University of Oxford

London School of Economics and Political Science

Head of Growth Programmes at Power to Change Trust, supporting community businesses to grow and become more sustainable

Woodbridge, England, United Kingdom

I oversee Power to Change’s offer for established community businesses to help them grow, secure assets, become more financially viable and resilient.I also lead Power to Change’s programme improvement activities.In 2020, I've jointly led Power to Change's Covid-19 response, including a trading income support scheme for community businesses and later, a renewal initiative to support community businesses to respond, adapt and evolve to the changing context.

Power to Change Trust

Head of Growth Programmes

No one understands a community better than the people who live there. All over England, people are coming together to make the places they live better through business. At a time when many parts of England face cuts, neglect and social problems, Power to Change works with community businesses to revive local assets, protect the services people rely on, and address local needs. Community businesses are run by local people for local people. They trade in a wide range of products and services across a variety of sectors including energy, housing, health and social care, farming, transport, business support services, hospitality, and sports and leisure. Their profits are reinvested in their local areas to deliver services, activities and events that their communities need and want. Around 8,000 community businesses already play a vibrant role in local places across England.Power to Change is an independent charitable trust with an endowment from the Big Lottery Fund. Our objectives are to make the case for community business through research and policy advocacy and to grow the community business sector in England through funding and support programmes, movement building activities and facilitating market development.In my role of Head of Programme Improvement, I collaborate across Power to Change to deliver the best, most appropriate support we can to community businesses so that together, we grow the sector. My team supports good grant-making practice, creates spaces for effective organisational learning and delivers data-driven insights to inform decision-making.

Head of Programme Improvement

I led an interdisciplinary team of strategists in engineering, design, economics and business, to deliver technical assistance to urban water, sanitation and hygiene programmes in Africa and Asia.We sought to leverage consumer and market insights to pilot innovations and scale sustainable institutional, technology and business solutions that address constraints which limit access of low income consumers in cities to water supply and sanitation services.

Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP)

Head of Innovation and Consumer Needs

I was a member of the Advisory Team within the Private Sector Development (later, Inclusive Economic Growth) Practice. We delivered short and long term technical advisory services to ASI's portfolio of private sector and market systems development projects and to external clients. We also provided technical leadership in corporate business development, developed and delivered scalable technical offerings (training courses, communities of practice, toolkits, good practice standards and guidance) and contributed to outward-facing thought leadership.My personal assignments have included:- Providing direction on results management functions in large and complex DFID programmes, including ELAN RDC (Democratic Republic of Congo Market Systems Development Programme), Mafita (Northern Nigeria Skills and Employment Programme), and the Sierra Leone Opportunities for Business Action market systems development programme;- Jointly with colleagues, developing and delivering training courses on market systems development (5-day), monitoring and results measurement (3-day), and Getting Market Innovations to Scale (1-day), and delivering them to a variety of groups, including DFID, Sida and ASI staff (London, 2016), project team of Sierra Leone Opportunities for Business Action (Freetown, 2016 and 2017), the Financial Sector Deepening Network (Addis Ababa, 2016), ELAN RDC project team (Kinshasa, 2016);- Conducting economic analysis and developing the logical, results and adaptive management framework that formed part of the business case of the DFID Dar-es-Salaam Jobs programme;- Taking technical leadership in a winning, large-scale bid for an ambitious and innovative new agricultural investment and trade promotion programme targeting poverty reduction;- Leading a review, benchmarking exercise and set of recommendations on impact management for agribusiness impact investor and project developer AgDevCo

Adam Smith International

Senior Manager (Advisory)

Served on ACRE's Executive Committee and led Practical Action's activities as a member of the impact investing consortium.Managed an international team covering Bangladesh, Nepal, Kenya, Sudan and Zimbabwe identifying investment prospects and delivering investment readiness technical assistance.

Access to Capital for Rural Enterprises

Executive

Led the growth and diversification of Practical Action's international Urban Services programme, particularly in the areas of public private partnerships in sanitation service delivery and WASH markets. Significant new funding during period from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, DFID and Comic Relief.Also advised Practical Action's programmes internationally on private sector partnerships and market systems development, across its themes of food and agriculture, access to energy, climate resilience and urban services.

Practical Action

Urban Services Programme Coordinator

Swisscontact is a Swiss foundation promoting poverty reduction and international cooperation through private sector development.Established and headed the Monitoring and Results Measurement Unit for East Africa. Responsible for capacity building, technical support and quality assurance of monitoring and results-based management functions across a portfolio of 17 projects in 4 countries. Advisor on Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) and related markets and value chain work.

Swisscontact

Monitoring and Results Measurement Advisor

Part of an international team focused on programme support, learning and external influencing in the area of pro-poor market systems, market facilitation and Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P).Providing in-country and remote support to programmes in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.Development of the Participatory Market System Development (PMSD) Roadmap, a detailed online library of technical guidance, training materials and case examples from Practical Action's ten years of systemic market development and market facilitation.

Researcher - Markets and Livelihoods

Short term data analysis work for Ethiopia Gap Assessment: Somali Region analysis of Health, Water, and Governance, Decentralisation and Capacity Building.

theIDLgroup

Research Consultant

Providing project development support and consultancy services to the South Asian office in Kathmandu.Projects include:- Disaster Management Consultant - Acting Team Leader on Food And Agriculture Organization project: District Disaster Risk Management Plans for Arghakhanchi, Kapilvastu, Siraha and Udayapur- Junior Climate Change Consultant - Focal Point Coordinator for launch of NERC/ESRC/DFID Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation- Assisted Practical Action Nepal's markets team to develop the dairy market system facilitation programme (funded by DFID 2010-2014).

Practical Action Consulting International

Associate

Team member on WWF Nepal project "Assessing Climate Change Impacts and Identifying Adaption Needs for Terai Arc Landscape"Development of "Participatory tools and techniques for assessing climate change impacts and exploring adaptation options" for DFID Nepal.

Alexis Morcrette

Alexis Morcrette