In my sixth week of my internship, we are now only two weeks away from the Leadership Summit! It is crazy how quickly time has flown and that I am two-thirds the way through my time with Girl Up.

I have settled on my passion project – I am composing a strategic analysis of Girl Up’s current M&E practices, identifying areas of overlap and spaces that can be improved upon, pulling together a collection of recommendations into one document. This will be great for me to have a tangible output of my independent work at Girl Up – as many of my tasks have been collaborative and building into the greater whole of general Leadership Summit planning.

Further, this sort of critical thinking about outcome and impact measurement will contribute to my academic work back at HKS next year, as I dive into my PAE, which will expand upon my interest in impact measurement (as well as monitoring and evaluation).

As I start researching for my PAE, I am realizing that many of the impact investment firms I am considering as potential clients base their socially-motivated investments upon the United Nations Social Development Goals (SDGs). Being affiliated with the organization driving the primary investment strategy for impact investors is very exciting, and doing M&E work here will ground my PAE in an extremely solid base.