Ailsa Buckley
Advisor – Inclusive Economic Development
Languages: English (mother tongue), Kiswahili (good), French (basic), Spanish (Basic)
Focus Areas:
Private Sector Development, Project design, management and implementation, Systemic development approaches, Capacity development for systems development, Designing and delivering training and mentoring
Field experience
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, South Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe
Ailsa’s been in the game for over 30 years, getting her hands dirty as a private sector development specialist across East Africa. Whether she’s designing or managing, she’s got the skills to get inclusive business rolling. She’s hands on with systems development, with a knack for making markets competitive and getting the private sector to pull its weight. She’s got a wealth of experience in building capacity for systems development, with a track record of designing and delivering training and mentoring whether it’s systems selection and analysis or figuring out the right interventions and how they can go to scale. She’s worked with big-name donors, INGOs and private companies specifically across East, Central and Southern Africa. She’s done her time as Regional Manager for Practical Action Consulting in East Africa, and later as their International Markets Specialist.
These days, she’s the Global Guardian for Inclusive Systems Development at Swisscontact. She ensures the organisation is pulling in the right direction on systems development, from shaping learning offers to backing up internal teams and serving external clients alike. Ailsa keeps the ISD framework and tools sharp, ensuring there’s constant learning and sharing, and that systems practice doesn’t slip under the radar. She’s behind the ISD toolkit, guidelines, and e-learning courses, and is no stranger to running the ISD Learning Lab, managing Swisscontact’s ISD Network of regional mentors, or pulling together leadership clinics for high performing practitioners.
