Sarah Needler Email & Phone Number

Lexington, Ky, Us

Lexington, Kentucky, United States

Ghana

I led IPA's policy portfolio and monitoring, evaluation, and learning advisory unit in Ghana. Our team 1) identified opportunities to evaluate policies and programs in collaboration with government, donors, and other partners, 2) scaled policies that have been shown to work, and 3) generally promoted a culture of evidence-based policymaking. We helped implementing organizations, governments, and foundations develop M&E systems that support iterative learning for programmatic decision making and improvement. As part of this work, I established IPA's support for the Ghana Ministry of Education to strengthen embedded evidence capacity by working with government officials to develop internal expertise on the use of data and research to support evidence-driven policymaking and the development and delivery of monitoring, evaluation, and learning plans.

Amman Governorate, Jordan

•Established a system of performance indicators to track field team data collection and assess progress towards set survey targets for REACH sector assessments•Led an assessment of access and quality of education in Syria to inform the Humanitarian Needs Overview and joint strategic response planning•Developed and oversaw the management and implementation of survey design, assessment methodology, data analysis, and report-writing•Coordinated data collection for multiple remote teams using ODK and Kobo•Represented REACH with external partners, donors, and the wider aid community through coordination with UNICEF, Save the Children, and the education cluster

Columbia, South Carolina Area

Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab Fellow• Designed and managed all research, monitoring, and learning activities for the agency’s $15M Opioid project portfolio• Supervised 15 staff in the design and quality implementation of opioid initiatives, including pilot projects aimed at finding the most cost-efficient interventions• Oversaw the research design and implementation of randomized control trials to evaluate the impact of interventions to improve healthcare quality by working with external evaluators and researchers at J-PAL North America and partner universities• Established a monitoring and evaluation system for the health policy process and built staff capacity to incorporate research, monitoring, and evaluation into policy making• Incorporated outcome measures and evaluation frameworks into government contracts• Conducted analyses to identify gaps in Medicaid policy using administrative data and developed a set of metrics to measure progress towards outcomes in order to inform project design and scale up• Provided leadership and supervision to a team of six managers in the implementation of process improvement initiatives to reduce Medicaid fraud and abuse

Cambridge, Massachusetts

•Provided teaching support for two courses in the Master of Public Policy Program: Markets and Market Failure (Professor Christopher Avery), Economic Analysis of Public Policy (Professor Jeffrey Liebman)

Tirana, Albania

• Liaised across 5 non-profits, 3 U.S. based diaspora organization, and the Albanian government to promote economic and social development in Southeastern Europe• Developed strategies for leveraging the Albanian diaspora and presented recommendations to the Prime Minister which resulted in the establishment of a Ministry of Diaspora• Assisted in the establishment of the Global Albanians Foundation; a funding model which raised $18,000 in small grants to support 39 non-profit organizations inSoutheastern Europe

Vancouver, Canada Area

•Provided teaching support for two courses in the Economics Program: Principles of Microeconomics (Professor Wai-Ching Kong), Economic History of the United States (Professor Marina Adshade)

Dominican Republic

• Designed and conducted community and organizational diagnostic research including interviews and group discussions to assess the needs and priorities of the community• Provided technical assistance to a coffee cooperative of approximately 200 community members to increase productivity and improve financial management• Developed, implemented, and managed educational programs for over 200 at-riskyouth, focusing on youth entrepreneurship, sexual health, and gender equality• Requested, received, and managed two grants totaling $5,650 to fund the construction of 33 latrines

Muncie, Indiana Area

Facilitated community development for the University Apartments through personal interactions, meetings, and activities

Muncie, Indiana

Determined students’ financial aid eligibility; assisted with grant, scholarship, and loan applications

Master Of Public Administration - Mpa, Development Economics And International Development

Thesis: Building a Capable State: Public Finance Reforms in Georgia Key Coursework: Economic Development, Policy Design, Program.

Master Of Arts (M.A.), Economics

Thesis: Intrastate Conflict and Religion and State Connections

Bachelor Of Science, Mathematics And Economics