IFC's Gender Team

Zouera Youssoufou - Program Manager
Zouera Youssoufou is a Financial Services professional with experience in international development, investment management, and management consulting. Prior to becoming the Program Manager, Zouera headed the Women's Access to Finance Program in IFC's gender program. Zouera joined IFC in 2005 from Citigroup's Smith Barney unit in New York and Atlanta where she worked as an equity research analyst, covering emerging markets and 13 industry sectors. She has developed a strong understanding of the issues facing women entrepreneurs in Africa, having worked on private sector development issues - including capacity building initiatives for entrepreneurs in Niger and consulting in Ghana -through the European Union and Deloitte & Touche Consulting. Zouera holds an MBA (Finance) from New York University's Stern School of Business, and a BBA in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts' Isenberg School of Business. She is fully multi-lingual in English, French and Hausa.


Carmen Niethammer - Program Officer
Carmen Niethammer is a Program Officer in IFC's gender team and IFC focal point for the World Bank Group's Gender Action Plan. Based in Washington, D.C., Carmen currently task-manages a project on 'Gender and Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting' as well as on 'Gender and Export Promotion.' Previously, Carmen was the gender program manager in IFC's Cairo-based PEP-MENA facility, where she led the team that provides technical assistance solutions to growth-oriented small and medium female-owned enterprises. Carmen joined the IFC from the World Bank, where she was an Operations Officer in the Office of the MENA Chief Economist. Prior to joining the World Bank Group in 1999, Carmen was an Aid Coordinator as part of the UN Resident Coordinator System in Sana'a, Yemen. Carmen is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).


Marième Esther Dassanou - Program Officer
Marième Esther Dassanou is a Program Officer and Secretariat Manager of the Global Banking Alliance for Women. Esther joins IFC from the Corporate Council on Africa where she worked for over five years on private sector development through micro, small and medium enterprise support, access to markets, and HIV/AIDS workplace policies for US and African companies. Throughout her work with the Corporate Council on Africa, Esther has assisted several women entrepreneurs grow their business and access the US market. Previously Esther also worked at Meridian International Center on the US State Department Professional Visitor program. Esther holds a BA in International Studies from Miami University, Oxford Ohio, and an MBA in Management and Marketing from Strayer University. A native of Senegal, West Africa, Esther is fluent is French, Spanish, English and Wolof.


Caterina Meloni - Program Officer
Caterina Meloni is a Program Officer working on Access to Finance products by developing a pipeline of investments and delivering the accompanying Advisory Services programs to client Financial Institutions. Prior to this, Caterina worked for the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), an independent unit housed by the World Bank and dedicated to promote microfinance initiatives. Caterina spent two years in Mozambique where she worked for Save the Children/US microfinance program, for DFID as part of a multi-donor direct budget support program, and as independent microfinance consultant. She has a Master's Degree in International Economics from Johns Hopkins/SAIS.


Sevi Simavi - Program Officer
Sevi Simavi is a Program Officer leading the IFC's Gender and Business Enabling Environment (BEE) Program. The goal of the program is to (i) advise emerging market governments on gender dimensions of business enabling environment reform, (ii) ensure that laws and policies favorabily impact women's economic empowerment and foster female entrepreneurship and (iii) mainstream gender in IFC BEE Operations.  Sevi was most recently the Product Leader for Secured Lending and Collateral Registries in IFC-FIAS where she initiated, developed and rolled-out the product across BEE and Access to Finance business lines and managed operational projects in East Asia, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to that, she was with the Legal Department of the World Bank, specializing in bankruptcy, corporate and commercial law reform. Before joining the World Bank group, Sevi practiced law at Arthur Andersen LLP. She holds an LL.M. degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC.


Evelyn Dimaandal - Program Assistant
Evelyn Dimaandal is the Gender Unit's Program Assistant. She joined the unit from the Environment and Social Development Investment Support Group where she worked for the past 7 years as an Program Assistant. Before joining IFC, she worked with the Asian Development Bank for 14 years as the Senior Administrative Assistant to the Program Manager of East Asia. Evelyn has a B.S. degree in Psychology from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines.


Arlette Baliki - Research Analyst
Arlette Baliki is an Analyst focusing on research and knowledge management, and provides support on the GBA Secretariat. Previous to this assignment, Arlette worked in the IFC Africa Department, managing the office of the Director and the administration of the IFC Johannesburg office. Prior to the joining IFC, Arlette worked for a medical company in South Africa promoting an interactive HIV/AIDS management tool in developing countries. She holds a BCom degree from Wits University in South Africa.


Makena Mwiti - Gender Coordinator for Africa
Makena Mwiti is the Gender Coordinator for Africa, based in Nairobi. She is responsible for identifying and managing opportunities for gender work across the various business lines the IFC gender program works in. Prior to this, Makena was the Program Manager for IFC's Africa Credit Bureau Program, where she provided operational support for the development of the regulatory and institutional framework for credit reporting in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Rwanda and Mozambique. Makena has over 10 years senior management experience in banking. Her most recent assignment in the banking sector was at FINA bank where she worked as the Head of their SME Department. She has an undergraduate degree in Economics and Business Economics from the University of Hull (UK), and a Masters degree in Development Finance from the University of Manchester (UK).


Narissa Haider - Associate Project Officer/Gender Coordinator for IFC-South Asia Enterprise Development Facility (IFC-SEDF)
Narissa Haider is the Gender Coordinator for IFC-SEDF, based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. IFC-SEDF covers Bangladesh, Bhutan, Northeast India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Narissa has been working in IFC-SEDF since 2002. Her current responsibilities involve coordinating gender activities and mainstreaming gender in to IFC-SEDF’s sectoral and access to finance projects. She has previously worked in IFC-SEDF’s BEE team as Business Development Analyst in charge of Trade and Inter-regional Trade. IFC-SEDF’s trade activities included trade promotion and trade facilitation, and facilitating access to new markets. She holds an MA in Governance and Development from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, UK, and a BSc. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.