Brooke Escobar

Brooke Escobar is the Associate Director of the Chinese Development Finance Program team, where she oversees AidData’s efforts to apply the Tracking Underreported Financial Flows (TUFF) methodology to opaque development finance flows. She previously served as AidData's Senior Program and Technology Manager, focused on Chinese and Middle Eastern aid analysis, from 2012-2021 and as a project manager for AidData from 2009-2011. She holds an MA in Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in Political Science from Brigham Young University.

Brooke is the Associate Director of the Chinese Development Finance Program team. With her team, she focuses on using pioneering methods to track and analyze underreported financial flows from non-traditional donors to developing countries. In particular, she manages data collection, research, and analysis across AidData’s China Development Finance Program and the Middle East research team to better understand aid allocation trends and patterns from these donors.

Brooke has over twelve years of experience working with development finance data. Previously, as AidData's Senior Program and Technology Manager, she focused on Chinese and Middle Eastern aid analysis from 2012-2021. While a graduate research assistant at the University of Texas at Austin, she worked with Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS), supporting the design and implementation of a CCAPS research project on democracy and governance aid efficacy. Before graduate school, Brooke served  from 2009-2011 as a Project Manager for AidData’s operations and data products.