CDA works with public and private stakeholders to craft homegrown, future-oriented strategies for the sustainable and inclusive transformation of African economies.
Our Founders
Max Walter
Executive Director
Profile
Max is CDA’s Executive Director. He has led CDA studies on industrial policy, labour markets, entrepreneurship, energy systems, and SME taxation among others, and produced policy papers for Uganda’s Office of the President, Treasury, and other senior policymakers, proposing legislative reforms, sector-level industrial policies, and implementation mechanisms. Max has also led numerous consultancy assignments for major donor agencies and implementers to design, deliver, and review economic development strategies in east and central Africa. Before co-founding CDA, Max worked in the DRC as Programme Manager and Technical Adviser on a large market systems development programme. Max holds an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of York. Originally from Germany, Max has called Uganda home since childhood.
Yusuf Kiranda
Director
Profile
Yusuf is a CDA Director and currently serves as University Secretary (Accounting Officer) of Makerere University. Previously, Yusuf was a Programme Manager with the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung as well as Director of the University Forum on Governance and the Uganda Chapter of the Global Forum on International Cooperation. Yusuf has also consulted on political economy analysis, civil society, political participation, economic policy, and other areas for a wide range of organisations. He holds an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics, where he is a Fellow of the Programme for Africa Leadership, in addition to a BA in Education from Makerere University, where he was the President of the Student Guild.
Michael Mugisha
Director
Profile
Michael is a Director at CDA and an Assistant Lecturer at the School of Planning and Statistics at Makerere University. His research interests centre around political economy of development, value chain analysis, and development economics. Michael has previously worked as a consultant for Uganda’s Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, where he was influential in the review of the 2014/15 Uganda Public Investment Plan and implementation of several of budget reforms. Michael holds an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics, where he is a Fellow of the Programme for African Leadership, an MSc in Economics from London Metropolitan University, and BA in Demography and Population Studies from Makerere University.
Consultancy Services
