What’s your job here at Itad?
I’m a consultant working under the Livelihoods and Social Protection theme.
What does that involve?
Quite a lot of things, and it can vary! I’m working on a number of projects across a variety of subjects. In some cases it involves providing guidance and support to implementing partners, while in others it’s more about designing, conducting and managing research for evaluations.
How did you get into the field?
I’ve always wanted to work in development, and sort of naturally progressed towards it through my studies. An undergraduate in Economics, and then a masters in International Development (and a healthy dose of luck!) gave me a springboard into some really interesting research and evaluation roles at ACF and IDS.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The diversity of the work in M&E means it’s rarely boring! I’m always learning about new methods of evaluation and I enjoy contributing to the knowledge base around what is or isn’t working in development. Travelling to and working in interesting and different parts of the world is also definitely one of the perks of the job!
What new innovations/methods have you noticed in your sector?
I’m currently working on an ‘Adaptive’ Social Protection project, which is a really new and interesting area. It’s essentially about how bringing together resources from Social protection, Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction can create something bigger and better than the sum of its parts.
Recent highlight/job wins?
We recently got the sign off on the ENLIB Bangladesh project that we have been working on for the past few years, which has been really interesting to be involved in. We are also now going through the final edits of the ASP baseline report after a great deal of travel for data collection, so its quite satisfying seeing it finally come together.
Most interesting question you have been asked recently?
Why does the sign say ‘roadworks’ when clearly it doesn’t?
Favourite place you have visited as part of your job?
Habiganj in Bangladesh
