Paula Nimpuno-Parente

Paula is currently an independent consultant who specializes in international and entrepreneurship development, building social and economic assets and increasing financial inclusion and opportunities for women, young people and low-income households. Paula is passionate about helping to develop social policies that are transformative and increase opportunities towards human development and moving people to economic independence. For 13 years, Paula was a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, responsible for the development of program strategies for financial assets including the design of livelihood opportunities to increase the well-being of vulnerable households and program strategies for young people’s empowerment through a gender and equity lens.

Paula’s grant-making program also helped develop social protection policies and explored how policies could be transformative and address the complex causes of economic security and human development. Prior to Ford, Paula worked for 13 years at the Bernard Van Leer Foundation as a Program Specialist and as a Research Associate at the Institute of Social Studies. Paula has done extensive research on gender and the informal economy in Thailand and Kenya, focusing on access to livelihood finance, low-income housing markets and wage/employment opportunities. She serves in a number of nonprofit boards in southern Africa and Internationally.