Our ‘60 Seconds with…’ blogs are designed to provide a quick run down of what our staff do here at Itad. Here is what Stefanie had to say…
What’s your job here at Itad?
Principal Consultant, leading the Organisational Effectiveness theme.
What does that involve?
A range of work, including being directly involved in conducting evaluations, managing project teams, developing proposals for new business, and planning/implementing the strategy for the Organisational Effectiveness theme.
How did you get into the field?
My interest in international development stems from believing that in an increasingly global world, there aren’t boundaries to where we can offer support and help – as long as that help and support is founded in what communities want and need. That belief, combined with an interest in travel and languages, led me to focus my work where I could have an impact, hopefully in a meaningful way, on improving people’s lives.
I came to Itad and the Organisational Effectiveness theme from a background of leadership and management positions in international development NGOs in the health field – primarily working on family planning, reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention. As a user and commissioner of M&E, I understand the value of credible, user-friendly M&E to improve the effectiveness of organisations and programmes. I hope that in my role at Itad, I am able to use my hand-on-experience of running development organisations to help others to be more effective in their work.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The diversity of the work – it’s never boring when you’re working across a portfolio of projects and developing new opportunities. It’s also an exciting time to be at Itad as we are growing as a company – I enjoy being involved in organisational change so it’s a good time for me to have joined.
What new innovations/methods have you noticed in your sector?
A growing focus, and use of, more robust methods to get meaningful beneficiary feedback and really use this feedback to influence programme design, implementation, and modifications.
Recent highlight?
I’m currently part of a team conducting an evaluation of the how Human Centered Design (HCD) can be used to improve family planning services for adolescent girls. Part of the evaluation is looking at what types of organisational capacities are needed to implement HCD. I love that I can bring together my experience working in family planning with the organisational effectiveness focus of my role at Itad.
Most interesting question you have been asked recently?
Would you like to do a 60-second interview? It’s given me an opportunity to reflect on my 8 months at Itad, why I joined and what I’ve been focussing on so far.
Favourite place you have visited as part of your job?
Hanoi, Vietnam – I loved the vibrancy, the food and the hot weather.
