Nicolaas Ahmad Heeren is a Project Officer for CCFD-Terre Solidaire in Paris and is the former Director of the International Study Center for Local Development (CIEDEL) at the Catholic University of Lyon, France. Before that he was the Director of Programs and M&T; at Handicap International, a major French INGO. Nick has more than 30 years’ experience as a trainer, lecturer and consultant in international development cooperation specialized in local development in French- and English-speaking Africa and in South and Southeast Asia at local, national and international level. His analysis draws on both vertical and horizontal perspectives of the issues at stake.