BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative welcomes Claire Hutchings as Director of Monitoring, Evidence, and Learning & Paul Taylor as Director of Country Portfolio.
As BRAC UPGI works towards its audacious goals of reaching an additional 4.6 million households over the next five years as part of its new, expanded strategy, we are proud to announce that are team is growing its leadership and has filled two new positions after an intensive global search.
Claire Hutchings will come on to the new position of Director of Monitoring, Evidence, and Learning after years of extensive experience in the field. Prior to joining BRAC, Claire led Oxford Policy Management’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning (MERL) Global Team for three years. While her team designed and delivered a diverse range of MEL and evaluation projects, Claire specialized in measurement of complex, hard to measure areas such as governance, resilience and empowerment.
Claire was also program Director for the FCDO-funded ‘Strengthening Evidence use for Development Impact (SEDI) Programme’, a multi-million pound program working in partnership with governments to strengthen evidence informed policy-making.
Before OPM, Claire worked for nearly 15 years with Oxfam Great Britain, most recently as Head of Program Quality where she was responsible for the leadership and development of Oxfam’s innovative Global Performance Framework, which supported the organization to measure and communicate the breadth and impact of its diverse global program portfolio.
Claire Hutchings has been involved in measurement, evaluation, and learning in international development for nearly 20 years, leading large global teams across the full program and policy cycle – from evidence informed program design, to monitoring and adaptive management, to research and learning, as well all types of evaluation.
She is passionate about the role that evidence generation and use play in development and believes they can be powerful drivers of progress – supporting us to work with intention, curiosity, and humility.Claire will oversee the development and implementation of BRAC UPGI’s MEL strategy and the MEL team.
Prior to joining BRAC, Paul worked for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) for 23 years. For the past 17 years, Paul was IRC’s Regional Vice President for West Africa, managing a diverse humanitarian and development portfolio in Libera, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon. Paul also managed IRC’s programs in Tanzania, Burundi, Central African Republic, Haiti and Colombia during this period.
Before returning to the US, Paul served overseas with the IRC in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Azerbaijan, Rwanda, and Thailand and with the American Refugee Committee as their Country Director, based in Sarajevo for three years.
Paul is excited to join the UPGI team and to help expand the foundational work that has already commenced.
Paul will oversee UPGI’s Country Portfolio, including country engagement strategies and staff.
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