Onindita Islam

Onindita Islam is a development practitioner with over 11 years' of experience in the sector focusing on market systems programmes, financial inclusion, mental health, community empowerment, as well as working and supporting challenge fund mechanisms across the sector. She brings significant experience of managing operations from branch and head office functions and brings a deep understanding of how new tools and systems can be integrated with international development models.

Onindita brings solid experience in the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems on integrating market systems (M4P) and challenge funds. She is particularly familiar with developing theories of change, calibrating milestones for monitoring progress and triggering disbursements to financial sector providers and supporting the development of key programme indicators for such programmes including in Bangladesh for FCDO’s flagship £26 million Business Finance for the Poor programme.

She has worked on the implementation of both regional and national scale projects in Bangladesh and also has experience of supporting projects in East Africa – including work in Rwanda to support agricultural finance, development of new interventions to support financing for jobs and youth entrepreneurship, as well as supporting the implementation of an African continent-wide challenge fund through Mastercard Foundation support to develop new business models to support innovative finance in the SME and agricultural sectors.

Her skills include in-depth understanding of the operation and management of project design & management, monitoring and evaluation, supporting market systems programmes and managing challenge fund investments as well as stakeholder coordination.