Programme design and impact

Jessica Banfield has enjoyed substantial periods of time managing peacebuilding programming initiatives in an international NGO as well as UN setting. As such, she has initiated, designed, negotiated, nurtured partnerships towards delivery and advocacy, managed and assessed impact of peacebuilding programmes in multiple settings and across different types of conflict issue and change objective.

Experience includes developing International Alert’s Uganda country programme from inception, building it from a single project to a dynamic multi-donor portfolio; leading Alert’s Africa programme across seven countries as Africa Director; and more recently overseeing the organisation’s overall programming portfolio as Director of Programmes. With UNDP, Jessica supported country office programming in relation to peace and conflict and worked with UN agencies in successfully developing peacebuilding programmes funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund.

Jessica has supported UNDP Africa in a wide-ranging consultative design process leading to articulation of its 2022-25 Regional Programme for Africa, and associated results framework and other organisational process documents, for which she “held the pen”. She spent much of 2022/2023 working with UNDP Nigeria in designing confidence-building interventions in NW Nigeria.