Darja is the Foundation’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) expert. She provides MEL technical assistance to partners, with particular emphasis on utilisation-focused design, participatory evaluation, cost-effectiveness and capacity building. Darja encourages the team to listen first and is always on the lookout for innovative and lean MEL approaches that bring the voices of the communities we serve to the foreground.
Before joining the Foundation, Darja managed and implemented interdisciplinary projects across nutrition, sexual and reproductive health, gender and agriculture. She supported research, organisational governance strengthening and evaluation within NGOs, academic institutes and the UN, with projects across Europe, Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Darja holds a PhD in nutrition from the University of Nottingham, a MSc in international development and sociology from the University of Edinburgh and a Bachelor’s in developmental psychology from the University of Victoria.
Originally from Germany, Darja grew up in the Philippines which created a deep love of the ocean. She takes every chance possible to head on a scuba or free diving adventure. When on dry land, Darja can be found buried in books following her curiosity.
