Linda Jones
Linda Jones is a globally recognized thought-leader and action-oriented practitioner in private and public sector engagement along with inclusive market/sectoral and financial systems development -- all with a gender equality and social inclusion lens. On a practical level, Linda has hands-on experience working in women’s empowerment and gender inclusion from the microenterprise to the corporate level as well as in the area of enabling environment reform. Her finance experience ranges from microfinance through to agricultural value chain finance and SME/DFI banks to a range of investment types including gender lens investing. Linda has designed, launched, managed and/or advised on programs globally for over 20 years: for example, Aga Khan Foundation, Mennonite Economic Development Associates and SEEP programming in Africa, Middle East and South/Southeast Asia; Asian Development Bank’s Private Sector Operations Department in Asia and the Pacific, and also the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility; MEDA/Sarona’s Impact Investing in Frontier and Emerging Markets (INFRONT) in Asia and Africa; CDC and SEWA consulting in India; and DFAT/Cowater International’s GREAT Vietnam, INKLUSI and KONEKSI Indonesia and CAPRED Cambodia, in addition to DFAT’s Market Development Facility in Fiji, Timor-Leste, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Linda has contributed to the advancement of knowledge and practice in the development of widely used tools for inclusive market systems and GESI such as the M4P WEE Framework (2011), WEAMS Framework (2016), Gender Equality Mainstreaming (GEM) Framework for SME investments (2017), Women’s Economic Empowerment: Transforming Systems through Development Practice (2019) and the FAO’s Agricultural Value Chain Finance (2010). Other field-building contributions include: Co-founder and Chair of the Canada Forum for Impact Investment and Development; Co-founder and Chair of the Board for Women Advancing Microfinance, Canada; Chair of the Board the SEEP Network; Founding Director of the International Centre for Women’s Leadership, Coady International Institute ; Author of extensive publications from articles in peer-reviewed journals to books, frameworks, reports and manuals; Workshop facilitator and trainer and conference for a range of venues including the Boulder Institute, ILO, BEAM Exchange, ANDE, AVPN, the SEEP Network, DFAT Supplier Conference; Editor of the Enterprise Development and Microfinance Journal (volunteer role). Linda is a Commonwealth Scholar and has a PhD in Anthropology from McMaster University, Canada where she received numerous awards for academic excellence.
Member: Linda Jones
Member since 2023