Barry Smith is a Principal Consultant in Social Development Direct’s Governance & Inclusive Societies team. He also Senior Partnership Advisor at SDDirect and Technical Lead on the Plan International/SDDirect Building Equitable Partnerships Initiative. Previously, he served as Co-Director, Technical Team, co-managing the organisation’s consultancy and research staff. Barry is a senior social development and governance professional with over 35 years of multi-sector experience in international development, human rights, gender equality, disability and social inclusion. His career has focused on promoting more inclusive governance and accountable service delivery through stronger civic engagement, active citizenship, multi-stakeholder collaboration and more inclusive, equitable development partnerships. Barry is a skilled writer, speaker and facilitator, adept in the design and facilitation of participatory processes, peer learning and inclusive dialogue.
Before joining SDDirect’s senior staff in 2012, Barry spent much of his life in Southern Africa working for democracy and development. From 2002 to 2010, Barry was Senior Director, Southern Africa, with the Synergos Institute, heading the Synergos Southern Africa Regional Office in Cape Town and serving on the Synergos global management team. Synergos works for systemic change by strengthening collaborative leadership, social justice philanthropy and partnerships to promote equitable access to basic human rights and services. Previously, he was the Director of Development & Public Affairs for CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and served for nearly 14 years as founding Executive Director of INTERFUND (International Consortium for Education, Training and Community Development), an anti-apartheid, democracy-building grant-maker that supported Southern Africa civil society organisations active in the struggle for equality, democracy and development in Southern Africa.
Born and raised in Canada, Barry has a BA (Honours) degree in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario and an MA (Politics) from Warwick University (UK), where he studied as a UK Commonwealth Scholar. He is passionate about social justice and loves books, art, music and nature.
