Tony Avirgan joined the Economic Policy Institute as organizer of its Global Policy Network in 2000. Formerly he was a communications coordinator of The Development GAP, a non-governmental organization striving to give Southern marginalized groups a voice in economic policy making. Over the course of his career he co-produced and shot several documentary films, and worked as a freelance writer, reporter and film-maker based in Tanzania, covering African liberation struggles and Costa Rica, covering Latin America and the Caribbean. He also worked as editor of Mesoamerica, a monthly publication of political, economic, and environmental news of Central America and Panama.