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Uniting Five Founding Organizations for Impact
The Africa POWER Consortium brings together five leading organizations—AFIDEP, AidData, EconInsight, IDinsight, and Boston University's Global Development Policy Center. Each organization provides unique expertise to drive meaningful collaborative change.
African Institute for Development Policy
AFIDEP is an African-led institution primarily focused on translating research evidence into actionable policies, particularly in population dynamics, health, education, environment & climate, and governance and accountability.
regions
African countries
areas of focus
health, education, environment, and governance sectors
Naa Dodua Dodoo
Dr. Naa Dodoo is the Director of Human Capital Development and the theme lead for Population Dynamics and Demographic Dividend at AFIDEP. Her interests encompass gender and social inclusion issues for women and girls in Africa and internationally and her current work includes research and policy advocacy on managing rapid population growth, the status of women, and SRHR. She is passionate about research making a difference in the lives of individuals and communities through its influence on policy and the way that practitioners carry out their work.
Tabitha N. Ngwira is a Research and Policy Associate at the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP), working at the intersection of research, programme management, and policy engagement. Her focus areas include sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), family planning, gender equality, and youth development, contributing to evidence-informed decision-making that is inclusive and participatory. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political leadership and anthropology and a master of science in Management Studies.
Tabitha Ngwira
Maame Peterson is a Research and Policy Analyst at AFIDEP, who brings her expertise in technical assistance and research to help implement projects that generate valuable evidence for better decision-making. Her role is pivotal in ensuring that research findings translate into actionable insights that can significantly impact communities. Her research interests span gender dynamics and women's autonomy, urban poverty, maternal, adolescent, and child health, SRHR, and demo-economics.
Maame Peterson
AidData
AidData focuses on connecting decision-makers and researchers who share an interest in working together using granular data and innovative tools to solve pressing problems, precisely target resources, and use rigorous evidence to measure the impacts—intended and unintended—of policies and investments.
regions
Africa, Asia, Latin America
areas of focus
​economic, labor, agriculture, health, public policy
Katherine Nolan is a Research Scientist in AidData's Research and Evaluation Unit where she conducts impact evaluations on health, gender, and agriculture projects. She co-leads AidData's Gender Equity in Development initiative, and focuses on bringing AidData's geospatial and research expertise to the gender space. Her expertise lies in household surveys, randomized and retrospective evaluations, data management and analysis, and geospatial analysis.
Katherine Nolan
Rachel Sayers is a Research Scientist at AidData's Research and Evaluation Unit, where she co-leads AidData's Gender Equity in Development initiative. She combines econometric and GIS analysis methods to design and conduct rigorous evaluations with an emphasis on causal identification. Rachel holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Duke University, and her primary research interests are labor markets, human capital, household bargaining, and gender.
Rachel Sayers
Jessica Wells is a Research Scientist in AidData's Research and Evaluation Unit. Jessica conducts research at the intersection of gender and development. She works on projects analyzing land tenure systems and gender dynamics. She is a co-creator of AidData's new Gender Equity in Development initiative, which focuses on bringing AidData's geospatial and research expertise to gendered development research.
Jessica Wells
Divya Mathew
Divya Mathew is the Associate Director of Policy Analysis at AidData, where she co-leads an interdisciplinary team focused on bridging the gap between rigorous research and real-world policy impact. Driven by a commitment to making complex data both accessible and actionable, she leads the design and execution of innovative policy research initiatives. Her work employs mixed methods to evaluate the influence, perception, and impact of foreign financial flows and policy.
Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia University
As the Consortium Secretariat, the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health is dedicated to advancing health and well-being through innovative research, transformative education, and meaningful engagement with communities and policymakers. The department is driven by a deep commitment to human rights, equity, and social justice and is leading the way in developing innovative frameworks and scientific solutions to advance population health and address urgent global challenges.
Mahesh Karra is an Associate Professor of Population and Family Health and the Director of the Program on Women’s Empowerment Research (POWER). His academic and research interests are broadly in development economics, health economics, quantitative methods, and applied demography. His research utilizes experimental and non-experimental methods to investigate the relationships between population, health, and economic development in low- and middle-income countries.
Mahesh Karra
Sarah Vincent is the POWER Post-doctoral Research Fellow since August 2024. Her research interests lie at the intersection of development economics, health economics, economic history and political economy, focusing on gender issues and sexual and reproductive health. Her work integrates theoretical modeling with empirical analysis, using diverse data sources—including surveys, historical records, and randomized controlled trials—to inform policy in low- and middle-income countries.
Sarah Vincent
EconInsight
EconInsight provides economic consulting services, specializing in applying economic analysis to competition, regulation, and policy issues.
regions
Africa, Asia, and Latin America
areas of focus
infrastructure, energy, and public policy
Tigabu D Getahun (PhD) is a lead researcher at the Ethiopian Policy Studies institute, Managing director of EconInsight –center for Development Research. He served as a senior researcher at the University of Bonn from 2015 to 2024. Dr. Getahun obtained PhD degree in agricultural economics from university of Bonn and master’s degree in development economics from University of Copenhagen and BA degree in economics from Addis Ababa University. He has more than 15 years’ of experience and an excellent track record of leading complex data collection and impact evaluation projects. He is widely published in the field of development economics.
Tigabu D Getahun
Melese Sitotaw
Melese Sitotaw is the Director of Operations at EconInsight, where he oversees daily operations and drives strategic initiatives. He is in charge of optimizing processes and fostering a collaborative work environment to support EconInsight’s growth and success. Melese is interested in gender diversity, with specific focus in the higher education and financial sectors in Ethiopia.
IDinsight
IDinsight uses data and evidence to help development organizations make informed decisions, primarily through tailored research and evaluation services.
countries
India, Kenya, the Philippines, and Zambia
areas of focus
health, education, and governance
Valentina Brailovskaya
At IDinsight, Valentina’s main role is to develop/lead/supervise technical components of policy-relevant research projects. During her 5+ year career, she developed a diverse portfolio of projects spanning healthcare delivery, social protection, education, community development, financial inclusion, women’s empowerment, socio-emotional learning in India, Indonesia, Malawi, Zambia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Senegal. More recently she’s been leading the development of the Digital Economy Research Impact Initiative (DERII) and integration of gender lens into research practices. During her doctoral studies, Valentina focused on projects covering infrastructure and financial inclusion in Malawi. Prior to IDInsight, Valentina worked in Malawi on infrastructure and financial inclusion projects. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics with a minor in Mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a PhD in Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is fluent in English and Russian.
T. Arthur Chibwana
T. Arthur Chibwana is an Associate Director of Funder Development and Partnerships at IDinsight, based in Malawi. Arthur leads the Malawi Learning Partnership and helps the government of Malawi to use data-driven approaches to make decisions in social protection to outsize social impact and end ultra-poverty. He also manages evaluation for projects that prevent violence against children in Uganda.
Ebenezer is a research associate at IDinsight, where he works on a diverse portfolio of projects, including impact evaluations, M&E, process evaluations, and implementation advisory. His work spans sectors such as education, livelihoods, gender-sensitive studies, women's empowerment, WASH, social protection, and legal empowerment.
Ebenezer Chulu
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Dr. Sylvia Mwamba is a seasoned economist and development strategist with over 14 years’ experience spanning public finance, policy evaluations, tax policy, and development economics across Zambia and internationally. She currently serves as Associate Director and Zambia Lead at IDinsight, where she steers the organization’s strategy and partnerships to advance evidence-driven development. Dr. Mwamba combines deep research expertise with a strong focus on practical, scalable policy solutions. Her consulting experience includes work with the Zambian Government (e.g. Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Zambia Development Agency-ZDA), as well as international institutions such as the World Bank, UNICEF, UNDP, IDRC, and the African Development Bank, among others. Her recent work focuses on unlocking inclusive economic growth through catalyzed private sector participation, and enhanced productivity in key sectors such as agriculture, as well as identifying effective interventions to sustainably improve livelihoods for Zambians and Southern Africans.
Sylvia Mwamba
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