Emma is a social development and governance professional with over 20 years’ experience in advisory, research and management/leadership roles spanning a range of issues and sectors, including safeguarding, security and justice, violence prevention, social inclusion, civil society, accountability, women and girls, child and youth rights.
Emma has significant experience in providing technical assistance, and has worked on both short term and longer-term engagements with dozens of projects since joining SDDirect. Longer-term assignments include establishing and team-leading the Safeguarding Resource and Support Hub, a £10 million multi-partner programme to strengthen safeguarding across the aid sector, with country hubs in Nigeria, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Jordan, Syria and Yemen. She was also technical director for La Pepinière programme in DRC, working with adolescent girls in a highly fragile context, supporting a range of action research, learning and evidence products.
Emma has worked independently and within teams to mainstream gender and inclusion into programmes in different sectors – examples include DFID Nigeria’s National Stability and Reconciliation Programme; various country assignments under the VAWG Helpdesk (e.g. Nepal, Malawi, Tanzania); DFID Ethiopia’s WASH business case; DFID Somalia's accountability programme (IAAAP). She served as the technical director on the UN Area of Responsibility Helpdesk for Gender Based Violence in Emergencies, supporting the delivery of dozens of queries by GBV experts across the globe.
Prior to joining SDDirect, Emma worked for DFID for ten years at Whitehall and country-level, and was accredited to the governance, social development and evaluation cadres. Posts include three years in DFID Ethiopia (2011-2014) as advisory lead on the flagship Security and Justice (S&J) programme, as well as leadership of the anti-corruption strategy for the country office. She was also Team Leader/ Senior Governance Advisor leading the S&J team in DFID HQ, responsible for S&J policy, programming, learning and evidence efforts within the Conflict Humanitarian and Security Department (CHASE). She has a strong understanding of, and experience in developing UK government strategy, policy and programming across a number of core areas.
Emma has also worked in the World Bank; in academia; and for a range of International NGOs. With a PhD in mixed methods focusing on youth violence and social capital in Colombia, Emma has a strong track record in research and analysis that underpins an evidence-based approach to her work.
