Host Organization: IDE
First Year Placement
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Erin designed and led exploratory human-centered design research on menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) in rural Zambia. Focus groups with menstruators and menopausal women, interviews with key informants, entrepreneurs, and MHH experts highlighted cultural norms and current needs. Erin trained enumerators on sensitive interview techniques, designed to safeguard gender equity, and enhance social inclusion.
In Ethiopia, Erin led a small proposal team and secured an internal grant to scale their existing MHH work. She advocated for MHH by spearheading iDE Ethiopia’s MHH Day celebrations on May 28th and worked collaboratively to develop global advocacy materials including this video, and MHH webpage.
Erin led iDE’s complementary feeding efforts by writing literature reviews, analyzing programs, and supporting teams across Africa. She organized three training sessions with the Zambia team on Mother, Infant, and Young Child Feeding; processing & preserving fruits & vegetables; and school health nutrition. Erin participated in Her Time to Grow Accelerator in Tamale, Ghana, to boost women-led agribusinesses.
In Ethiopia, she helped revamp promotional materials for locally enriched porridge (MITIN). She’s supported selection of new nutrition sales agents, and co-created a workshop for Healthy Village Programme, a comprehensive WASH, agriculture, and nutrition project in Tigray, Ethiopia.