The following assignments illustrate Craig's applied research experience analyzing investment risk and opportunity:

• Led applied context analysis for DFAT's flagship climate resilience investment in Vietnam's Mekong Delta (2026), examining dynamics influencing the scalability of inclusive climate adaptive response through a market-systems lens.

• Developed applied PEA tools for market systems analysis, training 25 ACDI/VOCA staff (2024) and 25 Tetra Tech staff (2023) to identify political and institutional risks influencing investment and program design.

• Co-led analysis of counterfeit inputs and aflatoxins in Uganda's agricultural markets (2021–2022), revealing systemic barriers to smallholder farmer productivity and investor confidence.

• Co-led analysis of barriers to safe water access for last-mile populations in northern Uganda (2023), informing the Hilton Foundation's grant strategy and PPPs between the government and utility providers.

• Led localization landscape analysis in Ghana (2024), surveying and interviewing 250+ local organizations to map the donor partner ecosystem and identify opportunities for PPPs and social enterprise investment.

• Co-led baseline analysis and led two follow up analyses of disaster risk governance across 11 Caribbean countries (2022–2024), identifying systemic risks that threaten GDP growth and investment stability in the region.

• Led assessment in the Maldives (2025) linking governance reforms to measures promoting fiscal stability in a market exposed to a sovereign debt crisis.

Additional consultancies addressed topics impacting locally led, financeable solutions to global challenges, including rule of law (Mali, 2025; DRC, 2023; Moldova, 2021), government-civil society relations (Cambodia, 2025), and sustainable financing for transportation infrastructure (Mozambique, 2023). A full list of Craig’s assignments and consultancies is available upon request.

Craig's senior-level experience across applied research, advisory, grants, and training spans 30+ field assignments across five continents, removing aid bottlenecks and producing new evidence on local systems and incentives that inform donor and partner strategy in some of the world's most austere operating environments. For example, he has:

• Led or co-led 13 political economy and context analyses informing $150M+ in donor investments across climate resilience, market systems, governance, rule of law, civil society, and locally led development—facilitating 450+ key informant interviews and focus group discussions globally.

• In close coordination with the deal structuring team, directed the grants facility for USAID’s $130M West Africa Trade and Investment Hub, negotiating and awarding its first $30M in concessional capital that unlocked $275M in private capital and positioned the Trade Hub among the world's top blended finance vehicles by deal volume.

• Advised and provided surge support in the field for Creative Associates International's global portfolio of governance, education, and economic growth programs as an expert in grants and field administration, earning Employee of the Year recognition out of 600+ global staff for redesigning its corporate grants system.

• Served as home office Project Director for USAID's $140M flagship program in Pakistan, overseeing 1,731 field-managed grants valued at $79M across 10 field offices that strengthened community resilience and trust in local government amid regional instability. Spearheaded field start-up of a new subregional component and deployed in acting field roles during critical program transitions.

• Delivered 20+ trainings for 450+ participants across donor missions, implementing partners, and local research teams in applied political economy analysis, adaptive grantmaking, and participatory development methods.

Connect with Craig on LinkedIn for more on his background. His CV is also available upon request.

Based in Bangkok, Craig Grunwald, MPA, is an applied political economist and aid practitioner bridging grassroots development, governance, and impact finance through a global systems lens. He founded Common Sovereignty from 20+ years of experience leading and advising development and social impact programs across 20+ frontier and emerging markets.

With a BA in English and an MPA in International Public Service & Development, his career began with two Peace Corps services in Bangladesh and South Africa, where locally led, context-aware, asset-based approaches first shaped his thinking. That foundation has stayed with him through everything that followed—from managing large-scale USAID-funded grants programs in Pakistan and West Africa, to advising Creative Associates International's global portfolio of governance, education, and economic growth programs as a grants expert, to leading applied political economy analyses, governance assessments, and trainings for foundations, USAID Missions, and their implementing partners as Chief Operating Officer at Adapt Consulting. In the process, he encountered a consistent tension between the compliance-heavy models that often govern traditional aid and the adaptive, market-aligned approaches that transformational social impact in complex operating environments demand—a tension that has only sharpened as the aid sector contracts and the case for catalytic, locally led, and contextually grounded solutions grows stronger.

Craig contributes guest commentary and thought leadership for the Diplomatic Courier global affairs media network. He is also a member of The Expert Network (TEN) for Diplomatic Courier’s World in 2050 think tank/do tank tracking megatrends in technology, geopolitical power, demographics, and the environment. Below are his recent commentaries exploring the intersection of governance, development finance, and locally led solutions to global challenges:

• Multi-track partnerships require incentive-driven evidence (April 2026)

• Patient optimism: A governing principle for impact investing (November 2025)

• A glocal approach to hybrid governance (July 2025)

Craig continues to engage with members of the Thinking and Working Politically Community of Practice, a global network of practitioners and researchers promoting context-aware approaches to development. He is also a member of the National Peace Corps Association and the Pi Alpha Alpha honor society for graduates of public administration.

Common Sovereignty's advisory platform carries his work forward, supporting traditional development actors to navigate the transition while incentivizing partnerships with non-traditional actors to unlock new approaches to social impact. Its proof of concept reaches further, attempting to connect siloed local solutions to shared challenges across a fragmented global system—demonstrating that locally led development, aligned with national policies and global commitments on sustainable development, and financed through catalytic capital rather than aid dependency, can achieve social impact at scale.

Below is more about Craig's experience related to Common Sovereignty's service offerings, his countries of work experience, and recent commentaries reflecting on his collaborations in the field and the future of the social impact space.

Democratic Republic of Congo • Eswatini • Ghana • Mali • Mozambique • Nigeria • Sierra Leone • Somalia • South Africa • Uganda

Meet the Founder

Accomplishments Across Service Offerings

Africa

Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo • Eswatini • Ghana • Mali • Mozambique • Nigeria • Sierra Leone • Somalia • South Africa • Uganda

Asia & the Pacific

Afghanistan • Bangladesh • Cambodia • Maldives • Myanmar • Pakistan • Thailand • Vietnam

Latin America & the Caribbean

El Salvador • Guatemala • Barbados, Saint Lucia, and the wider Eastern and Southern Caribbean Region