global poverty and inequality through innovative economic research and strategic outreach. CGD’s work is designed to influence how policymakers and major institutions make decisions that affect poor people in the developing world—using rigorous analysis alongside active engagement with governments, multilateral institutions, donors, and other stakeholders.
CGD is notable for operating with a singular geographic footprint across both Washington, DC and London, UK, and for building or incubating policy initiatives that can move ideas toward implementation. The organization publishes research outputs (including reports and briefs) and maintains recurring policy and measurement tools, including the Commitment to Development Index (CDI), which ranks major rich economies’ policy impacts on development.
Strategically, CGD’s current agenda spans multiple development issue areas (for example, global health policy, migration and displacement, sustainable development finance, education, and market shaping). In addition to research, CGD hosts and/or incubates initiatives such as the Market Shaping Accelerator (University of Chicago and Dartmouth partnership hosted institutionally with CGD’s “market shaping” program), and has incubated initiatives that later launched as standalone organizations, including Energy for Growth Hub and Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP).