María del Pilar Garrido Gonzalo is the OECD Director for Development Co-operation.

Before joining the Organisation, between May 2018 and May 2022, Mrs. Garrido was the Minister of Planning and Economic Policy in Costa Rica, responsible for the areas of climate-resilient development, sustainable public investment, public sector reform, and development co-operation policy. Also, in office, she has served as the Deputy Minister of Planning an Economic Policy, and as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor of the Technical Secretariat of the 2030 Agenda.

Prior to this, she worked for 13 years at the country level on locally led sustainable development cooperation projects in Costa Rica, Central America and the Caribbean, and the Latin American region for UNDP, the European Union and the Diputació de Barcelona.

She has also worked for NGOs on multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development, particularly engaging with the private sector and civil society organizations.

Mrs. Garrido is both a Spanish and a Costa Rican national, holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Costa Rica, a MSc in Economics from Trinity College and a MA in Political Science with an emphasis on democratic governance and public policy from University of Costa Rica.