Social Inclusion and Gender Equality Specialist

Jessica Menon, MPP

Jessica Menon, Social/ Gender Specialist

Jessica is a social and gender specialist with over 13 years of professional experience working with multi-lateral donors, private companies, NGOs, and local governments across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

She holds a Master of Public Policy from the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, a Certificate of Refugee and Humanitarian Emergencies from the Georgetown Institute for the Study of International Migration, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Her academic studies focused on development economics, gender in development, gender and development in conflict zones, and econometric analysis.

Jessica has technical experience in the following areas:

Social impact assessment

Gender assessment and analysis

Resettlement action plans

Community-based participatory planning

Policy development

Advocacy and capacity building

Research and results-based planning

Gender costing and budgeting

Impact and outcome evaluation

Monitoring, evaluation, and learning

Project management and oversight

Capacity-building

Areas of her subject matter expertise as it relates to social and gender issues include:

Social and gender assessment of health, agriculture, land, water and sanitation, food security, infrastructure, and mining projects

Livelihoods and economic empowerment

Financial inclusion

Climate change and energy security

Resettlement

Human trafficking, child and forced labor

Gender-based violence and harmful traditional practices

HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health

Women and governance

Jessica is a native English speaker with advanced proficiency in speaking, writing, and reading Spanish, and is proficient in reading French and Portuguese.  She currently resides in Lusaka, Zambia (since March 2014), with her husband and four children. She has professional experience working in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, South Sudan, Yemen, Pakistan, Moldova, Jordan, Lebanon, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Philippines, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. She has resided for at least three months in South Africa, Lesotho, Zambia, Jordan, India, Nigeria, Ecuador, Chile, and Colombia.