Laurel Morrison Email & Phone Number

Washington Dc

Gender Lead for the Africa Trade and Investment Buy-In Mechanism

• Collaborate with country teams, contributing research, analysis, and program and policy recommendations for women’s empowerment to incorporate into country partnership frameworks and systematic country diagnostics.• Co-authored 7 country-wide gender assessments (2 available and 5 publications forthcoming) and 2 gender diagnostic reports on countries in sub-Saharan Africa, employing quantitative analysis and qualitative research to make evidence-backed policy and programmatic recommendations to increase women’s economic empowerment and gender equality.• Co-author report on Gender and Climate Change, synthesizing data and technical subject manner into an accessible and actionable knowledge product.• Contribute GESI components to program design of climate change and economic development projects’ theory of change.• Conducted a public expenditure review and crop-level agricultural value chain analysis using LSMS agricultural datasets and the Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture’s budgetary data to produce gender-equitable policy and fiscal recommendations through a government-facing policy brief and technical note.• Collaborate with the Gender Innovation Lab’s Research Uptake team to produce public and government-facing policy briefs; Conduct econometric research and quantitative analysis using STATA; Create data visualization; Prepare datasets for publication and presentations to disseminate findings and training materials.

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

• Conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses to assess the relationship between social cohesion and violent extremism in the Sahel.• Produce a technical brief outlining Mercy Corps' resilience and gender approaches within the context of the triple nexus of humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding work in fragile and conflict-affected states.

Washington, District Of Columbia, United States

• Conduct competitive landscape analysis of social venture and impact investing to help guide Save the Children programming in the future. • Produced internal and external communications regarding social venture programming and impact investment.

Nigeria

• Performed role of Field Coordinator for the Women Entrepreneurs Financial Inclusion Nigeria project, which is focused on creating or building up SME loan products designed to be more accessible to women entrepreneurs• Perform preliminarily landscape analysis of financial institutions in Nigeria to assess potential partnerships in the We-Fi project• Represent the World Bank in partnership and planning meetings with financial institutions in Nigeria while coordinating with the World Bank team in Washington, DC• Contribute to the design of a first stage diagnostic which included both qualitative and quantitative inputs from both financial institutions as well as current and potential female SME loan customers • Contribute to the design of a rigorous impact evaluation to measure the effect of new SME loan products on women entrepreneurs• Perform a literature review of SME and financial inclusion literature to inform the design of the impact evaluation

Chevy Chase, Md

• Oversee project operations of 19 global/international projects in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the home office with attention to day-to-day management support for team members and responding to immediate needs for input and review and directly supervise 2 staff members• Lead and manage the division’s project start-ups, including; start-up for a 5 year, $55 million USAID Health Systems Strengthening project in Uganda; startup for a 5 year, $20 million USAID Health Systems Strengthening/TB project in Uganda • Lead and manage the division’s close-outs, including; close-out for a 5 year, $38 million USAID Community Nutrition and Health project in Guatemala; close-out for a 7 year, $84 million USAID Health Systems Strengthening, HIV/AIDS project in Uganda; close-out for an $11 million USAID Maternal, Newborn and Child Health project in Benin• Manage a time and materials contract for an MCC education project in Guatemala• Design, create, and implement, a database of project operational information for the division to include all leases, insurance, banking, contractual and donor reporting information• Collaborate with and support field offices to ensure compliance with corporate policies and procedures, as well as donor organizations and participate in the generation and implementation of Standard Operating Procedures in compliance with donors and other supporting teams at the corporate level• Member of URC’s cross divisional Fiend Office Improvement Team, responsible for the development and implementation of company policies• Lead the coordination and development of divisional project portfolio reviews and participate in new business development efforts

Monrovia, Liberia

• Manage, train and mentor organization employees to develop capacity in job related skills, conduct training of trainers, and manage African Rain’s employee scholarship program• Manage multiple rainwater harvesting projects in the field as well as in Monrovia; responsibilities include financial management and tracking, materials procurement, logistics, communication with clients, and coordination with contractors• Manage day-to-day business operations, HR responsibilities, contract management, payroll, scheduling, and maintain communication with clients• Develop and implement institutional systems and processes• Lead in proposal development and business development strategies, including building collaborations with organizations providing WASH, in Liberia

Monrovia, Liberia

• Supported management of over 30 employees, including payroll responsibilities for all project staff• Coordinated with subcontractors for projects and ensured contract compliance• Lead logistical coordination and support for the project onsite in remote Liberia• Developed and maintained financial tracker and financial records for the project• Lead admin and human resources efforts for the project• Gathered and submitted monitoring and evaluation data, including field data collection, data analysis, and report writing

Monrovia, Liberia

• Worked in Liberia under UNICEF grant to provide an emergency mental health response to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)-survivors and orphans and vulnerable children affected by the Ebola epidemic• Supported monitoring and evaluation efforts working closely with the upper management, data officer, social workers and project associates, including program quality control and supervised data collection and entry• Supported supervision and training of program staff including staff who were EVD-survivors and work with EVD-affected homes• Conducted regular monitoring visits in the field to assess program quality areas for improvement • Represented Playing to Live International and partnership at key ministerial and coordination meetings in the capital• Conducted and supported capacity building trainings of office staff as well as program associates• Co-facilitated training for job readiness, empowerment and professionalism for all program associates who were female EVD-survivors• Worked with team to prepare for project closeout, including end-line field research and data analysis, and exploring funding opportunities for program expansion

• Lead internal and external coordination of proposal development to secure funding for URC’s work in health systems strengthening, including managing relationships with partners and ensuring compliance with technical, cost, and staffing-related solicitation requirements • Facilitated a weekly Business Development meeting and coordinate between multiple divisions of the company to accomplish various tasks and meet submission deadlines• Participated in every stage of proposal development from early stage tracking of opportunities and mapping partner landscapes to final compliance checks • Developed proposal materials including; past performance references, capability statements, organization charts, and formatting key personnel CVs to comply to clients’ requirements • Researched alternate sources of funding, including foundations as well as U.S. Government • Performed administrative support and program backstopping, such as formatting proposals for submission

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Liaise with key stakeholders in Sierra Leone to explore future programing possibilities• Represent Playing to Live and by speaking about issues and solutions around children and survivors of Ebola in order to raise awareness of the organizations work• Conceptualize and create fundraising materials and marketing strategies to improve donor outreach and increase funding• Support social media and media coverage of the program• Act as Point of Contact between volunteers and Co-Founders to facilitate programing and business development• Assist Program Team with program development and implementation strategies

Magburaka, Sierra Leone

• Researched models and developed the preliminary program design for a nationwide secondary school scholarship program• Co-organized an annual countrywide girls conference; planned learning and empowering activities for 80 girls to participate in throughout the conference• Collaborated to create a Gender Equity Resource book for future Peace Corps Volunteers consisting of over 50 lesson plans and activity ideas• Presented on the topic of student safety in schools across the country, at a Safe Schools Partners conference in Freetown. Conference aimed to foster partnerships between Peace Corps Sierra Leone and NGOs, local groups, and government agencies to create safer school environments through community outreach and education • Taught Language Arts full-time to over a hundred girl students from ages 11-18• Developed and implemented lesson plans on literacy and English as a Second Language for multi-level classes• Created and oversaw activities designed to build self-esteem and self-confidence• Preformed the role of Form Teacher, was responsible for the wellbeing and academic performance of a class of 30 students for the entire academic year• Took on the role of school counselor, created a safe space for the girls to talk about problems they had in school as well as at home, went to students’ homes to speak with their families about problems when necessary• Designed and managed the St. Joseph’s Library Project. Project results included: Wrote, secured and personally managed a grant for over $800 to remodel the school library, this included organizing stakeholders to identify and allocate a mandatory 25% community contribution to grant funds; Oversaw and organized the logistics of multiple construction projects involved in the remodel; Conducted a training of trainers for the teach

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Created and catalogued a database of historical documents regarding and affecting voting rights• Assisted with researching historical precedents for voting rights legislation in the Library of Congress• Provided administrative support in a fast-paced office environment

Trang, Thailand

• Taught English as a foreign language to over 50 Thai children aged 5-13, • Developed and utilized creative lesson plans • Worked cohesively with the Thai teachers

Master Of Science - Ms, Global Human Development

Bachelor'S Degree International Studies, International/Global Studies