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Chris Hearle

Photo of Chris Hearle
Job title
Principal Consultant in Green Economies and Infrastructure
Email address
chris.hearle@sddirect.org.uk
SDDirect Team
Technical

Chris works as a Principal Consultant in the Green Economies and Infrastructure team. He has extensive experience in international development, across a range of social development-related areas including women’s economic empowerment, voice and accountability, disability inclusion, safeguarding and social protection. He is particularly interested in qualitative, participatory and ethnographic methods, and has significant experience in utilising these approaches in complex multi-year evaluations. 

At SDDirect, Chris has acted as the Senior Technical Adviser on the Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW) programme Helpdesk, providing rapid technical assistance and expert analysis to UK government staff on how to achieve transformational women’s economic empowerment outcomes. He has also conducted a disability and gender inclusion review of Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) 2- Ghana’s flagship social protection programme, and worked on the endline evaluation of ActionAid’s Promoting Opportunities for Women’s Empowerment and Rights (POWER) project. Earlier in his career he worked at the International Labour Organisation on gender and economic development issues, and he has 3-and-a-half years’ experience working in Cambodia in project management and business development roles. 

Chris received his MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge and a BA in Human Geography from University of Southampton. He has co-authored academic papers in Oxford Development Studies and Women Studies International Forum and is an academic reviewer for the journals Health and Place and Gender, Place and Culture. 

Outside work, Chris is an animal lover, who enjoys hiking and tennis.