Speakers

Brian is a co-founder of The Delta Fund, a portfolio of impact investments and grants focused on supporting organizations working to improve equity. Brian and his wife Katie co-lead the fund’s focus on poverty alleviation, racial justice and economic justice by helping to scale organizations that improve outcomes for the poor and disadvantaged. He currently serves on the boards for Faith and Prejudice, Upaya Social Ventures and LifeHikes.

Brian is a former Vice President at Facebook where he built high impact teams in strategy, operations, marketing and engineering. Prior to working with Facebook, Brian spent time as an entrepreneur, working at an agency and in product roles at Microsoft. Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy with honors.

Brian and Katie live in Bellevue, WA with their two children.

Charlie is an Impact Bond Specialist within FCDO’s Private Sector Department. She currently leads on outcomes-based financing policy in the FCDO and manages the Development Impact Bonds Pilot Programme, which is generating evidence on the effectiveness and efficiency of the impact bond mechanism in development and humanitarian contexts. She previously worked on Social Impact Bond policy at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, where she supported on the delivery and data management of the £80m Life Chances Fund. Prior to joining the civil service, Charlie specialised in forced migration and asylum processing through her work with the UNHCR delegation in Malaysia and a UK charity supporting survivors of torture.

Christy is an economist who brings over ten years of experience designing and conducting impact evaluations across Africa and Asia. Prior to joining Causal Design, Christy oversaw the technical design and execution of a portfolio of evaluations at IDinsight, with a particular focus in the micro-enterprise, humanitarian and livelihoods sectors. She has also managed several impact evaluations through previous roles at London Business School in Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana and with MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) in South Africa. Christy holds a MPA in International Development (MPA/ID) from Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Dartmouth College.

As Project Manager at Instiglio, Douglas provides technical support and project management to the design and implementation of varied results-based financing instruments. Douglas supported and managed the technical design and launch of the Village Enterprise Development Impact Bond in 2017 and served as Project Manager during its implementation throughout 2017-2021.
Formerly, Douglas was an Analyst at the World Bank, while other previous experiences include USAID contractor management in Washington D.C. and project management with Habitat for Humanity in Guatemala. Douglas holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations & International Economics from Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) and is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Dr Frida Njogu-Ndongwe is the East & Southern Africa Regional Director at IDinsight, based in Nairobi, Kenya. She is a medical doctor, public health specialist, entrepreneur, as well as a development and management consultant. Prior to IDinsight, Frida was the Director of Programs at the Center for Health Solutions – Kenya and a consultant at McKinsey & Company’s Africa Delivery Hub. She served most recently as CEO and co-founder of Afyakit Technologies, a Kenya-based start-up that built and operates a health analytics platform for health managers and service providers. Afyakit Technologies was named by WHO as one of the 30 top innovations with the highest potential for health impact in Africa.

Mara is an Economist and Decision Analyst and holds degrees from Bocconi University in Milan and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research is motivated by a desire to improve decision making in government, with a special interest and extensive expertise in the field of healthcare. Mara is one of the lead developers of the STAR toolkit, a socio-technical approach sponsored by the Health Foundation to improve resource allocation in healthcare organisations.

Mara has worked extensively with managers of the English and the Italian National Health Systems. She has also consulted for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in Ontario (Canada), the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence and the (then) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in England, NATO and the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Winfred Kananu is an Associate at IDinsight, based in the Nairobi office. She supports projects through research, field team management, and statistical analysis. Prior to IDinsight, Winfred worked as a Junior Strategy Consultant where she helped clients improve their operational efficiency and impact. She is also an Economist and a Statistician by training.

Zach Hoins is the Chief Operations Officer at Village Enterprise. During his six years as COO, Zach has been responsible for the vision, design, and implementation of Village Enterprise's adaptive management system, ensuring first-time entrepreneurs in East Africa are empowered with the resources and skills to start sustainable businesses and savings groups. Over the past 6 years, he also led the Village Enterprise team during the Development Impact Bond implementation.

Zach has more than 15 years of experience leading and guiding international development teams. He holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska and an MPS in Community and Economic Development from Pennsylvania State University.