Dr Susan Wilkinson-Maposa has 28 years of experience supporting international development organizations in south, east and west Africa, as well as in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. She delivers technical leadership, research, strategy, and grant fund support to improve the gender equality and social inclusion practices, programs and outcomes of government and civil society partners.
From 2020 and 2022, Susan led an innovative participatory grantmaking learning exchange program on child marriage in nine countries. Currently, she is developing a feminist grassroots fund to advance the human rights to water and sanitation of women and girls in Kenya, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Her experience dates to the management of a large UN WOMEN gender mainstreaming program in the SADC region (1992-96) and directorship of a flagship policy, leadership and advocacy program for gender equality in Bangladesh (2000-2003). Other technical program work has related to service delivery and social accountability for gender equality results in Malawi and Pakistan.
Since 2012, Susan has worked closely with Social Development Direct as a Senior Associate. Susan contributed to the success of two large DFID funded consortium governance, accountability and transparency programs (South Africa and Ghana). Leading the GESI team she developed gender mainstreaming strategies and delivered grant funds. Specifically, she coordinated teams and developed technical guidance notes, GESI related approaches to political economy analysis as well as custom toolkits, training materials and audit tools. Susan coached NGO grant holders to implement learning grants and translate findings into case studies, policy briefs and concept notes. Passionate about organizational learning, Susan has facilitated multi stakeholder consultations, communities of practice and global learning events.
Service minded in her approach, Susan is all about collaboration and client satisfaction. Leading from behind she backstops with integrity and respect for local leadership, knowledge, and context. Susan thrives working hand in hand with local teams.
