Leo Spaans is NDI's resident director in Brussels. Previously for the Institute, Mr. Spaans served as resident director for NDI's political party program in Mozambique, and for parliamentary and civil society programs in Malawi. Before joining NDI in 2003, Mr. Spaans worked as a senior consultant with CBE Consultants Mozambique during which time he supported efforts of Mozambican government and non-governmental organizations to develop and implement public sector reform. In this capacity, he was also actively involved in the preparation and execution of a managerial needs-assessment of Mozambican political parties and the design of a strategic planning process for party use.
Before moving to Southern Africa, Mr. Spaans spent a decade working as a policy advisor to both the minister of education and the minister of culture in his native Netherlands. As advisor to the minister of education, he assisted with the development of bilateral programs with South Africa, the Dutch Antilles, Eastern Europe, Indonesia and China. Mr. Spaans earned a degree in modern history from the State University of Utrecht, conducted research for his final thesis in Rome and is fluent in Dutch, French, German, Italian and Portuguese.
