Featured Projects
USAID LEARNING, EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS PROJECT (LEAP III)
Cui Prodest LLC is a subcontractor to the USAID Learning, Evaluation and Analysis Project (LEAP III) and it holds one of the two key personnel positions. LEAP III Research Director Brenda Lee Pearson supervises the design and implementation of analyses and evaluations - 90 to date - to provide clear, unbiased views of USAID interventions to ensure these activities operate at an optimal level. Cui Prodest maintains superb working relationships with the LEAP III COR/Alternate COR and USAID Mission staff, 96% of whom rated our performance as exceptional or very good quality.
Performance Evaluations. Research Director Brenda Lee Pearson was Team Leader and Subject Matter Expert for 8 Performance Evaluations: Georgia Economic Security Program; Georgia Agriculture; Ukraine Competitive Economy Program; Youth Economic Support Georgia; Support for Economic Growth in Asia (US-SEGA); Power Africa DQA, East Africa Regional Gender Assessment, and Global Women’s Economic Empowerment. Assessed 45 global activities designed to accelerate Women’s Economic Empowerment across every region in the world through women prospering in the workforce, succeeding as entrepreneurs and enabled in the economy.
Research and Program Planning. Technical leadership, research, and field support for 32 missions in 40 countries in the areas of economic growth and trade, infrastructure and engineering, education, environment, global climate change, land tenure, urbanization, water, gender equality and economic empowerment in Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Timor Leste, Vietnam and Zambia.
Training (16% of activities). Support learning for USAID Missions through facilitation of visioning exercises, trainings and workshops and external communications, profiles and success stories. Design and share analytical and evaluation tools to enhance staff capacity and piloted local solutions during COVID-19.
Cost Benefit Analysis, Inclusive Growth Diagnostic.Overall quality assurance and subject matter expertise in gender, youth, marginalized and rural populations. Analysis of how any inequalities may impede achieving results and identify the largest and most important barriers to inclusive, broad-based economic growth and development. Mainstream gender lens in CBA work products. Examine the enabling environment, access to finance, workforce development, tariff and trade policy, agriculture, land tenure issues, private sector engagement, market systems development and land tenure issues in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Mali, Sudan, Tanzania and Sahel Region.
USAID/India: Collaborating, Learning and Adapting
Working with the Panagora Group, provided technical assistance to USAID/India in the preparation of its Country Development and Cooperation Strategy and advancement of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy launched in February 2022 that outlined the U.S. vision for a free, open, connected, prosperous and secure region. Drafted project appraisal documents (PADs) for USAID/India that integrated the synthesis of a meta-analysis of barriers and opportunities to accelerate gains for women and underserved groups in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Led these five country teams and looked at sectoral challenges in health, education, natural resource management and digital access. Provided on-going support to USAID and U.S. State Department in strategic planning, project design, implementation, and monitoring, evaluation and learning.
Millennium Challenge Corporation - Malawi
Awarded 4-year technical services contract to perform political economy analysis and social research on gender, and pro-poor development strategies; design project activities that address gender and social inequalities and reduce poverty; provide quantitative and qualitative research design and implementation and data analysis; and identify and quantify the differential impacts across gender and social lines and barriers for women, youth, and other disadvantaged groups to access opportunities and benefits from economic growth. Conducting deep dives into property rights and agriculture to examine land tenure security and rights for women and the collection and analysis of gender and social data on agricultural value chains, examining market conditions, laws and policies, and potential to contribute to increased income opportunities and resilience for women and youth.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – Combatting Malnutrition & Enhancing Market Linkages Sierra Leone
Cui Prodest’s Brenda Pearson, in collaboration with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), developed a pilot project in Sierra Leone “Local Procurement: A Double Benefit of Combating Maternal and Child Malnutrition and Enhancing Market Linkages for Smallholder Farmers” to understand the role markets and value chains play in improving nutrition and dietary diversification. Grant funding allowed in-depth analysis of meeting the nutrition needs of the world’s most vulnerable stakeholders—children and pregnant women—through evidenced based analysis and innovative programming. Products of the research included: establishment of new linkages between local agriculture development and food-based nutrition interventions, new toolkits, and publication of Acting at Scale Series, dedicated to homestead food production. Developed aframework for nutrition and agricultural experts to translate field lessons into a knowledge base for sharing in order to facilitate the development of similar public and private agribusiness partnerships at international, regional, and country-levels.
Lessons Learned: Stabilization & Reconstruction in the Balkans
Cui Prodest President Brenda Lee Pearson was honored to participate in the 20th Anniversary of the end of the war in Kosovo. Crowds of people gathered in central Pristina on June 12, 2019 to applaud former US President Bill Clinton and his Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and General Wesley Clark, who were key advocates of NATO’s military intervention. NATO launched its bombing campaign in 1999 to end Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic’s campaign of repression and ethnic cleansing against Kosovo Albanians. NATO’s troops entered Kosovo on June 12, 1999 after its campaign of air strikes ended.
“Never forget, when you think of the challenges ahead of you, and I say that to your existing leaders, you have already done something amazing. You have given a whole generation the first 20 years of their life in peace,” said former US President Bill Clinton.
The Cui Prodest Team has been integrally involved in the post conflict stabilization and reconstruction of Southeast Europe, especially in shaping the policies that will build a more peaceful region. The senior technical advisors of Cui Prodest met while working in the Balkans 25 years ago. Brenda Lee Pearson was the Country Director the National Democratic Institute in Macedonia, one of the original staff that launched the International Crisis Group, and a senior policy advisor to the Prime Ministers of Kosovo and Macedonia. Ellen Goldstein was the World Bank Country Director in Macedonia and later the Regional Director who led a diverse team of 200+ field staff in eight locations to deliver portfolio of $2.5 billion in programs for six Balkan countries overcoming past conflicts and moving toward European Union membership. Sarah Farnsworth served as the USAID’s pre-eminent advisor and analyst for activities in Macedonia, Kosovo, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro and guided the development of programs to assess the relevancy and implications of global social, political, economic, geographic, and military issues affecting the formulation and execution of U.S. foreign policy.
Geoffrey Mazullo directed efforts to rebuild the financial sectors, capital markets, stock exchanges, and public finance management systems in 11 countries while Director of the regional Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program and Chief of Party of the USAID Legal and Regulatory Reform Project in Bosnia Herzegovina. Claire Grimes served as Press Spokesperson and Strategic Communications Officer for the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in Bosnia, Croatia and Macedonia, her experience of working with the international media and local media outlets in crisis situations brought to the world an award-winning television report of war. Lawrence Robertson during his 8 years with USAID’s Office of Conflict Management and Mitigation led efforts to design a new analytical framework and research tools to better measure aid impact based on his work in the region. Laura McGrew served as an OSCE election monitor for the first post-war elections in Bosnia Herzegovina and reflected on this experience to publish widely on global issues of reconciliation, transitional justice, and gender-based violence in conflicts.
Our team members and local partners have lived through wars, humanitarian and climate crises, and the rise of authoritarian regimes. We have learned that development and humanitarian assistance needs to be more responsive to the needs and priorities of local actors and communities and embrace their ideas for how to address them. The world’s development and humanitarian challenges are vast and complex, but they are also inherently local. The same is true of the many opportunities to address these challenges. Experience has shown that local leadership over where, how, and why we collaborate is the route to greater equity, effectiveness, and sustainability.
Cui Prodest led the way in developing approaches, tools, and networks to undertake internal reforms and behavior changes that deliver results. Building democracy and stimulating private sector investment requires an understanding of each country’s unique political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental conditions, including through local systems practice and local capacity strengthening.
Democratic governance cannot be built overnight, but we have decades of experience in setting the course ahead.
World Bank – Cultural Heritage & Tourism Advisor to City of Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina
Directed the communications strategy for the City of Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina in support of the reconstruction of its 16th Century historic bridge and city center that were destroyed by war. Built trust through dialogues and community activities among formerly warring ethnic groups to lay the groundwork for reconciliation and preservation of common cultural heritage; utilized extensive political economy analysis, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and town hall meetings. Developed public relations strategy and budget for international conferences, assembled team to create museum displays and produced press kits on CD ROMs with photos. Drafted policy guidelines for external relations and media contacts and pitched articles and stories to local and international journalists and filmmakers. Conceptualized and established international visitors' center and necessary public education materials. Creative and content advisor to eight international film crews, including National Geographic and 60 Minutes. Reviewed the state of past tourism in Mostar before the war; analyzed donor designated programs and how to use the restoration of the Starimost (Old Bridge) as a vehicle for generating tourism. Made national policy recommendations for future tourism development in Herzegovina.
Balfour Beatty International Infrastructure Group – Southeast Europe Transportation Investment
Designed strategy to assess the political challenges and on-the-ground realities of building cross-border transportation infrastructure in Southeast Europe. Worked closely with corporate liaisons to develop a detailed regional strategy that examined political support, local community engagement, supply chain dynamics, and reputational risks. Conducted social impact assessments to anticipate misinformation or misaligned interests that could cause construction delays and cost overruns. Produced high-level systems mapping of strategic partnerships: businesses, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and other key stakeholders. Designed multimedia cause campaign and incremental activities to achieve a social license for investments.ights for women and the collection and analysis of gender and social data on agricultural value chains, examining market conditions, laws and policies, and potential to contribute to increased income opportunities and resilience for women and youth.