DIRECTOR (SOUTH AFRICA)

Inka specializes in helping infrastructure stakeholders think practically through their gender equality and social inclusion challenges and opportunities to ensure they are responsive to change and well-positioned for business opportunities. With a career spanning over 15 years, she has a strong track record of delivering results focused on closing gaps in employment and skills, entrepreneurship, access to finance, productive uses of energy, gender-based violence (GBV), and livelihoods.

Inka has led large women’s economic empowerment programs. including the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) US$4.5m Gender and Energy Program, the Africa Gender and Energy Program covering an over US$10 billion portfolio of generation, transmission, distribution, and off-grid investments, and was the World Bank Gender and Infrastructure lead in the Gender Group. She has a demonstrated ability to build capacity and champion change with governments, the private sector, donors, NGOs, and communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, Central, East, and South Asia, and the Pacific. Inka has lived in numerous locations, including Ethiopia, Senegal, South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. She is the author of various energy infrastructure-focused publications.

Inka holds an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford in the UK, a Postgraduate Degree from the University of Cape Town in Economics and Environmental Management in South Africa.

SENIOR GENDER AND FINANCIAL INCLUSION SPECIALIST (USA)

Nisha Singh has technical experience of more than 18+ years’ in financial inclusion and financial market system development with a gender lens; cross-cutting areas of focus include renewable energy, gender diversity and inclusion, community-based finance, and women’s entrepreneurship development. She has a deep understanding of not just the challenges and constraints that women-led MSME’s face, but also expertise in adopting a systemic approach to addressing constraints across the financial market system.

She currently serves as a lead of the Gender Transformative Solutions Learning theme for FinEquity,  a global community of practice advancing women’s financial inclusion. She also serves as an advisor to CGAP’s Business Models team to support the development of gender-inclusive digital financial business models. In 2021 she co-authored “Addressing Gender Norms for Women’s Financial Inclusion” a Technical guide on how to address normative constraints to develop gender equitable financial market systems. Over the years she has worked with several FSP’s to design products and expand their female client outreach.

Nisha holds a MSc. in Non-profit Leadership Concentration in Organizational Development and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania in the USA and MBA from the University of Hyderabad in India.

SENIOR GENDER AND SOCIAL INCLUSION SPECIALIST (PORTUGAL AND SENEGAL):

Sara has many years of professional experience in international cooperation, in the implementation of projects and provision of consultancy services for public and private entities, mainly in the sectors of access to safe water and access to reliable & affordable modern energy. She has a track-record of gender and social inclusion mainstreaming at policy, program design and implementation level, including development of social inclusion and gender strategies and action plans, development and implementation of pro-poor approaches in utilities, gender mainstreaming in utilities, demand activation strategies targeting different groups, productive uses of energy and women entrepreneurial capacity development, capacity building, and incorporation of gender and social inclusion approaches in viability studies and business model development. Sara is fluent in Portuguese, English, Creoule Guinea-Bissau and French. She has extensive gender experience in various countries across Sub-Saharan Africa including Angola, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Senegal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and The Gambia.

GESI AND INFRASTRUCTURE SPECIALIST AND ASIA LEAD (USA/PHILIPPINES):

Ellen is a development professional with nearly 30 years of experience advancing gender-responsive energy and climate policies and implementing programs in emerging economies. She specialises in energy access and climate resilience through inclusive policy development.Ellenhas a proven track record of influencing high-level policy, developing national action plans, and leading cross-sectoral strategies aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. She is skilled in research, project design, implementation, stakeholder engagement, and GESI mainstreaming. She is also proficient in measuring and reporting on outcomes. Recognized as an effective mentor and results-oriented leader,Ellenhas built and nurtured lasting relationships across various geographies and has successfully led multi-disciplinary teams in complex global settings.

Ellenhas a master’s degree in public policy from Saitama University (Japan) and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of the Philippines. She is currently completing her PhD in international development at the University of Birmingham.

GENDER AND SOCIA INCLUSION (GESI) SPECIALIST (NIGERIA)

Joyce Ahmadu has over 17 years of work and consultancy experience in Africa. She has strong substantive, technical, programmatic, and research skills on GESI in key sectoral areas including health and sustainable economic growth (renewable energy, climate change, extractive and agricultural value chains, and livelihood sub-sectors). Joyce has worked for bilateral, multilateral and development agencies in Nigeria including, Global Affairs Canada, as Gender Technical Analyst/Advisor for 6 years, and with UNICEF as a full-time Gender Consultant.

Joyce has successfully executed gender-related consultancy services to NGOs, UN, and development agencies on women’s participation and social inclusion in agricultural value chains and renewable energy in Nigeria. She has also executed gender-related reviews, analyses, and assessments, developed a gender strategy/plan and gender training manual, and designed and facilitated gender training for development agencies.

Joyce has a post-graduate diploma (PGD) and Masters in Gender Studies from the University of Abuja, Nigeria

GENDER AND FINANCIAL INCLUSION SPECIALIST (USA)

Jennifer Ferreri is an international development consultant with over 16 years of financial sector development work, including gender-responsive financial services, digital financial services, product development, research, process improvement, business and customer strategy, capacity building, facilitation, and project management experience. Most recently, she provided technical support for two programs having a similar scope to Energia. She completed a literature review, key informant interviews and data analysis related to how practitioners and institutions build women’s financial capability, contributing to the Center for Financial inclusion publication, Building Women’s Financial Capability: A Path Toward Transformation. 

For the MEDA INNOVATE project, she helped co-develop case studies and several project learning papers examining the potential of Non-Traditional Finance to promote the adoption of agricultural innovation among smallholder farmers across East Africa and South America.  In her previous work, she has helped international development programs design and deliver activities, providing technical expertise to improve access and usage of financial products in the agricultural and SME sector, with a specific focus on women and youth. She is also highly experienced in capacity building of financial institutions to develop new projects to serve women and youth, as well as better leverage data.

Jennifer holds an M.A. in International Development from The George Washington University and a B.A. in Government from Smith College, USA.

SENIOR GENDER AND SOCIAL INCLUSION SPECIALIST (SENEGAL)

Desiree Zwanck has 14 years of experience in the non-profit and private sectors, focusing on fragile and development contexts on the African continent. She is committed to supporting clients and communities in the identification and management of social risks, impacts and opportunities. Her areas of expertise include women and girls' economic empowerment with a focus on value chains, financial and digital inclusion, rural resilience and community development, natural resource management, and GBV prevention and response.

She is specifically keen on harnessing private sector engagement's power for transformative and sustainable change. Having worked with the IFC, the World Food Programme, IFAD and GIZ, she has extensive experience designing and carrying out complex assessments, stakeholder engagement activities, ecosystem services, as well as strategic social investment and development projects.

Desiree holds a Masters in Gender and Development from the Humboldt University, Berlin.

GENDER AND DATA SPECIALIST (USA/INDIA)

Sharmila Bellur is a sustainable energy professional and is helping developing economies in Africa and Asia make informed decisions on their energy options so that the choices they make today can help them secure a sustainable future. She focuses on access to electricity, and clean cooking solutions, that are sustainable, financially viable, gender-equitable, and data-driven. She is skilled at quantitative and qualitative research, analyzing developments and trends, and shaping policy and currently focuses on propelling Africa towards universal access to electricity by 2030, productive uses of electricity, clean cooking in displacement settings, gender data related to energy access, and debt financing for off-grid solar companies. She brings a holistic approach to energy policymaking that assimilates her experience working at the World Bank, several research think tanks, and as an energy attorney to public utilities.

Sharmila holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, a Professional Program from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, and a Bachelor of Laws from University Law College, Bangalore.