USAID Report
A key recommendation by a USAID report that was released in June and titled “Emerging Technology and Practice for Conservation Communications in Africa” is for international development agencies to institutionalize good practice in the use of ICTs for Conservation. The report noted that while the conservation community has a wealth of experience in harnessing ICTs and communications among its many members, the distribution of this expertise is uneven.
Credit: Farm Africa
After two decades of civil war and amid a tense truce, the world recently welcomed its newest nation, The Republic of South Sudan. But like many of its Sub-Saharan neighbors did 50 years ago, South Sudan joins the rank of nationhood with a raft of intractable developmental challenges– and the high expectations of 8 million people adds importance to each.
While the slate of challenges at hand are all important for sustained socio-economic development, achieving national food security will be key to the success of the nation. It is a vital part of national security and nationhood. But achieving self-sufficiency in food production and food security will require full transformation of the embryonic nation’s agricultural sector.
Although the sector accounts for the majority of economic activity—33% of the rural population lives on agriculture, whereas 45 % and 12 % are agro-pastoralists and fishermen respectively—the industry is stuck in a pre-industrial form. This is particularly bothersome as new nations must effectively manage their citizens’ expectations–for basic services, jobs and food–to thrive.
However, the country has been unable to provide enough food for the people of South Sudan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005. More than a fifth of the population depends on food aid, and the majority of the country’s food is imported from neighbouring countries, many of which are unstable. This doesn’t bode well for the country, and begs the question: where is the national food policy that would foster sustained food production and security? What should a national food policy for South Sudan entail?
Credit: South Sudan Forum For Public Policy
As I noted earlier, at the heart of any food policy must be the repositioning of the agricultural sector. South Sudan’s agriculture is characterized by subsistence farmers and disproportionate involvement in agriculture and forestry, compared to livestock and fisheries. There ought to be a concerted campaign to educate farmers about the importance of diversifying their crops and exploring opportunities in the livestock and fisheries sector.
This will require the bridging of the information divide. In other words, South Sudanese farmers ought to have improved access to better extension services and information that will sensitize and inform them about markets. ICTs will be useful tools for enabling this and should therefore form a central part of the overall food security strategy for South Sudan. However, the full incorporation of ICTs will depend on improvements in connectivity and access– mobile subscription, broadband access and total internet users are all less than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Nonetheless, traditional ICTs such as radio, which is relatively ubiquitous in South Sudan, may be used as a key first step to offer extension services that tackle issues, including irrigation cycles, pest control, access to seeds, fertilizer, transportation and prices. These services may be provided via a series of regularly aired radio programs and features that capture the voices and interests of the farmers. The use of traditional ICTs and other less advanced but newer technologies are likely to be more contextually relevant and appropriate, compared to high end ICTs. The latest technology is not always suitable. In the long-term, many opportunities to use the latest ICTs will mature. That is to say, they exist now, but the infrastructure in not in place to facilitate their effective implementation for the benefit of the majority.
Here are a few of the ICT opportunities:
Despite the immense scope for growth in South Sudan’s agriculture sector, much depends on the development of indigenous agricultural and livestock research, animal health services, infrastructure (including roads and bridges), and the stability of the regulatory and political environment.
Consistent with the view that the crafting and implementation of bold and strategic ICT policies is key for sustained agricultural development in the developing world, I have pointed out the need for improved policy frameworks in a range of countries. However, it is also important to commend those developing states that continue to make progress in this regard. Tanzania’s national e-government policy is one such example. This policy framework has enabled the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MoWI) to develop a long-term ICT strategy, which includes using GIS, radio and cell phones, to deliver irrigation and water services.
A Guide To Irrigation Methods — Irrigation Systems
The nascent strategy aims to achieve two pivotal things by 2014. First, it intends to help managers and engineers identify areas suitable for and in need of irrigation. The lack of reliable information and poor data collection processes has been a key challenge. To combat this, MoWI’s ICT strategy paves the way for the use of remote sensing and GIS technology to gather information on soil quality and available water resources. According to Daily News Online, Joash Nytambehead, head of the ICT unit at MoWI, says a system has been developed to capture data on all water points in the country. It involves visits to water points where GPS receivers are used to record and later collate coordinates. This is being complemented by efforts to map cellphone and internet connectivity, and access to traditional ICTs such as radio, across the east-African country.
Cellphones are currently being used by field officers to collect and instantaneously relay data on the condition of pumps and the types of crops being grown, which promises to strengthen the planning process. Managers will be better able to make use of GIS and field information to efficiently determine priority sites and the nature of irrigation systems that are needed. This is a major positive development because integrated water management is lacking in Sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the greatest dependence on rainfall, yet home to poor water management procedures and irrigation services.
The second and equally essential aim of Tanzania’s ICT strategy is that it should enable the state to efficiently inform the population about efforts to improve irrigation services. This is crucial because too often great projects flop when intended beneficiaries are left in the dark. The efforts to map mobile and internet connectivity, as well as, access to radio and other traditional ICTs, will allow the state to plot who may be target via the web, text massaging versus radio/TV programs and PSAs. This strategy is also expected to pave the way for streamlining services across offices and departments involved in the project.
While not a panacea, this policy position is a bold step in the right direction. The mix of ICTs that are being used to improve Tanzanian’s access to irrigation services is relevant and culturally appropriate.
Photo Credit: Agricultural Research Service
It may sound a little far fetched for development right now, but using off the shelf components to detect insects by sound could have some important applications in environment, health, and agriculture some day – and these days, “some day” always seems a little sooner than you would expect. This could be important for example in identifying the vector of a particularly virulent emerging infectious disease, or in early detection of and rapid response to an invasive forest or agricultural pest. File it away in the “you never know” drawer.
Or more precisely, swarming micro air vehicles, to create a communications cloud where infrastructure is destroyed during an emergency like an earthquake. SciDev reports on a Swiss innovation that hovers at the extreme end of ICT4D – at least for now. Flying robots could help in disaster rescue – SciDev.Net.
But the same team also produced the awesome SenseFly drone, which costs around 9K and fits in a briefcase. The possibilities for monitoring and mapping for biodiversity and agriculture appear to be endless. Check out the video.
Lest you think I’m a shill for the Lausanne techies, let me take the opportunity to draw your attention to some homebrew options. These won’t create the swarming communications cloud suitable for a major disaster, but a lot can happen.
Grassroots Mapping is a network of technology hackers that use balloon and kite mounted digital cameras in mapping, to serve as “community satellites” – a low cost remote sensing alternative to satellite imagery that can get surprisingly good results. Significantly, the technology is affordable and can be put in the hands of communities for participatory planning, independent monitoring, and access to information – key aspects of our quest for good governance. The Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science is a sister initiative working to develop new technologies for grassroots mappers.
I’ve mentioned Participatory GIS – the use of GIS in community mapping – in earlier posts. PPGIS is a virtual network online consisting of resources and a very active email list to support a peer-to-peer learning network spanning the globe.
So there you have it – we started with a drone swarm and ended up with a kite. The needs of tomorrow (and today) will be well served by one or the other.
As the wise one said, knowledge is knowing that the tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
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Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Director
Mr. Torosyan leads one of the firm’s practice areas as the Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning. He brings 18 years of experience in USAID and other donor-funded project management, evaluation, and consulting roles in more than 15 countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Half of his career was dedicated to delivering development consulting assignments in field offices as Project Director, Team Leader, and Policy Advisor in projects funded by USAID, The World Bank, ADB, UNDP, and EU. The remaining half was devoted to managing USAID-funded projects from the corporate headquarters of development consulting firms in the Washington, D.C. area.
Mr. Torosyan’s technical expertise spans a wide range of private sector development topics, such as the improved enabling environment for trade and investment, firm-level competitiveness enhancement, value chain development, and increasing SME access to finance. He also has in-depth knowledge of public sector governance reform issues, including evidence-based decision-making practices, impact assessment schemes, regulatory convergence with international standards, reform of state-owned enterprises in the energy and other infrastructural sectors, anti-corruption, and improved public service delivery via Govtech solutions.
Beyond his extensive project management and advisory work, Mr. Torosyan has a decade of experience in project performance evaluation and monitoring. He has demonstrated his expertise in Monitoring and Evaluation Lead roles at a development consulting firm in Washington, DC, and as an independent Evaluation Team Leader and Principal Evaluator of multiple donor-funded projects in Europe and Asia.
Mr. Torosyan holds a Master of Advanced Studies degree in International Law and Economics from the University of Bern, World Trade Institute, Switzerland. He was also a research fellow at the University of Muenster, Germany, specializing in institutional economics, which led to a Doctor of Economics degree from the Institute of Economic Research. He speaks Armenian and Russian fluently.
Ms. Brenda Lee Pearson is the Research Director for the Integra-managed USAID Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis Project (LEAP III) and has served as Team Leader for economic growth performance evaluations in Georgia, Kenya, Ukraine, and USAID’s global programs: CATALYZE, EDGE, US-SEGA, Women’s Economic Empowerment Fund. She served as the gender and social inclusion advisor to USAID/India and Indo-Pacific Strategy from 2020-21. She has been Team Leader for democracy, human rights and governance assessments and political economy analyses in Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Guyana, Honduras, Kosovo, Malawi, Romania and Tanzania. She served as global coordinator of nutrition programming for the United Nations World Food Programme, FAO, UNICEF and WHO. Ms. Pearson has provided technical assistance to projects funded by USAID, State Department, Millennium Challenge Corporation, DfID, AustraliaAid, World Bank, and UN agencies in 50 countries, and authored more than 100 articles. Ms. Pearson is the President of Cui Prodest, LLC, a woman-owned small business (www.cuiprodest.org) that partners frequently with Integra. Earlier in her career, she served as Chief of Party in Cambodia, Croatia, Egypt, N. Macedonia, Tanzania and Yemen.
Mr. Levine is a senior new business, project management and private sector development specialist with over 20 years direct experience in the design, oversight and implementation of complex international technical assistance programs, including extensive work in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. He is well versed in private sector development, agriculture, land use planning and international best business practices, with a strong track record for facilitating stakeholder relationships for tangible and practical results. He has a proven track record for impact with USAID, MCC, DFID and other donors, working as both a Team Leader, Chief of Party, or key member of a multi-disciplinary team on both innovative projects and winning proposals. Prior experience as Executive or Practice Area lead who helped grow technical, financial and human capital for firms/clients, including leadership of USAID projects valued at between US$25 – $75 million.
Elizabeth Ferris is Research Professor with the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and an adjunct professor in the Georgetown Law School. From January-September 2016, she served as Senior Advisor to the UN General Assembly’s Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York. She presently serves as an expert advisor to the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement.
From 2006-2015, she was a Senior Fellow and co-director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement where she worked to support understanding and protection of internally displaced persons. Prior to joining Brookings, she spent 20 years working in the field of humanitarian assistance, most recently in Geneva, Switzerland at the World Council of Churches. She has also served as the director of the Church World Service’s Immigration and Refugee Program, as research director for the Life & Peace Institute in Uppsala, Sweden and as a Fulbright professor at the Universidad Autónoma de México. Her teaching experience has included positions at Lafayette College, Miami University and Pembroke State University. She has written extensively on refugee, migration and humanitarian issues, including The Politics of Protection: The Limits of Humanitarian Action (Brookings Institution Press, 2011), Consequences of Chaos: Syria’s Humanitarian Crisis and the Failure to Protect, with Kemal Kirsici (Brookings Institution Press, 2016). Her latest book, Refugees, Migration and Global Governance: Negotiating the Global Compacts, with Katharine Donato, was published by Routledge in 2019. She received her BA degree from Duke University and her MA and PhD degrees from the University of Florida.
Quang Phan has a 20-year track record of performance in running some of the most impactful projects in Vietnam and in the Mekong Region. These projects range from innovation and technology, sustainable public private policy dialogue and regulatory reform, and trade and investment facilitation. As an out of the box thinker, Quang has good judgement and a good sense of humour. He knows how to turn vision into ideas, and ideas into actions and results. He builds high performing teams and networks.
Quang has served as Integra’s Country Director in Vietnam since 2018 and leads the development and implementation of the USAID funded project in reforming PPP regulations and practices in Vietnam. Working with the home office and USAID/Vietnam, Quang has mobilized a team of international and local experts to work with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the National Assembly, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the business community on developing the first PPP Law of Vietnam. The team has built the capacity of a public private partnership committee that advocates for good PPP regulations and practices in Vietnam and piloted a PPP pipeline development tool in two provinces.
Theresa Miles
Director, Business Operations
Ms. Theresa Miles is Integra’s Director of Business Operations and leads contract administrative management and oversees project operations and financial management. She guides the development of effective project operations and financial standards and operationalizing structures for delivery, risk management, reporting, and forecasting. She is also serving as the Operations Manager for the Integra-managed USAID Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis project (LEAP III), a five-year project that supports USAID globally by providing independent high-quality analytical services; strategy and project design; monitoring and evaluation; training; and knowledge management.
Theresa has 25 years of experience in international development and project management in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and South Asia. She has split her career between home office project support and management roles and overseas roles. She excels at organizing and increasing efficiencies by examining operations, analyzing needs, identifying duplication of effort and tailoring policies and procedures to project, organization, and donor requirements.
She has long-term experience in Ghana, Uganda, Madagascar, India, Democratic Republic of Congo and short-term experience in Mexico, Egypt, Mongolia and Tanzania. Theresa holds an MA in International Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and has a general understanding of Spanish and working knowledge of French. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her dogs, antiquing, and refurbishing old furniture.
Ms. Theresa Miles is Integra’s Director of Business Operations and leads contract administrative management and oversees project operations and financial management. She guides the development of effective project operations and financial standards and operationalizing structures for delivery, risk management, reporting, and forecasting. She is also serving as the Operations Manager for the Integra-managed USAID Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis project (LEAP III), a five-year project that supports USAID globally by providing independent high-quality analytical services; strategy and project design; monitoring and evaluation; training; and knowledge management.
Theresa has 25 years of experience in international development and project management in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and South Asia. She has split her career between home office project support and management roles and overseas roles. She excels at organizing and increasing efficiencies by examining operations, analyzing needs, identifying duplication of effort and tailoring policies and procedures to project, organization, and donor requirements.
She has long-term experience in Ghana, Uganda, Madagascar, India, Democratic Republic of Congo and short-term experience in Mexico, Egypt, Mongolia and Tanzania. Theresa holds an MA in International Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and has a general understanding of Spanish and working knowledge of French. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her dogs, antiquing, and refurbishing old furniture.
Penelope is an Associate at Integra, where she supports a variety of USAID and MCC-funded projects. She has more than five years of experience in operations and project management and provides backstopping support on activities. Responsibilities include managing activity budgets, providing logistical support, recruiting, contracts, and travel preparations. Other experience includes data collection, program evaluation, quality assurance, and two years of program implementation in Guatemala.
Penelope holds an MS in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University with a concentration in Prevention, Reconstruction and Stabilization, and a BA in International Affairs from James Madison University. When not working, Penelope enjoys international travel or camping in the amazing US National Parks.
Learning and Evaluation Director
Kethi Mullei is a social researcher and qualitative analyst with over 15 years of experience working in development in Sub-Saharan Africa, primarily East Africa. Her most recent long-term position was with the BMGF CIFF & Hewlett – funded program, HCDExchange, serving as the Learning Lead. She recently joined Integra as Learning and Evaluation Director to support the USAID/Kenya & East Africa Mission.
Kethi is a passionate learner and researcher with a background in global public health and a keen interest in generating evidence on the value of applying simple, replicable yet rigorous human-centered and action-oriented methodologies for optimal application in improving the quality of global health interventions and outcomes in the Global South. She brings a great wealth of experience in health policy analysis & development, protocol & product development (learning agendas, practical guidance), literature/ desk reviews, knowledge management, and application of participatory and one-to-one learning methods in practice (e.g., capturing success stories, appreciative inquiry (AI), outcome harvesting). Having worked for 15 years collaborating with various stakeholders—civil society, research institutions, private sector, and funders/donors—she is an eager contributor to the broad field of global health.
Sarah is an evaluation specialist with broad international experience designing, implementing, and analyzing mixed-methods research and evaluation projects addressing issues in agriculture, food security and nutrition, climate change, women’s empowerment, and the environment. Sarah currently works as an independent consultant to lead and support mixed-method evaluations for USAID, UN Agencies, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. She has supported several Integra activities under the LEAP III project as a data analytics and research design specialist with specific attention to the design and analysis of qualitative data. Recently, she has supported a strategic review of USAID’s Partnering to Accelerate Entrepreneurship (PACE) Initiative, a portfolio performance evaluation of the former USAID Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative, a strategic review of USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) program, and evaluations and assessments in Egypt and Ukraine. She has a dual Ph.D. in Rural Sociology and Human Dimensions of Natural Resources and the Environment, and dual M.S. degrees in Rural Sociology and International Agriculture and Development from Penn State University.
Associate
Meziane is an Associate at Integra, where he supports the MCC-funded Togo project and several other USAID projects. He brings more than seven years of experience working for a global K-12 education non-profit organization where he contributed project management, business intelligence, team management, budget tracking, and recruiting. He is a fluent French speaker and conversational in Spanish and Polish. He holds a BA in Government & Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park. In his free time, he enjoys watching club and international football (soccer) and hiking in the great outdoors.
Technical Advisor – Papua New Guinea
Julienne Kaman serves as the Technical Advisor in Papua New Guinea (PNG) under USAID’s Asia Emerging Opportunities mechanism. Ms. Kaman has spent more than 30 years in the teaching profession, researching and doing consultancies in several PNG universities. She has taken short-term consultancies with the PNG Government and Governments of other Pacific Island countries, namely the Republic of Nauru. Ms. Kaman has also worked with international organizations such as UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, and the Incentive Fund Program of the Australian Government and with international nongovernment organizations in the country, namely, Save the Children Fund and Asia Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE) and with local companies such as Tanorama. As a certified and experienced teacher in PNG, Ms. Kaman has also written several contextualized textbooks in the Social Sciences for teachers and students to use at all levels of education in PNG.
Business Environment Sustainability and Transformation (BEST) Director – Vietnam
Mrs. Hoang Anh Do serves as the Business Environment Sustainability and Transformation (BEST) Director in Vietnam under USAID’s Asia Emerging Opportunities mechanism. Before joining Integra, Mrs. Anh Do had experience holding several positions in the developing world and private sector. She served as Deputy Project Director of USAID/Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative (VNCI), leading three impactful initiatives, including 1) Administrative Procedures Reform of the Government of Vietnam (known as Project 30) by the Office of the Government, 2) Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) for Ministry of Justice and other stakeholders, 3) Public Private Partnership under Ministry of Planning and Investment, and 4) Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) with Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).
She also worked on legal and economic reform in the USAID/Sustaining Technical and Analytical Resources (STAR) project, which helped the State Bank of Vietnam, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Post and Telematics, the State Audit, different committees of the National Assembly to overwrite Vietnamese legal framework to implement Vietnam commitments under the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement.
In the private sector, she established and chaired health tech, agri-tech, and logistics companies. Her vast experience and network in Government and private sector are valuable for her work to accelerate the transformation of Vietnam’s business environment and sustainability.
Program and Business Development Manager
Associate
Kate Fehlenberg is an international development professional with over 20 years of experience across a dozen countries. She has designed, managed, scaled, and evaluated small and multi-million dollar programs in Public Health, Agriculture and Gender. With deep experience in coalition building, systematic assessments of new technologies, and strengthening local systems, Kate is uniquely skilled in Scaling sustainable solutions. Kate has worked for NGOs, researchers, and donors at headquarters and the field in over a dozen countries across Asia and Africa; sat on donor and fundraising committees; run hundreds of workshops, and trained and led teams in numerous countries. In her last overseas assignment (2015-2019), Kate managed a $15M USAID food security project across six countries in Africa. She established the SeedAssure Alliance, a public-private coalition to digitize commercial value chains in Africa to improve Ag technologies accessible to millions of farmers. She currently works with Integra as Director of Scaling Innovations, leading assessments of development investments for their market impact and sustainability potential. Kate has an MPH in Population in Family Health and Complex Emergencies from Columbia University, a Master’s in Civil Engineering from Ga Tech, and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Samford University.
Paul Dodds has a JD and over 25 years of experience in development consulting with MCC, USAID, DFID, the World Bank, AUS DFAT and ADB in over 15 countries. He has extensive expertise in legal analysis, policy reform and commercial due diligence, and experience working in AgCLIR analyses in varying capacities, with specific engagements for MCC in Tunisia, Philippines and Benin. In his AgCLIR work for USAID in Liberia, he focused on exploring the possible impacts of regulations restricting access to fresh markets for smallholder farmers and women traders.
Most recently, Paul brought technical expertise to the Integra team working in Bangladesh helping to design a support program for food safety and nutrition, and also on a detailed review of the new Vietnamese public private partnership law, providing background information to encourage the donor support needed for the law to succeed.
Paul studied Economics at Columbia and graduated from Harvard Law School. He spent the first decade of his professional career as a corporate lawyer and general counsel in Boston. He is now based in Little Rock, Arkansas where he owns and manages a growing portfolio of investments in renovated historic homes as his primary occupation. He speaks fluent German, serviceable French, Spanish and Russian and some Khmer.
Ms. Mallory has spent 20 years working with international development consulting firms. She currently serves as Integra’s Controller, and also manages Business Operations for the firm. She is an award-winning United State Air Force retiree who worked in forward locations during Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield. She provided aid to supply officers, transportation commanders, fighter pilots and many more.
Liesl has been an Associate at Integra for nearly two years, providing project management and operations support for USAID-funded projects. She serves as the lead Associate on the Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis (LEAP III) Project, spearheading reporting mechanisms. She manages many aspects from activity start up to close, including drafting concept notes and work plans; recruiting and managing consultants; tracking budgets; organizing field work logistics; reporting on findings; and designing infographics/presentations to disseminate lessons learned. Liesl also provides support to the Asia Emerging Opportunities (AEO) Project and has worked on more than 30 unique activities, serving as the Operations Lead on 16 activities to date. She has also contributed to performance evaluations, such as the evaluations of the USAID/OFDA LAC Regional Disaster Assistance Program and the Power Africa Transactions and Reforms Program. Prior to joining Integra, she interned at the Asian Development Bank North American Representative Office, assisting in outreach efforts with stakeholders and partner organizations.
She holds an MA in International Development Studies from the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University and a BA in Political Science and International Studies from Pepperdine University. She is a 5th degree black belt in Taekwondo and attributes the global sport as first attracting her to the realm of international relations.
Kaitlyn leads Integra’s quantitative analysis and data collection work as the Data Analytics Manager. Prior to joining the Integra team in 2020, she worked in both project management, and programming and analysis of impact evaluations for a number of research-focused non-profit organizations. She has experience designing evaluation plans, managing quantitative data collection work, performing data analysis using Stata, and developing reports and other dissemination tools for internal and external stakeholders. She has spent the last three years living in Nairobi, Kenya and working throughout East Africa. She has worked in many sectors including global health, agriculture, and digital financial inclusion.
Dr. Ruta Aidis is a leading expert in gender and economic development. She has more than 25 years of experience teaching, researching, consulting and publishing in the area of gender, women’s economic empowerment, entrepreneurship, innovation, institutional development and public policy. She is an award-winning author with over 50 published articles, books and reports. Dr. Aidis has conducted multiple gender-related assessments and consultancies for USAID and other international donor agencies. In 2019, she led USAID’s first global gender analysis of the recycling and waste management sector piloting both the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Equality (WE3) toolkit and recommendations for Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) initiatives.
As part of the LEAP III program, Dr. Aidis is serving as the deputy team lead for USAID’s portfolio performance evaluation (PPE) of the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) initiative’s Round 1 funded activities. Previously she acted as the team lead for the 2020 Strategic Review of USAID’s Partnering to Accelerate Entrepreneurship (PACE) initiative.
Dr. Aidis is also a Senior Fellow at the Schar School for Policy and Government, George Mason University and founder of ACG Inc. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Amsterdam, an MA in International Development from the Institute for Social Studies and a BA from the University of Maryland.
Timothy Schur is leading the company into the future by building on a foundation laid by Bob Otto, the founder of the firm in 2010. With more than 30 years of experience in advisory and consulting services, Timothy has filled wide-ranging roles in corporate finance, strategy and innovation, impact investment, business development, and business practice leadership. For the last decade he has been supporting International Development programs and investments for the United States, United Kingdom, and Australian governments as well as direct investments by governments across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Throughout his career, Timothy has been a champion for performance-based contracting, impact investment and capital mobilization, systems enablement and knowledge sharing through technology, and program designs that result in durable solutions for economic independence.
Leading Integra is a return to the small business roots of Timothy’s career where client centric, nimble business solutions deliver impact for the investment stakeholders, beneficiaries and the individuals applying their expertise and experience to delivery. From a vantage point versed in traditional international development investors, cognizant of the capital constraints, and grounded in results measurement as the key to enduring impact; Timothy is positioning Integra as a key resource for government, private sector, and NGO clients seeking to capture and enhance both the financial and social return on their investments into emerging economies.
Mr. Otto has more than 25 years of experience in international development and project management. He is highly experienced in providing consulting services and managing complex projects in private sector development, economic restructuring, and institutional development. Earlier in his career, Mr. Otto served as Chief Private Sector Officer, Financial Analyst, Project Development Officer, and Chief Environment Officer for the US Agency for International Development. Mr. Otto holds a MS in Management from MIT and a MS in Technology of Management from American University.
Mr. David Quinn is Integra’s Chief Technical Officer, where he oversees all company projects and activities. He has 15 years of experience working in international development projects and specializes in managing multiple-country, multiple-activity, mechanisms.
Currently, he serves as the Chief of Party for the Integra-managed USAID Learning, Evaluation and Analysis project (LEAP III), a five-year project that supports USAID globally by providing independent high-quality analytical services; strategy and project design; monitoring and evaluation; training; and knowledge management.
Mr. Quinn has conducted over 80 assignments across 23 countries. His technical expertise includes economic growth, policy and enabling environment reform, private sector engagement (PSE), and public-private partnerships (PPPs). In addition to his passion for international development (and Integra), he is an avid Liverpool Football Club fan.
Dr. Gordon is Director of Development Analytics, as well as Chief of Party for the Asia Emerging Opportunities mechanism at Integra. She is an Agricultural Economist with a long track record in international development. Prior to joining the Integra team, she was with USAID as a Foreign Service Officer from 2005-2019. Her expertise is rooted in monitoring and evaluation, quantitative and mixed methods analysis, and impact evaluation. She has served in a variety of positions at USAID, including as Senior Agriculture and Food Security Advisor for USAID/BFS, Senior Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor at USAID/FFP, and Office Director for the Office of Economic Growth at USAID/DRC. She speaks French, Spanish, and Portuguese with professional proficiency and holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Berkeley.
Kent Ford is a pioneering international development professional with over 25 years of experience in successfully leading and delivering a range of private sector-focused programs in emerging and developing markets. Under the Learning, Evaluation and Analysis Project III (LEAP III), Kent leads Integra’s Middle East Private Sector Engagement Activity supporting the adoption of USAID’s Private Sector Engagement (PSE) Policy in the USAID/Middle East Bureau and associated Missions. This includes inter alia, writing a Strategic Vision for the Middle East Bureau, leading the development of a ThinkPiece envisioning the future of PSE in the MENA region, developing and leading monthly training webinars widely broadcasted throughout MENA and USAID/Washington, and creating an actionable approach to engaging the private sector in the work of USAID.
Kent has broad and proven strategic management and leadership experience as well as economic, political and cultural understanding from having worked in nearly 60 countries. Mr. Ford is a two-time entrepreneur, most recently as co-founder and Managing Director of Global Development Solutions, where he directed the establishment, growth and leadership of a global network of staff and consultants spanning four continents.
Kent co-developed the integrated value chain and market analysis methodology used by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and sovereign governments to rigorously analyze agriculture and non-agriculture value chains to determine areas where foreign and domestic investment, access to finance and technical intervention would enhance the competitive position of entire market systems. He designed and spearheaded regional Trade and Investment initiatives by bringing together governments, private sector actors, NGOs, municipalities and development agencies—an innovative approach designed help businesses access new markets leading to millions of dollars in trade, investment, and market linkages. He has spent a total of eight years living in, working on and leading in-country private sector development project teams in the West Bank/Gaza, Albania, Kosovo, Nigeria and Uganda.
Mr. Townsend is an international expert in ICT policy and economics and the leader of GBI’s Universal Service and Access Fund Support Program. For more than 25 years, Mr. Townsend has been a leading contributor to the evolution of the communications sector worldwide, and has advised governments in more than 40 countries on economic issues and policy options for ICTs. He has been one of the pioneers in the design of Universal Service Funds in numerous countries, and has worked extensively with the World Bank and the UN, among others.
Having joined Integra in 2012, Kimberly has provided technical and operational support for over 20 projects at the firm over the past decade. Currently, she serves as the Director of Operations for Integra’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) portfolio, working alongside technical staff and MCC representatives to ensure projects and deliverables meet client expectations and contractual requirements. She also serves the dual role of Business Development Manager, working directly with the CEO and CTO to pursue, manage, and execute partnerships and proposal efforts. This includes potential opportunities with a variety of USG-funded clients such as USAID, MCC, and the World Bank, among others.
Kimberly also provides operational and technical support on projects. This includes her current role as Operations Manager and Researcher for USAID’s performance evaluation of the U.S. Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, the first government-wide effort to advance women’s economic empowerment. She also provides operational oversight of Integra’s two-year-long engagement with USAID to support Vietnam’s development and implementation of public-private partnerships. In previous positions, she conducted field research for a variety of agricultural, M&E, and political economy activities, mostly in Southeast Asia and East Africa. Her favorite assignment to date was conducting field research for an agricultural market assessment in the Philippines for MCC, specifically focused on the value and supply chains of processed mango products. In addition to interviewing and analyzing data from smallholder farmers, mango traders, and exporters to inform MCC’s investments, mango tastings were a nice perk of the job.
Ms. Ganyapak (Pin) Thanesnant currently serves as the Director of Operations for Integra’s USAID portfolio. She brings ten years of experience in project management and operations, resource mobilization, and policy and market assessments, specifically in areas of food security and the business enabling environment. She has managed projects and implemented reform efforts across twenty countries in Africa and Asia. She oversees all operations and finances of Integra’s flagship contracts: USAID’s Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis Project III (LEAP III) and USAID’s Asia Emerging Opportunities (AEO). Under both contracts, she ensures rapid responses to rigorous, independent, and high-quality analytical services to USAID.
In just three years of LEAP III, Pin has managed over 50 activities across 30 countries and multiple sectors. In addition to project management, she also provides technical support on activities—most recently, serving as the Policy Expert for USAID’s Bangladesh Agriculture Policy Assessment, as well as the Evaluation Expert conducting an ex-post evaluation of USAID/Zambia’s Production, Finance, and Improved Technology Plus (PROFIT+) program and a mid-term evaluation of USAID/Belarus’ I3 program.
Prior to joining Integra, Ms. Thanesnant worked with Heifer International, managing all funding efforts in East Asia and Southern/East African countries through donor relations, contractual negotiations, and development and review of technical and cost proposals. Prior to this, she worked at Fintrac, Inc., where she was responsible for providing analytical services under USAID’s EAT Project. Pin holds an MA in Public Anthropology and International Development from American University and a BA in International Studies from the University of Richmond.
Brenna Casey joined Integra as an Associate in November 2018. She performs project backstopping for USAID and Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) projects, including but not limited to development of SOWs/concept notes; consultant recruitment and contracting; budget development, reporting and analysis; quality assurance and contractual compliance; travel coordination and logistics; project reporting; and project launch and close out activities. Other responsibilities include contributing to technical desk research and report writing. She also supports new business development, including responding to SSNs and RFIs, and past performance write ups, RFP/RFQ compliance, recruiting and personnel matrices, and coordination with partners and preparation of teaming agreements and cost information for proposals.
Brenna also currently serves as Private Sector Engagement (PSE) Specialist under Integra’s PSE practice area. She serves as Operations Lead for a $1.5M+ PSE Activity under the USAID LEAP III contract, where she works with a team of 12+ consultants in the co-creation and implementation of PSE Action Plans for the Middle East Bureau and nine Operating Units in the region. Activities include Bureau and Mission workshops and trainings, a listening tour, development of Mission PSE portfolio reviews and integration analyses, a PSE thought piece, and remote and in-person private sector outreach. Under this activity, she participated in a 2-week field visit across four cities in Morocco and interviewed private sector actors representing five key sectors, as well as 1-week of PSE brainstorming sessions with USAID/Egypt staff in Cairo for their PSE Action Plan and CDCS. Her favorite experience to date was leading the PSE brainstorming session with the Basic Education technical team in Cairo. As PSE Specialist, Ms. Casey has also provided technical support to the USAID/Egypt 2020 Private Sector Landscape Assessment (PSLA).
Ms. Casey holds a BA in Foreign Affairs and Psychology and a minor in Religous Studies (Islam) from the University of Virginia. She is professionally certified in Project Management from the University of Virginia and the Project Management Institute. She is currently applying to pursue her graduate studies in Washington, D.C. In her free time she loves reading a good book on the Rappahannock River in Urbanna, Virginia.
Isabella Cazier
Operations Specialist
Ms. Cazier serves as an Associate at Integra, providing project management support for the USAID LEAP III and AEO projects, as well as business development support for new opportunities. Prior to joining Integra, Isabella worked on the Programs team at World Learning, managing international youth exchange programs across the Americas. She has worked extensively in Latin America on youth development programs, and credits this opportunity with shaping her interest in international affairs. Isabella is PMI certified, and holds an MA in International Affairs and Development from The George Washington University, and a BA in Anthropology and Russian Literature from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.
Isabella started at Integra in February 2020, and has worked on a range of projects, including the Tiger Matters Knowledge Management events which coincided with World Wildlife Day, the assessment of Democracy, Rights and Governance in the Pacific Islands region and the Mid-Term Evaluation of USAID/Rwanda’s Hinga Weze program. Working at a small business like Integra means that employees have the opportunity to develop professional skills very quickly, and the expertise on the team always leads to fascinating conversations around the virtual lunch table.
Isabella moved around a lot growing up, living in four countries before moving to the United States for college.
Ganyapak (Pin) Thanesnant
Director of Operations
Ms. Ganyapak (Pin) Thanesnant currently serves as the Director of Operations for Integra’s USAID portfolio. She brings ten years of experience in project management and operations, resource mobilization, and policy and market assessments, specifically in areas of food security and the business enabling environment. She has managed projects and implemented reform efforts across twenty countries in Africa and Asia. She oversees all operations and finances of Integra’s flagship contracts: USAID’s Learning, Evaluation, and Analysis Project III (LEAP III) and USAID’s Asia Emerging Opportunities (AEO). Under both contracts, she ensures rapid responses to rigorous, independent, and high-quality analytical services to USAID.
In just three years of LEAP III, Pin has managed over 50 activities across 30 countries and multiple sectors. In addition to project management, she also provides technical support on activities—most recently, serving as the Policy Expert for USAID’s Bangladesh Agriculture Policy Assessment, as well as the Evaluation Expert conducting an ex-post evaluation of USAID/Zambia’s Production, Finance, and Improved Technology Plus (PROFIT+) program and a mid-term evaluation of USAID/Belarus’ I3 program.
Prior to joining Integra, Ms. Thanesnant worked with Heifer International, managing all funding efforts in East Asia and Southern/East African countries through donor relations, contractual negotiations, and development and review of technical and cost proposals. Prior to this, she worked at Fintrac, Inc., where she was responsible for providing analytical services under USAID’s EAT Project.
Pin holds an MA in Public Anthropology and International Development from American University and a BA in International Studies from the University of Richmond. While Ms. Thanesnant has spent over eight years in Washington, D.C., she was raised in six countries before coming to the United States to pursue her undergraduate degree. She is fluent in Thai and English, and conversational in French. She enjoys cooking, swimming, and going on hikes with her German Shepherd, Havana. More details can be found here.