Nick Leffler Email & Phone Number

Wellington, New Zealand

Wellington & Wairarapa, New Zealand

Leading business change and organisational development projects for public sector clients to enhance service delivery and alignment with strategic priorities. Providing monitoring and evaluation services for domestic and international public sector projects Designed and evaluated multiple New Zealand Aid Programme projects.

Sydney, Australia

Managed business growth strategy in the Asia Pacific region, identifying, tracking, and responding to tender opportunities. Provided surge project management support for large projects and managed a number of small interventions. Led the strategic evaluation of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Regional Programme in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Abuja, Nigeria

Senior manager in the Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (NIAF), a DFID programme providing technical advice and capacity development to Federal and State Government partners across Nigeria. Overseeing the strategic management in the Roads, Rail, Climate Change and Effective Cities sectors in NIAF. Responsible for ensuring the mainstreaming of poverty, gender and social inclusion, and climate resilience across sector interventions, and building a body of evidence on the impact of infrastructure development on poverty reduction through developing and managing tailored evaluation studies.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Provided technical input to the scoping and development of a joint UNHCR-World Bank assessment of the drivers and impact of forced displacement in the Lake Chad Basin (Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria).Led a review of the World Bank's Nigeria country lending portfolio to identify opportunities to better support displaced persons and host communities in northeastern Nigeria through redirecting existing funds or designing new targeted operationsSupported the technical design and drafting of a concept for an analytical assessment of lagging borderlands in Sub-Saharan Africa to better understand the dynamics and drivers of conflict and poverty and the inter-related social development and cohesion stresses to better inform World Bank programming.

Philippines

Provided technical inputs to the peace negotiating panels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Government of Philippines (GPH) on territorial waters, land rights and transitional justice to facilitate a convergence in negotiating positionsLed the drafting and coordination between GPH, MILF and donor partners – including JICA, Australia AID, and UN agencies – of a socio-economic development and peace building plan to provide quick-impact stabilization projects that support longer-term sustainable developmentEstablished and led the operational management and work planning of joint UN-World Bank technical advisory facility, with funding from the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, for the MILF to implement the peace agreement. The facility provides on-demand technical advice, support for outreach, and legislative drafting assistance in establishing a new autonomous region in Mindanao.Conducted regular high-level coordination with partners to the peace process – including USAID, CIDA, DFID, the Governments of Australia and New Zealand, and international peace building NGOs – to share information, coordinate projects, and plan joint interventions in support of the peace processCo-authored and edited a joint World Bank – International Organization for Migration (IOM) scoping study on land disputes in conflict affected areas of Mindanao that identified options for supporting more effective resolution of land conflicts Supervised a qualitative and quantitative randomized evaluation of the World Bank’s Community Driven Development project in MILF controlled areas of Mindanao

Afghanistan

Managed a portfolio of DFID and GIZ funded projects in excess of £10 million conducting organizational and policy reform in Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Ministry of Commerce and Industries that aimed to improve the business environment and increase private sector development; managed multiple teams of up to 20 international and local consultants embedded in the ministries Facilitated coordination with donors, civil society and partner government agencies to develop common development strategies that maximize results by exploiting synergies across programsBuilt strong relationships with the recipient Ministers and their senior advisors to ensure effective and responsive delivery; addressed emerging challenges and opposition to reformsOrganized and led study tours and outreach events in the UK, USA and Australia for Ministry officials that developed linkages with counterpart government agencies, educational establishments and private sector representatives

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Planned and drafted country strategies and project documents for emergency recovery, basic service delivery and institutional reform in coordination with client government officials and sector experts in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian Territory Coordinated a rapid country portfolio performance review in Lebanon immediately following the end of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon hostilities to identify opportunities that more efficiently and effectively allocate funding for emergency reconstruction and recovery needsSupervised technical and financial planning and reporting; managed relations with the 25 participating donors of the World Bank Iraq Trust Fund (ITF); represented the World Bank at strategic resource planning meetings for the ITF with donorsPrepared briefing materials, including talking points and speeches, for World Bank senior management in engaging with client countries, donor partners and the media

London, United Kingdom

Provided advisory services and conducted research on strategic market positioning, investments, and mergers and acquisitions for a client base of banks and insurance companies

Washington D.C. Metro Area

Assessed the ability of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to service its debt and the sustainability of potential new borrowing through an analysis of the PA’s debt relative to its macroeconomic performance in the context of the Israeli disengagement from GazaReviewed past and ongoing projects to identify common implementation obstacles to inform best practices for future lending

Msc, Environmental And Natural Resource Economics

Thesis: "Can Land Tenure Security Reduce Child Labour? Theory and Evidence from Guatemala." Analysis of the wealth and substitution.

Ma (Hons), Economics