Melissa Kaplan

Melissa Kaplan

Melissa Kaplan is a senior manager for policy and government affairs at Women Thrive Worldwide. She brings deep experience within the international development community and previously served as advocacy manager at InterAction, where she managed the InterAction CEO Task Force on Aid Reform and lobbied on issues including foreign assistance and appropriations. She previously held the position of deputy director of government relations at Citizens for Global Solutions

Latest Articles

Empowering women and girls through development: A to-do list for Gayle Smith

Empowering women and girls through development: A to-do list for Gayle Smith

over 10 years ago // Women empowerment

Gayle Smith will have to take on a multitude of competing interests and varied crises as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. But to be successful in this new role, she should put women and girls' empowerment at the top of her priorities list. Here's what she should focus on first.

Local ownership: Who, what and how

Local ownership: Who, what and how

over 12 years ago // Contributor: Melissa Kaplan

USAID is making considerable progress on its “going local” reform efforts, but there is still room for improvement. In a guest opinion for Devex, InterAction advocacy manager for aid effectiveness Melissa Kaplan discusses key issues the agency needs to hone in on to achieve its goals on country ownership.