Consultancy

Areas of expertise

Inclusive urban development, urban planning, participatory planning, public participation, participatory methods, social diversity, urban resilience, poverty and inequalities, slum-upgrading, informal settlements, urban land tenure, urban conflict, intersectional inequalities, inequalities and climate change, social innovation and policy, mass displacement/forced migration in cities, higher education. 

Skills

  • facilitate and mentor collaborative processes to design and establish new sustainable institutions, programmes, and frameworks to address intractable challenges in complex contexts, with a diverse and large number of stakeholders
  • bring together different stakeholders, including local communities, local and central governments, elected politicians, built environment professionals, NGOs, academia, media and private sector.
  • active listener able to quickly identify client’s needs and develop appropriate tailored solutions
  • design and facilitate creative and participatory development of organisational and programme strategies, theories of change, evaluation frameworks, learning processes
  • policy-oriented research and advocacy, evidence gathering for policy making
  • design and deliver participatory research, participatory learning and participatory decision-making processes

Country Experience

Kenya, Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Uganda, Colombia, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, Bolivia, Liberia, Philippines, Zimbabwe, , UK, Ireland, Italy.

Regional expertise of Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

Selected Clients

DFID, UN-Habitat, ICF International, Comic Relief, CAFOD, Caritas Africa, IPSIA (ACLI Institute for Peace, Development, Innovation), Alphasights.

Languages

English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese (spoken, read only), French (spoken, read only)

Profile Summary

  • 19 years of research and consultancy experience in urban development working for academia, international NGOs, and consulting for the United Nations, international donors and government.
  • Driven by a passion for impact and knowledge co-production, setting up new sustainable processes, programmes, institutions by focusing on effective project management:
    • founded and established an urban research centre in Sierra Leone in the post-Ebola context
    • first chair of the board of innovative UK charity and design studio CatalyticAction working with refugee and host populations in the Middle East; helped to set up internal processes and strategy.
    • opened the Kenya office of the IPSIA NGO
    • developed a new professional training course for African professionals with 6,900 participants
    • managed all teaching in the department, including approval of new MSc, a new programme of dissertation fellowships where students do their dissertation in partnership with external organisations, including development NGOs, foundations, consultancies.
  • 12 years at the Bartlett Development Planning Unit, #1 faculty globally according to QS World University Ranking, within one of the universities consistently in the top 10 worldwide.
  • Regular high impact publications in top-ranking journals.
  • 15 years of teaching experience in higher education in 5 countries.
  • Invited to deliver talks in four languages in six different countries.

Download my consultancy CV