Aude Darnal

Aude Darnal is the Founder and Incoming Executive Director of the Global South Policy Hub.

After starting her career in the peacebuilding and development NGO sector in West Africa, she joined the international policy industry as a think tank researcher in Washington, D.C., to inform decision-making and policies affecting communities in developing countries.

After working for a few years on U.S.-Africa relations, she broadened her expertise to the future of global governance, the transformation of the international financial architecture, and development cooperation reform. Her work today focuses on thinking about the future world order and international system that re-centers populations and leadership in the Global South, is equitable, and fosters prosperity for all. 

Aude has experience working on a wide range of issues related to preventing conflict, strengthening civil society organizations and good governance, and supporting women's and youth empowerment, particularly in West Africa. She also has experience in research, strategic communication, and program management.

Prior to this, she founded and led the Global South in the World Order Project — an initiative with the same mission – at the Stimson Center for three years. Previously, she served as an Associate Director at the Atlantic Council’s New American Engagement Initiative and as a mobile safety advisor based in the Lake Chad Basin in Central Africa at the International NGO Safety Organisation, where she monitored and analyzed armed groups’ activities. She also worked in Guinea at Search For Common Ground as a program development and donor relations specialist.

Aude was a columnist for World Politics Review from 2023 to 2025 and is regularly featured in conferences worldwide and U.S. and foreign media — Arté, CNBC Africa, Devex, Foreign Policy, France 24, NHK World, Reuters, RTS, VOA, among others. She also testified before the U.S. Congress House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights in 2021.

Aude holds an MSc. in Conflict Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a B.A. in International Relations and International Law from the University of Quebec in Montreal. She is from Martinique in the Caribbean and speaks French, Creole, and English.