Isabella Jean

Research Collaborator

Isabella Jean has been a contributor to the research process since 2015, through participating in numerous interviews, in-person and virtual co-learning events with fellow breakout actors, and through reviewing draft content for the book manuscript Beloved Economies.

Isabella Jean is an advisor and learning partner to international and local organizations, bilateral donors, private foundations, and UN agencies with 20 years of experience. Her focus is on documenting promising institutional and programmatic practices and strengthening capacities for conflict sensitivity, peacebuilding, humanitarian effectiveness and accountability to affected communities. She has facilitated collaborative learning and action research with organizations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Caucasus region and advised policymakers, senior leadership and program teams at humanitarian, peacebuilding and development organizations. While serving as Director of Collaborative Learning at CDA, Isabella co-authored a widely acclaimed critique of the externally driven aid model, Time to Listen: Hearing People on the Receiving End of Aid.  Her current advisory work supports processes for decolonizing the aid system, increasing equity and accountability, and funding strategies in support of locally led action.

Isabella teaches graduate-level courses at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management where she has served on the Alumni Board (2012-2018). She was a guest lecturer at the Rotary Peace Program at Duke University and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (2013-2018). Previously, Isabella directed training at a community organizing network and conducted evaluation and policy research for the Institute for Responsive Education, UNDP and Coexistence International.