Gender specialist Justine Jensen joins the hera partner co-operative
Justine has a long-standing relationship with hera, having worked on assignments as a consultant since 2012 and as an Associate Partner since 2014. Her areas of technical expertise include gender, harmful traditional practices, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and maternal and child health.
Justine brings extensive experience in using mixed methods data collection, analysis and research, often applied in the context of complex multi-country programmes across Africa and Asia. She has first-hand experience in community development that she gained while working in West Africa. She is also a maternal and neonatal registered nurse and an international board-certified lactation consultant.
Currently, Justine is a core team member for hera's Mid-Term Assessment of the Spotlight Initiative, a multi-year initiative between the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN), focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG). Justine provides oversight, supports management and provides gender expertise to the evaluation.
Justine is also serving as a gender specialist for a project with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) involving the analysis and support of the Gender, HIV and Youth Mainstreaming Strategy of the Seed Knowledge Initiative (SKI). SKI is comprised of 16 partner organisations in Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa with the aim of improving farmer-led seed knowledge systems and helping smallholder farmers to become more seed, food and nutritionally secure. The hera team will work to improve the mainstreaming strategy and support its implementation and monitoring.
It's wonderful news that Justine has joined hera as a partner. Her expertise is a great strength for the collective and her long-standing commitment to the right to health and development for all will ensure that hera continues to be a platform for professionals who wish to provide values-based and evidence-driven solutions. Welcome, Justine!