At Social Impact, we believe that promoting gender equality advances development effectiveness.  We were founded by a woman and today women comprise 68% of our staff and 50% of Senior Management. We are celebrating International Women’s day by highlighting some of the outstanding women on our team and reflecting on our gender-focused work.

Today we’re reminded of the incredible women at all levels of the company who power SI and enable the company to make aid more effective for its beneficiaries. We asked each of these staff members what International Women’s Day means to them.

Pat Hanscom

Pat Hanscom founded Social Impact in 1996 to meet a growing need in the international development sector for services to support development effectiveness.

Shiro Gnanaselvam

As the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Shiro leads the day to day operations of Social Impact. Over the last 7 years she has been instrumental in charting the company’s growth into a successful medium-sized business.

Jacqueline Corr

As a Business Development Recruitment Manager, Jacqueline effectively navigates all aspects of recruitment for SI’s proposals.

Tanya Garnett

As SI’s Chief of Party in Liberia, Tanya leads a collaborating, learning and adapting agenda while providing strategic planning, capacity building and leadership oversight throughout the project cycle and managing the field office.

Jade Lamb

Jade served as a Chief of Party in Bangladesh for SI, and is currently a Senior Technical Specialist in our Strategy, Performance and Learning division, providing technical direction and leadership of assessments including work with foundations.

Rebecca Lawrence

As Vice President of the Program Management Unit, Rebecca expertly oversees the operation of SI’s 11 long-term field office projects which provide monitoring, evaluation, learning and capacity building support to clients.

Dani de Garcia

Over the past 12 years at SI, Dani has contributed to countless projects providing leadership, quality assurance and technical direction to staff, and currently serves at the Senior Director of the Strategy, Performance, and Learning division.

Andini Handayani

Andini works in SI’s field office in Jakarta supporting USAID Indonesia’s MEL project by facilitating organizational changes and integrating the collaborating, learning, and adapting framework into the Mission’s operations.

Julia Kresky

As a Program Associate in the Impact Evaluation division, Julia provides managerial and logistical support to multiple project teams including working with USAID, MCC and Toyota.

Gender at Work: Social Impact’s Gender Analyses in Ethiopia

USAID/Ethiopia contracted Social Impact’s Ethiopia Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Service (EPMES) to develop gender analyses to inform the Mission’s proposed Project Appraisal Documents (PADs). These analyses were conducted to inform the design and implementation of eleven proposed projects, across sectors such as economic growth, WASH, and education. SI’s team was tasked with compiling and synthesizing existing information on the gender landscape including critical issues or opportunities that should be considered in these projects.

The analyses were structured around USAID’s five domains of gender analysis: laws, policies, regulations, and institutional practices that influence the context in which men and women act and make decisions; cultural norms and beliefs; gender roles, responsibilities, and time use; access to and control over assets and resources; and patterns of power and decision-making. For each project, the EMPES team identified gendered gaps in participation, priority areas for intervention, potential risks, and information gaps that would benefit from additional data collection.

After reporting on the main findings within USAID’s five gender analysis framework, the EMPES team provided concrete and specific recommendations for how the individual projects should address the existing gender issues. These recommendations were informed by best practices from strategies and interventions that could be applied to USAID’s projects to further female empowerment and improve gender equality.

EPMES’s presentation of the existing inequalities and influence of gendered structures in Ethiopia can enable the Mission to plan, design and implement the eleven projects with specific gender considerations in mind. USAID/Ethiopia can also operationalize solutions to the issues by incorporating the EPMES team’s recommendations in order to implement even more effective programs.

EPMES’s gender analyses for USAID’s projects in Ethiopia represent just one of many gender-focused projects SI conducts yearly. As a company that works to advance development effectiveness, SI is proud to contribute to projects that recognize the centrality of women in improving their communities. On International Women’s Day, and all days, we thank our staff that work toward gender equality.

Happy International Women’s Day from Social Impact!