Speakers

Nicole is an Associate Partner at Instiglio, where she advises governments, funders, and service providers on outcomes-based funding mechanisms and leads the Government Empowerment Network (GEN). Over the past decade, she has designed, implemented, and evaluated results-based financing mechanisms across health, education, institutional strengthening, and poverty reduction in over 25 countries. As global lead of GEN, Instiglio's initiative supporting civil servant champions to drive transformational public reform from within, she oversees strategy and business development, and has co-designed GEN's methodology and shaped its delivery across multiple cohorts, such as in Uganda, Colombia, and Ecuador.

Jonathan is Senior Legal Counsel with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) based in Washington, D.C. He has worked with various USAID portfolios, including Power Africa, the Private Sector Engagement Hub, and the Center for Education. He also served as the Acting Managing Director of the agency’s Innovation Division, which includes USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures team, which applies a tiered-evidence and results-based approach to federal grantmaking.

Prior to USAID, Jonathan was the Global Legal Director of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, an international NGO known for starting the modern social entrepreneurship movement. Jonathan began his legal career at White & Case LLP in New York as a project finance attorney.

He is currently a Visiting Fellow of Practice with the Government Outcomes Lab and also, an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown Law, where he teaches a seminar on social enterprise, impact investing, and the law. He serves on the advisory board for the NYU Law’s Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship, co-leads the D.C. Chapter of the Impact Investing Legal Working Group, and is a vice chair of the American Bar Association’s Public Contract Law Section’s Grant Law Committee.

Dorothy is the Country Engagement and Support Analyst with the Financing Alliance for Health (FAH). She has extensive experience in healthcare financing in Kenya for health programs that have made positive contributions in strengthening health systems and improving better access to quality health services in collaboration with both national ministry of health and county departments.

Since joining Living Goods in 2021, Sarah has served as the organizations project lead on a USAID results-based financing project. Throughout implementation, Sarah has worked closely with project partners and Living Goods project team to ensure successfully execute the project and promote learnings. Prior to joining Living Goods, Sarah was with Heifer international for six years. As Project Manager for the Hatching Hope Global Initiative, co-created by Cargill and Heifer, she oversaw projects in India, Mexico, and Kenya. Sarah has extensive resource mobilization experience with on bi- and multilaterals, corporations, and foundations. Sarah has worked with Global Giving, Creative Associates, and co-founded a non-profit based in Ghana, which worked to engage Ghanaian and American youth around global current events. Sarah holds a Master’s in Public Administration from American University, a Bachelor’s in Political Science from Arizona State University and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP

Mara works on shaping the public sector strategy at the Schwab Foundation for Social Enterprise, focusing on engaging public social innovators, strengthening government partnerships, and advancing public-private collaboration. She also supports the use of data to help stakeholders learn from shared experiences.

Previously, she was Academic Co-Director of the Government Outcomes Lab at the University of Oxford. With two decades of experience, she specialises in applying academic insights to decision-making for social impact, particularly in outcomes-based funding across governments, foundations, and international development.

She is an experienced decision modeller with a strong interest in impact metrics and data-driven decision-making.

Over twenty five years' experience in economic and financial services development. Since 2019 supporting USAID's Development Innovation Ventures program including managing grants in Africa and Asia. From 2014 until 2019 served as a Senior Advisor for Economic Growth at USAID/Kyrgyz Republic. Responsibilities included economic growth project management, budget and strategic planning.

Previously managed customer research initiatives for FINCA International and subsidiary units including large scale quantitative household surveys to measure social performance indicators, customer segmentation and other ad-hoc research initiatives. For two years managed FINCA's 17,000 client micro-credit deposit organisation in Tajikistan, introduced new loan tracking system, pilot savings program and concluded contracts with money transfer agencies. Previously in Azerbaijan worked on a 3 year USAID legal reform and institutional development project to improve access to financial services, including work with banks, MFIs and credit unions.

Served two years as a long-term advisor to CredAgro non-bank financial institution in Azerbaijan including strategic and business development and training to senior management. Prior to CredAgro served as Vice President for Turkmenistan with the Central Asian-American Enterprise Fund for three years overseeing both direct equity investments in joint ventures as well as providing micro, small and medium enterprise credit financing.