Dr. Colleen McGinn

Senior Resilience Specialist

PhD in Social Policy and Administration

Colleen McGinn, PhD, is an applied research consultant who specializes in coping and resilience, and applying disaster management perspectives to new global challenges like climate change and forced evictions. Dr. McGinn provides research and technical assistance to development agencies across Asia and beyond. As a social scientist, she works widely on gender, social inclusion, and applied research in many contexts. One of her core niches is Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning (MEL/M&E) of climate change adaptation (CCA), with a distinguished track record in evaluating adaptation programs and designing MEL/M&E frameworks for adaptation and resilience. Aside from ISET, her clients in recent years have included the World Bank, Baastel, World Resources Institute (WRI), Plan International, Danish Institute for International Studies, the Columbia Group for Children in Adversity, SEA Change, and World Vision. Dr. McGinn spent many years managing NGO programs across Asia, Africa, and the Balkans, and has lived in Southeast Asia for more than a decade. She holds a PhD in Social Policy and Administration from the Columbia University School of Social Work.

Recent Projects

Climate Justice Resilience Fund, 2020. Team leader on a qualitative evaluation of CJRF’s global portfolio (spanning Bay of Bengal, East Africa, and the Arctic).

GIZ, 2020. Review of gender integration within climate change adaptation and disaster risk management planning tools used by local governments in the Philippines.

Climate Change Compass, 2019 – 2020. Third phase of a long-term endeavor managed by IMC Worldwide to support UK International Climate Finance’s design, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (DMEL). Activities include guidance to UK-funded programs on selecting indicators for climate change resilience, and dissemination/roll-out of new technical guidance on global resilience headline indicators.

Niras, 2019 – present. Core Team Member on indefinite quantity contract to provide technical assistance and training to enhance Results-Based Management for the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) partners worldwide. Projects to date: facilitate a Theory of Change process for EngageMedia (regional NGO headquartered in Thailand), M&E training for the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (international NGO headquartered in Malaysia), and training/technical assistance on M&E for the Center for Health Human Rights and Development (national NGO in Uganda).

UNDP, 2019. Conducted a final program evaluation for a program to remove landmines in Cambodia.

GIZ, 2019. Capacity building and policy development for Environment Protection Fund of Lao around gender, indigenous peoples, and environment/social safeguards.

UNCDF-LoCAL. 2019. Lead facilitator for M&E sessions in a training for its programs across Asia and Africa.

Wetlands Work!, 2019 – present. Proposal development and technical assistance for innovative social enterprise which pioneers community-based sanitation solutions for populations living in and around wetland ecosystems.

Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance, 2018 (as independent consultant). Led process to craft a global theory of change for consortium of NGOs engaged in flood management.

World Bank Philippines, 2016-2018 (as independent consultant). Senior member on team crafting an M&E framework for climate resilience in the Philippines.

Monitoring, Evaluation, & Learning (MEL/M&E)

Profile Summary

MEL/M&E frameworks for climate change adaptation and resilience

Disaster management, and risk reduction, and humanitarian programming

Forced evictions

Gender/social safeguards

Population vulnerabilities/capacities

Population vulnerabilities/capacities

Institutional strengthening

Social science research methods

Rights-based approaches

Select Publication

McGinn, C & Allan, C. (2020). A Mid-Term Review of the Climate Justice Resilience Fund. ISET-International. Retrieved from: https://www.i-s-e-t.org/publications-and-resources-1/a-mid-term-review-of-the-climate-justice-resilience-fund

Final Evaluation Report of the Cambodia Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA)

Climate Change Compass. (forthcoming). Guidance note: How to choose indicators for climate change adaptation and resilience programmes. For UK International Climate Finance.

Dinshaw, A. and McGinn, C. (forthcoming). ACCAF: A Framework for Climate Change Adaptation Monitoring and Evaluation. For United Nations Capital Development Fund.

McGinn, C. and Venkateswaran, K. (2020). Mainstreaming gender within local government climate and disaster risk assessments (CDRAs): A review of methodology and practice in the Philippines. For Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

Dinshaw, A. and McGinn, C. (2019). Assessing the effectiveness of climate resilience grants to local governments in less developed countries. World Resources Institute Working Paper. https://www.wri.org/publication/assessing-effectiveness-climate-resilience

Independent Evaluation Unit of Green Climate Fund. (2019). Forward-looking performance review of the GCF. For Green Climate Fund. https://ieu.greenclimate.fund/documents/977793/1474145/FPR+Final+Report/5c2929d3-ccc3-0b70-ca39-42e4a54110db

McGinn, C. (2019). Final Evaluation Report: Clearing for Results Phase 3. For UNDP-Cambodia.

Climate Change Compass. (2018). KPI 1 methodology note: Number of people supported to better adapt to the effects of climate change as a result of ICF. For UK International Climate Fund. For UK International Climate Finance. http://climatechangecompass.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/KPI-1-updated-Dec-2018-Number-of-people-supported-to-better-adapt-to-the-effects-of-climate-change-as-a-result-of-ICF.pdf

Climate Change Compass. (2018). KPI 4 methodology note: Number of people whose resilience has been improved as a result of ICF. For UK International Climate Finance. http://climatechangecompass.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/KPI-4-number-people-resilience-improved-uploaded-November-2019.pdf

Climate Change Compass. (2018). KPI 13 methodology note: Extent of climate change integration in government planning as a result of ICF. For UK International Climate Finance. http://climatechangecompass.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/KPI-13-updated-Dec-2018-Extent-of-climate-change-integration-in-government-planning-as-a-result-of-ICF.pdf

Climate Change Compass. (2018). KPI 14 methodology note: Extent of government institutional knowledge of climate change issues as a result of ICF. For UK International Climate Finance. http://climatechangecompass.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/KPI-14-updated-Dec-2018-Extent-of-government-institutional-knowledge-of-climate-change-issues-as-a-result-of-ICF.pdf

McGinn, C. (2018). Climate change adaptation: Perspectives on civil society in Cambodia. Plan International for Asian Development Bank.

McGinn, C. (2018). Gender and social inclusion action plan for enhancing coastal protection for climate change resilience. ENCO, Sustainable Seas, and Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre for Green Climate Fund.

McGinn, C. and Faget, D. (2018). KPI 4 case studies and learning paper. Climate Change Compass for UK International Climate Finance.

McGinn, C. and Faget, D. (2018). Overview: Climate resilience definitions and models in KPI 4. Climate Change Compass for UK International Climate Finance.

McGinn, C. and Rossing, T. (2018). Good practices and opportunities for state-funded climate change adaptation investments in Viet Nam. World Bank Viet Nam.

Tango International. (2018). Overall evaluation of the Adaptation Fund. For Adaptation Fund and World Bank. https://www.adaptation-fund.org/phase-2-independent-evaluation-validates-adaptation-funds-relevance-efficiency-effectiveness/

Ly, P., Thwing, J., McGinn, C., Quintero, C.E., Nop-Samphor, N., Habib, N., Richards, J.S., Canavati, S., Vinjamuri, S.B., Nguon, C. (2017). The use of respondent-driven sampling to assess malaria knowledge, treatment-seeking behaviours and preventive practices among mobile and migrant populations in a setting of artemisinin resistance in Western Cambodia. Malaria Journal 16:378. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5606124/

Macclune, Kenneth & McGinn, Colleen & Asif, Furqan & Venkateswaran, Kanmani. (2017). Climate Resilience in the Philippines: Monitoring and Evaluation Approaches. Boulder: ISET-International.

Macclune, Kenneth & McGinn, Colleen & Asif, Furqan & Venkateswaran, Kanmani. (2017). Design, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning for Climate Resilience- A Guidance Paper for the Philippines. 10.13140/RG.2.2.32606.95041.

Christoplos, I., and McGinn, C. (2016). Climate change adaptation from a human rights perspective: Civil society experiences in Cambodia. Forum for Development Studies, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08039410.2016.1199443

Bours, D., McGinn, C., and Pringle, P. (2015). Editors’ notes. New Directions for Evaluation, Vol. 2015, No. 147. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ev.20127/full

Bours, D., McGinn, C., and Pringle, P., eds. (2015). Monitoring and evaluation of climate change adaptation: A review of the landscape. New Directions for Evaluation, Vol. 2015, No. 147. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ev.2015.2015.issue-147/issuetoc

Leagnavar, P., Bours, D., and McGinn, C. (2015). Good practice study on principles for indicator development, selection, and use in climate change adaptation monitoring and evaluation. Washington, DC: Independent Evaluation Office of the Global Environment Facility. https://www.climate-eval.org/study/indicator-development-selection-and-use-principles-climate-change-adaptation-me

McGinn, C. (2015). “These days we have to be poor people:” Women’s narratives of the economic aftermath of forced evictions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Paper presented at Land Grabbing, Conflict and Agro-Environmental Transformations: Perspectives from East and Southeast Asia. Chiang Mai, Thailand. http://www.iss.nl/fileadmin/ASSETS/iss/Research_and_projects/Research_networks/LDPI/CMCP_63-McGinn.pdf

Bours, D., McGinn, C., and Pringle, P. (2014). Evaluation review 1: Agriculture and food security in a changing climate – Lessons learned from Asian programme evaluations. Phnom Penh, SEA Change Community of Practice and Oxford, United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme. http://www.ukcip.org.uk/wp-content/PDFs/UKCIP-SeaChange-MandE-ER1-agriculture.pdf

Bours, D., McGinn, C., and Pringle, P. (2014). Evaluation review 2: International and donor agency portfolio evaluations: Trends in monitoring and evaluation of climate change adaptation programmes. Phnom Penh, SEA Change Community of Practice and Oxford, United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme. http://www.ukcip.org.uk/wp-content/PDFs/UKCIP-SeaChange-MandE-ER2-donor-agencies.pdf

Bours, D., McGinn, C., and Pringle, P. (2014). Evaluation review 3: Evaluating programmes through a climate adaptation lens – Reflections from coastal areas in Asia and the Pacific. Phnom Penh, SEA Change Community of Practice and Oxford, United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme. http://www.ukcip.org.uk/wp-content/PDFs/UKCIP-SeaChange-MandE-ER3-coastal.pdf

Bours, D., McGinn, C., and Pringle, P. (2014). Guidance note 1: Twelve reasons why climate change M&E is challenging. Phnom Penh, SEA Change Community of Practice and Oxford, United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme. http://www.ukcip.org.uk/wp-content/PDFs/MandE-Guidance-Note1.pdf

Bours, D., McGinn, C., and Pringle, P. (2014). Guidance note 2: Selecting indicators for monitoring and evaluation of climate change adaptation programmes. Phnom Penh, SEA Change Community of Practice and Oxford, United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme. http://www.ukcip.org.uk/wp-content/PDFs/MandE-Guidance-Note2.pdf

Bours, D., McGinn, C., and Pringle, P. (2014). Guidance note 3: The Theory of Change approach to monitoring and evaluating climate change adaptation programmes. Phnom Penh, SEA Change Community of Practice and Oxford, United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme. http://www.ukcip.org.uk/wp-content/PDFs/MandE-Guidance-Note3.pdf

Bours, D., McGinn, C., and Pringle, P. (2014). Monitoring and evaluation for climate change adaptation and resilience: A synthesis report of tools, frameworks, and approaches [Second Edition]. Phnom Penh, SEA Change Community of Practice and Oxford, United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme. http://www.ukcip.org.uk/wp-content/PDFs/SEA-Change-UKCIP-MandE-review-2nd-edition.pdf

Christoplos, I., Funder, M., McGinn, C., and Wairimu, W. (2014). Human rights perspectives on climate change adaptation: Civil society experiences in Cambodia and Kenya. Copenhagen, Danish Institute for International Studies. http://www.diis.dk/files/media/documents/publications/diis_report_30_human_rights_perspectives_on_climate_change_adaptation_web.pdf

Christoplos, I., Funder, M., McGinn, C., and Wairimu, W. (2014). The role of human rights in climate change adaptation: Evidence from Cambodia and Kenya. Copenhagen, Danish Institute for International Studies. http://www.diis.dk/files/media/documents/publications/diis_pb_human_rights_climate_change_for_web.pdf

ICF International. (2014). Mid-term Performance Evaluation of the USAID/Climate Change Adaptation Project Preparation Facility for Asia and the Pacific: Final Evaluation Report. Washington DC, ICF International. https://dec.usaid.gov/dec/GetDoc.axd?ctID=ODVhZjk4NWQtM2YyMi00YjRmLTkxNjktZTcxMjM2NDBmY2Uy&pID=NTYw&attchmnt=VHJ1ZQ==&rID=MzU2MDI1

McGinn, C. (2013). ‘Every day is difficult for my body and my heart.’ Forced evictions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia: Women’s narratives of risk and resilience. Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University. http://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:166594