Testimonials
Mama Cash
"It was such a pleasure to work with Sarah. As director of a new team within an international women’s fund, I initially asked Sarah to help us develop a strategy for research and advocacy. But Sarah’s skills and expertise were so impressive, and the commitment she brought to her work and the organisation so great, that we asked her to work further with us on several projects, including facilitating a complex decision-making process for organisational development with the executive team. Sarah worked with us for a 12–18 month period in total, and in that time became a real partner to myself, the team and the organisation – I can’t imagine we could have achieved half of what we did without her.
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Sarah’s approach from the start was collaborative, thoughtful, flexible and thorough. She took significant time to familiarise herself not just with organisational documents, but also with the broader environment in which we worked – one that included partnerships and relationships with governments, feminist organisations and the philanthropic sector, and which had a specific accountability to the activists and movements we sought to fund. Sarah quickly understood the complexity of this environment and the challenges of constructing a research and advocacy agenda within it. Her intelligence, academic expertise and professional background in policy advocacy were all invaluable. She was able to operate thoughtfully and effectively at multiple levels: building a collective vision through consultations and workshops; supporting the ‘legwork’ of strategy development with concrete techniques, exercises and templates; and being a trusted advisor to the team and the organisation on the rocky road of implementation. Sarah helped us move from ‘dreaming to doing’ in a new area of work, and she knew better than we did that such a process would not be linear. Whether in the middle of a workshop or in the drafting of a strategy document, Sarah was always alert to nuance or the need to shift direction, and would adapt with agility and grace. We are now implementing a research and advocacy strategy that is fully ‘owned’ by the team and organisation, and effectively supports the organisation’s objectives and commitments to its stakeholders.
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I would highly recommend Sarah, and hope we get the opportunity to work together again in future."
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Lara Fergus
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Director of Research, Knowledge and Advocacy
WELLSPRING Philanthropic Fund
"Sarah has been an extraordinary partner for our team during a long-term engagement with our foundation. During this project, she has skillfully led our team through strategic planning and learning processes, has contributed thoughtful research and writing to our programmatic work, and has become part of the team. Sarah has helped our program deftly maneuver in complex organizational processes, and has a unique ability to understand complicated internal dynamics and provide valuable insights and advice. She is insightful and strategic, has broad content expertise on gender, children, and social justice. She deftly leverages these skills and knowledge to ask excellent questions, probe more deeply to understand the underlying issues and needs, and then skillfully guide the way forward with concrete steps.
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Throughout our engagement, Sarah has demonstrated thoughtfulness, flexibility, and adeptness with complex assignments. In addition to her high work quality, Sarah has a maturity and self-awareness to both be part of a team and also to play an outsider role and provide critical feedback, probing, and challenging questions. She constructively raises sensitive issues and tensions with grace and fosters productive ways forward. In guiding us in our team learning processes, Sarah was able to skillfully facilitate the team to engage in reflective processes and constructive conversations, always leading us to both deeper understandings, and practical applications. It has been a delight, gift, and privilege to work closely with her."
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Maureen Greenwood-Basken
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Program Director, Global Children's Rights, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
LIVING GOODS
"Sarah is a skilled and knowledgeable facilitator. She led a training for our team across four countries and various departments on monitoring and evaluating our advocacy work. Not only did her approach reflect her deep expertise on this topic, it ensured strong engagement from the team, showcased examples from our own work, and provided us with tools and research that we could use beyond the training. Sarah’s recommendations were rooted in best practices and took into consideration the time and resources available to implement them. She was organized, easy to work with, and very responsive. We continue to benefit from Sarah’s work across our advocacy portfolio."
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Mandy folse
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Director, Global Advocacy, Living Goods
Save the Children
“Sarah developed an advocacy toolkit for our newborn health program at Save the Children. We were impressed by her methodical approach to the activity: interviewing our program staff, reviewing documentation, reaching out across our far-flung organization to consult with staff and learn from her experience, and consulting with us and seeking feedback regularly throughout to ensure she was on course. She drew upon their own extensive expertise and designed an innovative package of tools that has received wide praise across the organization and has been adopted by several Save the Children country offices, including ones not directly involved with our program or even newborn health. We were very happy with the high-quality deliverable and also appreciated that Sarah met every milestone and stayed within the budget ceiling.”
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John Engels
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Director of Advocacy, Communications & Knowledge Management, Saving Newborn Lives at Save the Children US
“I had the privilege of partnering with Sarah to develop the Saving Newborn Lives Champions Toolkit for Save the Children. I knew that Sarah was the right partner and lead for this project because I trust her professionalism and knowledge of her field. She is skilled at understanding clients’ needs and designing options to respond to them. Sarah has a unique ability to be very organized and adhere to deadlines, while also maintaining flexibility in her approach. I especially value Sarah as a great thought partner, team lead, and teammate and look forward to working with her on future collaborations. I recommend her highly to any client!”
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Carlisle J. Levine, Ph.D.
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President & CEO, BLE Solutions, LLC
Count me in!
“On the various occasions that I got to work with Sarah for the Count Me In! Alliance, I was always really impressed with how she is able to guide complex group discussions - seemingly effortlessly - and transform these discussions into clear visions and pathways forward. Sarah is very skilled, really pleasant to work with and puts her heart into the work she does. I would recommend Sarah in a heartbeat."
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Ginney Liu
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Learning and Advocacy Advisor - Count Me In!
SIT Students
“Thank you, Sarah. Your classes were phenomenal. I really enjoyed the clear and accessible way you communicated the lessons, the pace that allowed everyone to stay together, and the depth of the learning from the case studies and group work. You’re an exemplary professor, particularly for a multicultural group. I hope future students at SIT or other schools/NGOs continue to benefit from your experience and mentorship.”
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“Sarah is a fabulous professor who has a clear curriculum and sequence for her class, which she guided us through without any confusion. Her communication style and teaching style are really a model for SIT. I love the ways she keeps a steady pace that is not too slow or too fast, and she always thinks about the learner's perspective.”