Speakers

Abha leads British Asian Trust’s Social Finance work across South Asia. She is also a founding member of The British Asian Trust and has contributed to its growth and leadership over the last 15 years. Abha was a Fellow of Practice in 2021 and 2022 at the Government Outcomes Labs, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. Before coming to the Trust, Abha was the Chief Operating Officer of the UK India Business Council after five years in the Reinsurance markets in London.

She grew up in Mumbai, India and graduated with a BA in Political Science from the University of Mumbai and a BA Hons in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University. She is currently serving on the Board of Trustees at the London Stock Exchange Foundation and the UK Board of Transform Schools, a non profit focussed on secondary education in India.

Avnish leads Instiglio, a non-profit advisory firm founded to ensure the greatest possible impact from every cent spent to alleviate poverty which has funneled over $500 million to deliver impact through results-based financing projects across Africa, Latina America and Asia.

Avnish formerly worked for MIT's Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), for the World Bank, and as a consultant to a DFID challenge fund. Gungadurdoss holds a MPA/ID from the Harvard Kennedy School, a diploma in performance management for non-profits from Harvard Business School, and a BA in economics and math from Dartmouth College. He was awarded the Echoing Green Fellowship and was elected as one of the "30 under 30" social entrepreneurs for his work with Instiglio. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of Impact.

Since August 2019, Claire DeVries has been First Secretary (Development) and the Team Lead for Education and Gender Equality programming in the Development section of the Embassy of Canada to Colombia. Claire has led the design and approval of the first Outcome Fund for Global Affairs Canada (GAC) - the Outcome Fund for Education Results (OFFER) in alliance with private sector partners and Colombian authorities. In her role, Claire also supports the programming and policy advocacy objectives related to the theme of Gender Equality. Previously, Claire served as a Project Manager and Gender Equality Specialist in Global Affairs Canada to country programs in Southern & Eastern Africa, and Latin America.

Eleanor leads the research agenda of the GO Lab. Her research focuses on innovations in social policy and outcomes-based commissioning. She joined the Blavatnik School of Government in 2016 having previously studied at the Universities of Cambridge and Sheffield. Eleanor’s doctoral research investigated the application of outcomes-based commissioning within the UK Government’s welfare-to-work programmes.

Before moving to Oxford Eleanor gained experience from the policy-maker perspective working as an advisor for the Social Investment and Finance Team in the UK’s Cabinet Office and through collaborative research projects with the Department for Work and Pensions. Her work has been published in a range of journals including Social Policy and Administration and Journal of Social Policy.

James is part of an entrepreneurial policy team with a cross-government mandate, seeking new ways to tackle social challenges such as homelessness, social care and unemployment through cross-sector partnerships.

Louise Savell is Co-founder and Director of Social Finance and jointly leads their international development team where she advises governments, philanthropies and service providers on the design and delivery of social development programmes. She was a 2020 Blavatnik School of Government Visiting Fellow of Practice. She is passionate about driving social impact through rigorous analysis, efficient structures and effective cross-sector partnerships. She has particular expertise in outcomes-based approaches and social investment structures. She co-developed the Impact Bond approach in 2008.

Louise specialises in the development and delivery of new initiatives and has led work in health, education, nutrition, homelessness, financial inclusion and infrastructure in the UK and internationally. Before starting Social Finance, she led the Eastern European programmes of the UK-based philanthropic foundation, Ark, where she worked with government and service providers to accelerate the reform of child welfare systems towards family-based care in Bulgaria and Romania.

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.

Milena Castellnou is Chief Programs Officer at the Education Outcomes Fund (EOF), a hosted trust fund at UNICEF, and co-lead EOF’s Program Team. Prior to joining EOF, Milena was an Associate Partner at Instiglio.

She has extensive experience in the design and implementation of Results-Based Financing (RBF) programs, including the first Social Impact Bond in a developing country, in Colombia, and a $10 million RBF program in employment for the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Government of Morocco. She is currently overseeing EOF’s large scale outcomes fund in basic education in Sierra Leone and leads EOF’s work in skills-for-employment in several countries.

Milena holds an undergraduate and Master’s degree from Science Po Grenoble and an LLM in Public International Law from the University of Nottingham.