What’s your job here at Itad?
Consultant in the PSD theme
What does that involve?
Designing monitoring frameworks for private sector development-focused programmes and conducting programme evaluations
How did you get into the field?
I became increasingly interested in development studies at university, took a Masters in research methods for development programmes and another one in development studies and development economics, and then ended up in Vietnam working for Mekong Economics, a consultancy which mostly focuses on M&E.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Finding out what works, doesn’t work and why (occasionally) in development programmes. And talking to people who actually do the development, mostly in my case farmers, aggregators, small business owners etc.
What new innovations/methods have you noticed in your sector?
It’s been going on a while perhaps, but a push to fully integrate M&E within programme management and for everyone within a programme to get involved in M&E and to see its value.
Recent highlight/?
Hmm…not sure, is finishing a Value For Money system in Addis a highlight?
Most interesting question you have been asked recently?
For whom should we assess the value for money of an intervention, the British tax payer or Ethiopian citizens?
Favourite place you have visited as part of your job?
Several of the places I have visited for work have been interesting for different reasons – I enjoyed working in Somaliland; the grants being given out by the Somaliland Business Fund were often for very innovative interventions. Somaliland wasn’t my favourite place to visit, perhaps, that was probably Rwanda. Oh, and Ethiopia, I enjoy going there too.
