Ms. Eva Esselba Mends is an alumna of University of Ghana, Legon, where she studied Political Science with Economics. She has an Executive Masters in Public Administration from GIMPA and has undertaken numerous courses over the years including programmes at Harvard and Duke Universities.
She is a PFM expert and has extensive experience in Economic and Public Policy Formulation and Analysis, Budget Management, Aid Management, Fiscal Decentralization and Social Protection.
She joined the Ministry of Finance, Ghana, as a National Service Person in 1991 and in the past 28 years has risen through the ranks to become Chief Economics Officer. Positions she has held include Head of The Americas Desk in 1998, Head of Budget Development in 2006 and Group Head of Public Financial Management (PFM) reforms in 2013.
As Head of the Americas Desk, she led Ghana’s Technical team to qualify for the 1st Millennium Challenge Account. She was also part of the Technical team that developed and managed the Multi – Donor Budget Support programme.
As Head of Budget Development, she facilitated the establishment of the Fiscal Decentralization and Budget Reforms Unit of the Ministry. She led the implementation of major reforms that include Gender Responsive Budgeting, Programme Based Budgeting, and the development of the Public Financial Management Act.
She served as the first female Director of Budget from May, 2017 to January, 2019 where she most notably coordinated the preparation of the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (LI2378). She was promoted to the position of Coordinating Director, from 2019 to 7th April, 2023 where she illustriously led the implementation of the Ghana CARES programme, aimed at revitalizing and transforming Ghana’s economy.
She is currently the Chief Director for the Ministry of Finance: the second woman to occupy that role in the Ministry of Finance. Ms. Mends believes in constant improvement and loves leading change.
