MENLO PARK, Calif. – Alfonsina Peñaloza, an expert in
good government practices in Mexico, will join The William and Flora
Hewlett Foundation in January 2013 as an officer in its Global
Development and Population Program, officials announced today.

Alfonsina
comes to the Hewlett Foundation from her position as deputy director
and interim executive director of Fundación Ethos, in Mexico City, a
nonprofit organization that conducts and disseminates research on public
policy.

At the Foundation’s Mexico City office, she will make
grants to policy research and advocacy organizations that promote
greater transparency and accountability in Mexico’s public sector.

The
work Alfonsina will support is intended to increase openness in public
budgets, making it easier for citizens to hold governments accountable
and improve policies that determine how public funds are allocated for
basic services. That work, in turn, is part of the Global Development
and Population Program’s goal of enhancing conditions for equitable
growth in developing countries.

“Alfonsina’s experience makes her
an ideal person to carry on the Foundation’s grantmaking,” said Ruth
Levine, director of the Global Development and Population Program.
“Through this work, she will support citizens in their efforts to make
government information more accessible and to ensure that funding goes
where it is intended.”

Alfonsina has a bachelor’s degree in
international relations from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de
México in Mexico City, with a minor in international politics. She has a
master’s degree in gender, development, and globalization from the
London School of Economics and Political Science.

Earlier in her
career, Alfonsina served as deputy director of international affairs and
deputy director of social outreach at the Mexican government’s Ministry
of Public Administration in Mexico City. Before that, she acted as
deputy director at the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations in Mexico
City.

“I’m very pleased to be joining the Hewlett Foundation to
continue to work on transparency in government and gender issues to make
my government a more effective servant to its people,” said Alfonsina.
“Although we have come a long way, there is still more progress to be
made.”