Innovative Non-Profit Expands Team for Scaling Poverty Graduation Work in Eastern Africa

The BOMA Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit that implements a high-impact, gender-focused poverty graduation program in the drought-threatened arid lands of eastern Africa, announced the appointment of Erin Lewis as Regional Technical Advisor. BOMA empowers women to establish sustainable livelihoods, build resilient families, graduate from extreme poverty and catalyze change in their rural communities, and is distinguished by a rigorous commitment to data collection, monitoring, and accountability.

Ms. Lewis most recently served as Head of Programming for Catholic Relief Services in Togo, where she assured technical quality across CRS Togo’s programming portfolio and managed relationships with donors, key government ministries, and partners Additionally, she managed a three-year Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILC) project serving over 18,000 people with financial services via CRS’ sustainable Private Service Provider model.

In her role as Technical Advisor, Lewis will report to the East Africa Regional Director and will support high-quality program design and delivery and continuous improvement of BOMA’s poverty graduation model.

John Stephens, Executive Director for the BOMA Project, notes that “Erin’s experience and expertise in the technical aspects of poverty graduation programming as well as her ability to manage relationships with our key stakeholders will be a tremendous asset to our team as we move into the next phase of scaling our model across the drylands of East Africa to reach 1 million women and children by 2022.”

“BOMA’s unique poverty graduation program is deeply respected in the development space for its commitment to supporting high-quality program design and delivery and continuous improvement of its model through monitoring, research and learning,” says Lewis, “I am extremely pleased to be joining this fast-growing team as they are poised to dramatically increase their impact.”

Lewis holds an M.A. in International Political Economy and Development from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, where she received a Distinction in Political Analysis and induction into Sigma Iota Rho (honor society for international studies) and was an Arrupe Fellowship awardee. She also has also done coursework towards a Masters of Social Work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Development Studies from Brown University. Additionally, she served as a Peace Corps/Social Work Community Outreach Service Fellow from 2010-2011.

Lewis will be based in BOMA’s headquarters in Nanyuki, Kenya, with frequent visits to monitor field operations in all the counties where BOMA is implementing their model.

 

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